13-Day Birding Ethiopia – Discover the Endemics

Travel: 1 h; 50 km

You will meet your guide at Addis Ababa airport and transfer immediately to the lake town of Debre Zeit just a short drive south of the capital. Not only located at the edge of the Great African Rift Valley but also seven crater lakes, it is your perfect and scenic welcome to Ethiopia. Stop along the way at Chelekleka wetland with its populations of Marabou Storks, Cattle Egrets, and Spur-winged lapwings. After some rest, you will go on a kayak boat ride in the late afternoon on one of the crater lakes for some birding. Not only waterbirds are common here. The treetops are often taken by Lappet-faced vultures and Yellow-billed Kites.

Selection of species: Marabou Stork, Cattle Egret, Spur-winged Lapwing, Hadada Ibis, Great Egret, Squacco Heron, Long-tailed Cormorant, Pied Kingfisher, Speckled Mounsebird, Hooded Vulture, Rüpell’s Vulture, Tawny Eagle, Yellow-billed Kite.

Main Destination:

Great Rift Valley (Ethiopia)

Accommodation:

Kuriftu Resort & Spa Bahir Dar

Luxury hotel located in Bahir Dar (City)

Meals & Drinks:

All meals included

Non-alcoholic drinks

Travel: 4-5 h; 220 km

Boat trip: 2 h

The Great African Rift Valley spreads all over the African continent and has a vast variety of birds and wildlife. Starting from Debre Zeit this morning your descent leads you to the Rift Valley lakes of Koka and Ziway. The Rift Valley with its more than 400 bird species will give you plenty of chances along your today’s drive to make stops. Not only the lakes but also the Awash River are good places to spot birds.

In the late afternoon, you will arrive at your lodge in the riverside forest around the lakeshore of Lake Langano. A motorboat will take you on a sunset cruise for your last birding experience of the day.

Main Destination:

Lake Langano

Accommodation:

Hara Langano Eco Lodge

Mid-range lodge located at Lake Langano

Meals & Drinks:

All meals included

Non-alcoholic drinks

Travel: 2-3 h; 80 km

Birding walk: 1.5 h

With the first sunlight, you will go on a bird walk (1.5 hrs.) along the lakeshore and into the forest where Silvery-checked Hornbills, and Hadada Ibises and the endemic Yellow-fronted Parrots are found.

There is a rich suite of specialties in this area, including such endemics and near-endemics as the gorgeous White-cheeked Turaco, the pretty little Black-winged Lovebird, and White-rumped Babbler. Other special birds include the restricted-range Clapperton’s Francolin, the sought-after Red-throated Wryneck, and the uncommon and localized White-winged Black Tit.

Return for breakfast in the lodge garden and set off for a half-day excursion to the picturesque Abijata-Shalla National Park with its three lakes and a resident population of thousands of Lesser and Greater Flamingos. Amongst the shorebirds and other waterbirds present at the lake, we can expect to see Pied Avocet, Kittlitz’s Plover, and Gull-billed Tern.

Main Destination:

Abijatta-Shalla National Park

Accommodation:

Hara Langano Eco Lodge

Mid-range lodge located less than 1hr drive from Abijatta-Shalla NP

Meals & Drinks:

All meals included

Non-alcoholic drinks

Travel: 4-5 h; 200 km

Today’s journey lets you discover a rather more impressive savanna landscape in the Swayne’s Hartebeest Sanctuary which lies along your way to the Sidama region. Famous for its endemic population of several hundred Swayne’s hartebeest antelopes it is the only sanctuary in the country where this game still survives. Furthermore, the beautiful savannas are another opportunity to discover more Rift Valley birds. In the afternoon you continue your drive to the Sidama region at the eastern escarpment where the Rift Valley meets the highlands. Some forests grow around there and will be your birding destination for tomorrow. Overnight in the beautifully located Aregash Lodge with traditional coffee ceremony, campfire and hyena feeding in the evening.

Main Destination:

Senkele Swayne’S Hartebeest Sanctuary (Wildlife Sanctuary)

Accommodation:

Aregash Lodge

Mid-range lodge located in Yirga Alem (Town)

Meals & Drinks:

All meals included

Non-alcoholic drinks

Village & Birding walk: 2-3 h

Your day is all on foot today. The thickets of the Sidama forest will need slow movements and careful observation to spot the forest birds around here. In the early morning, you set off for a first bird walk in the awakening forests. Hyenas might still cross your path and Colobus monkeys might do acrobatics above your heads before your return to the lodge for breakfast. Later during the day, you will go on a village walk to visit Sidama families to learn more about their habits and culture and the Arabica coffee they are growing in traditional ways in these forests. There will be plenty of opportunities to have your binoculars ready for more birding in the forests today. The endemic Abyssinian Catbird - one of the finest, if not the finest singer of all the birds of Africa - is frequent in these forests.

Selection of species: Abyssinian Catbird, Golden-backed woodpecker, Yellow-fronted Parrot, back-winged Lovebird.

Main Destination:

Yirga Alem (Town)

Accommodation:

Aregash Lodge

Mid-range lodge located in Yirga Alem (Town)

Meals & Drinks:

All meals included

Non-alcoholic drinks

Travel: 7-8 h; 330 km

Birding walk: 2 h

You will enter the highland ecosystems today leaving the Great African Rift Valley behind for a couple of days. Bale Mountains National Park – one park, but many worlds – is awaiting you and one of the most diverse landscapes in the world! The park is also home to fourteen of Ethiopia’s endemic birds and offers superb birding opportunities in the Afro-alpine moorlands and highland forests.

We will also stop at regular sites for African Black Duck and Red-knobbed Coot. We undertake a walk in the old juniper forests searching in particular for roosting nightbirds, such as the Cape Eagle-Owl, the poorly-known Abyssinian Owl and Montane Nightjar, and quite possibly also African Wood Owl and Verreaux’s Eagle-Owl.

The area is rich in Bohor reedbucks and the endemic Mountain-Nyala-Antelopes as well as highland birds. The endemic Black-headed Siskin is common.

Main Destination:

Bale Mountains National Park

Accommodation:

Bale Mountain Lodge

Luxury lodge located inside Bale Mountains NP

Meals & Drinks:

All meals included

Non-alcoholic drinks

Travel: 5-6 h; 250 km

Your excursion today will lead you for a full day to the lowlands to find one of the countries rarest and most beautiful endemics. The area around the lowland town of Dollo Mena and Negelle is the habitat of the Prince Ruspolli’s Turaco. This turaco is considered to be an endangered species and is included in the "Red Book" of endangered animals of the world. However, recent sightings in juniper forests and especially in dry watercourses which include figs, the rubiaceous tree, Adina, and undergrowth of acacia and Teclea shrubs, suggest that the species may be more common than thought.

By carefully checking the large fruiting figs we should come across this stunning and charismatic creature. The turaco has a fascinating history as its discoverer, the Italian Prince Eugenio Ruspoli, was killed in 1893 by an elephant that he had shot at and wounded.

Main Destination:

Bale Mountains National Park

Accommodation:

Bale Mountain Lodge

Luxury lodge located inside Bale Mountains NP

Meals & Drinks:

All meals included

Non-alcoholic drinks

After yesterday’s adventure today’s schedule is rather easier. You have the opportunity to get a rest day at your forest cottage at Bale Mountains Lodge. Your veranda is a beautiful place to spot wildlife or you go on one of the guided walks around the forests along small rivers and through bamboo forests where the endemic Bale monkeys feed from fresh bamboo leaves. The so called Harenna forests are also one of the last refuges in Ethiopia for the Black-maned lions and your driver is ready to take you on a game drive in the early evening to find them.

Main Destination:

Bale Mountains National Park

Accommodation:

Bale Mountain Lodge

Luxury lodge located inside Bale Mountains NP

Meals & Drinks:

All meals included

Non-alcoholic drinks

Travel: 3-4 h; 100 km

One habitat is still missing on your visit to Bale National Park. The Sanetti high plateau is the highest plateau landscape on the African continent and you will drive up to 4.100 masl to explore its nature. Not only the habitat of the largest Ethiopian wolf population (approx. 300 individuals) which got very rare and endangered almost all over Ethiopia but also for the endemic Rouget’s Rail, Wattled Ibis, Blue-winged Goose, and the Spot-breasted Plover as well as migratory populations of Wattled Cranes. Sanetti’s bare landscapes will stand in contrast to its vast birdlife and open landscapes with wide views give you almost everywhere great opportunities to spot animals. Augur Buzzards are the common birds of prey but commonly seen are also Steppe Eagles and Cape Eagle Owls.

After one of the best highland birding opportunities is completed then, you will get rest in the Wabe Shebelle Hotel before tomorrow’s drive to Awash National Park. Sanetti high plateau.

Main Destination:

Great Rift Valley (Ethiopia)

Accommodation:

Wabe Shebelle Hotel Addis Ababa

Mid-range hotel located in Addis Ababa (City)

Meals & Drinks:

All meals included

Non-alcoholic drinks

Travel: 8-9 h; 450 km

After some days one of Ethiopia’s highest mountain ranges you will return to the Great African Rift Valley. A long day’s drive will bring you to Awash National Park which is considered one of the country’s best sites for birding with approx. 460 species recorded so far. Today’s drive will lead you from the Bale Mountains through the Arsi Mountains slowly down to the Rift Valley again. Along the way, there will be short opportunities for stops before you reach your safari lodge at the Awash waterfall right inside the Awash National Park.

Main Destination:

Awash National Park

Accommodation:

Kuriftu Resort & Spa Bahir Dar

Luxury hotel located in Bahir Dar (City)

Meals & Drinks:

All meals included

Non-alcoholic drinks

Game drive: 2-3 h

Bushwalk: 2 h

The morning game drive leads you through the Southern part of the park crossing grasslands with Oryx Antelopes and Soemmering Gazelles and to the Awash Canyon where your views will be overlooking the tiny Awash River that flows on its foot.

Birds of the park that we will be looking for this morning include the restricted-range Star-spotted Nightjar, the beautiful Rosy-patched Bushshrike, the restricted-range Red-winged Lark, and the diminutive Mouse-coloured Penduline Tit. If we are in luck we will encounter the lovely Scissor-tailed (or African Swallow-tailed) Kite or a Grasshopper Buzzard.

Return for breakfast to the lodge on your own along the river and the waterfall where Nile crocodiles wait for their prey before you set off with your guide on a bushwalk in the riverside forest to discover some more birds.

Main Destination:

Awash National Park

Accommodation:

Kuriftu Resort & Spa Bahir Dar

Luxury hotel located in Bahir Dar (City)

Meals & Drinks:

All meals included

Non-alcoholic drinks

Travel: 3-4 h; 120 km

Today is another chance to find more lowland bird species and also another chance to explore the highlands again. A contrasting day is awaiting for you. You start in the dryland savannahs in Awash National Park. The open grasslands and acacia bushlands here are home to the stately, but declining and now much-sought-after Arabian Bustard. The dry plains also hold some interesting mammals, including Hamadryas (or Sacred) and Olive Baboons, Grivet Monkey, Common Warthog, Salt’s Dik-dik, Soemmering’s Gazelle, and Beisa Oryx. With a bit of luck, we will also encounter Northern Gerenuk and Northern Lesser Kudu. Interestingly, the Golden Jackals of Africa have recently been split off as a distinct species, African Golden Wolf, on the basis that their genetics place them closer to the wolves and coyotes. There is a good chance of seeing this newly ‘promoted’ wolf in this area.

Main Destination:

Great Rift Valley (Ethiopia)

Accommodation:

Ankober Palace Lodge

Mid-range hotel located in Ankober (Town)

Meals & Drinks:

All meals included

• Non-alcoholic drinks

Travel: 3-4 h; 160 km

You will return to the capital. Along the way, we should have a good chance to see such endemics as Wattled Ibis feeding in the moister pastures. Other species during the journey are likely to include Augur Buzzard, Speckled Pigeon, and Cape Crow.

In the afternoon, check-in to your day-use room before departure in the evening (in case of a next day departure overnight room can be requested), there might be a chance of doing some souvenir shopping before departure and you will be invited for a traditional farewell dinner with Ethiopian music and dancing. Transfer to the airport.

Main Destination:

Addis Ababa (City)

Accommodation:

No accommodation (End of tour)

Meals & Drinks:

All meals included

Non-alcoholic drinks