Ethiopian Endemics February 2006
by Duncan Dine
Ethiopia
struggles with the misconception of desert, war and famine.
Not on the Western tourist trail as it doesn’t have some of the big
game of its near neighbours, what it does have is a bird list of over 800
species, second only to South Africa on the whole continent.
It
was with this in mind that Becky and I, along with friends Roger and Sheila
Wasley, booked onto a ten day Naturetrek tour followed by a three day extension
flying to Bahar Dar, which is the gateway to Lake Tana, Ethiopia’s largest
lake covering over 3,500 square kilometres – it’s simply huge.
A
visa is needed to visit the country which is easily obtained from the Embassy in
London. We took the precaution of
taking malaria tablets, but through the whole trip we suffered very little from
biting insects. Eating sensibly and
drinking bottled water gave us no health problems. Situated in the Horn of Africa, a nine hour flight from the
UK, it has the added advantage of only a three hour time difference.
Below are my birding and wildlife highlights.
We
arrived in Addis Ababa after an overnight flight and transferred to our hotel
which was very close to the airport. The
first new birds are always exciting regardless of whether they become common
throughout the trip and we were soon watching Greater
Blue-eared Glossy Starling, Grey-headed Sparrow,
Brown-rumped Seedeater, Streaky
Seedeater and a gorgeous Tacazze Sunbird
which at 15cm looks both dark but then shines brilliant green and gold.
The
trip was focusing on Ethiopia’s endemic species and we had a realistic chance
of 20 of these. In the afternoon we
took a trip to Gerfasa Reservoir in the hills above Addis where we were soon
watching Wattled Ibis, Blue-winged
Goose, Black-headed Siskin,
White-collared Pigeon and Thick-billed Raven,
all endemics. The raven, with its
massive bill and white nape is very easy to pick up and we found it surprisingly
common even around human habitation. By
the end of the day, we had had a good introduction to Ethiopia’s birdlife.
Our
second full day was initially spent birding on some plains north of Addis and
then on to Debre Libanos with its 13th century monastery situated on
the edge of a gorge. The day was
packed with good birds. On the
grasslands we immediately spotted the Abyssinian
Longclaw, another endemic species, which is reminiscent to me of Meadow
Lark. Also seen en route were
Pallid and Montagu’s
Harriers giving a nice comparison of these two tricky species.
At
Debre Libanos we stopped under a fruiting fig tree and I got my personal bird of
the trip straightaway – the White-cheeked Turaco.
It seemed to run through the trees and in flight it showed wonderful
scarlet wing patches. In the same tree was an endemic species, the Banded
Barbet.
We
then birded behind the monastery and immediately picked up Rüppell's
Chat (another endemic), the only black chat in Ethiopia.
The list was ticking along nicely, adding White-backed
Black Tit (endemic) and Mountain Wagtail.
Lunch was taken overlooking the gorge with displaying Verreaux’s
Eagles and stunning views of Lammergeier
at eye level as well a party of endemic Gelada Baboons below. Afterwards we travelled back to the fruiting fig tree and in
the better afternoon light, we scanned the cliffs above. After a few false starts we got good views of White-billed
Starlings (endemic), the only ones of the trip.
The third day was to be one of travelling and birding. Leaving Addis we travelled down the Rift Valley to Lake Chelekheka and then Lake Ziway for lunch, our final destination being Wondo Genet for two days of forest birding. The first target bird was surprisingly seen on the outskirts of Addis – White-winged Cliff Chat (endemic), on a half-built building and then perched on telegraph poles, not its natural habitat.
Lake
Chelekheka was full of birds including thousands of Common
Crane, Knob-billed Duck and Garganey
in breeding plumage. Lake Ziway had
another set of birds: my highlights had to be Black
Egret using its unique umbrella feeding technique; Hammerkop
with its long crest and flattened bill which gives it a hammer-headed appearance
and a bird we had missed in South Africa (see pic left), Black
Crake. This tiny bird with
its bright yellow bill is a real stunner.
We
arrived at Wondo Genet just on dusk and outside our room we were lucky enough to
see Silvery-cheeked Hornbill (see pic below left)
and our first Vervet and
Black and White Colobus Monkeys.
Wondo
Genet is a beautiful native forest with a hotel which didn’t do justice to the
setting. A product of the worst of
the 1970s, it just looked tired and needed money spending on it.
However, the birding was excellent with the key species here being Yellow-fronted
Parrot (endemic), probably the endemic we had to work hardest for; not
all 
visiting
groups of birders get to see it. Walking
the trails in the morning we were soon watching Narina
Trogon, again a bird we had missed before in South Africa, and then an
excellent duo of raptors were seen – Crowned Eagle
and Ayre’s Hawk-Eagle.
The
walk after lunch wasn’t looking good as a heavy downpour left us rather
bedraggled and soggy on a forest trail. We
were nearly back at the hotel in fading light when the call went up – there
were two parrots further down the trail. It
was a mad dash before we all got good views of the Yellow-fronted
Parrots. The evening was made even better when an African
Wood Owl was spotted.
It’s
probably best to gloss over the near nine hour journey to Goba, our gateway to
the Bale Mountains (see title pic). Suffice
to say, we had one great stop along the way where we got two of the three
remaining endemics on our hit-list; Rouget’s Rail,
which luckily was not skulking, and Spot-breasted Plover,
one of the dry land plovers.
The
following morning we headed up into the Bale Mountains, stopping en route for
the last endemic we were to see, Abyssinian Catbird,
which is reputed to be one of the finest songsters in Africa.
We had good views of two birds first found by Sheila.
As we climbed the habitat changed to one of upland moorland and a very
photogenic Lammergeier sat in the middle of the road.
Our target on the plateau was Ethiopian Wolf,
the rarest canid in the world. We
were lucky enough to see four of these beautiful mammals, in appearance like a
giant European fox. It was also
here we suffered our only major dip of the trip – the hoped-for Wattled Cranes
could not be found, perhaps because of the uncontrolled cattle grazing in the
National Park.
The
drive back was not without incident – first Becky spotted a pair of Moorland
Francolin on the roadside and then Chestnut-naped
Francolin were also found. These
birds have the structure of a European Grouse.
The
following day we had the long drive back, stopping en route at the National Park
headquarters where we got great views of a variety of mammals including endemic Menelik’s
Bushbucks and Mountain
Nyalas. My personal
highlight of the drive back had to be wonderful views of Secretary
Bird; this extraordinarily long-legged raptor has adapted its lifestyle
to walking the grasslands hunting its prey, such as snakes, which are then
stamped to death – a truly unique bird.
We
finally arrived at Lake Awassa which was memorable for two things; Red-throated
Wryneck in the hotel grounds and our toilet cistern collapsing just after
midnight. Our Heath Robinson
plumbing repairs involved bits of string and a search for the outside stopcock;
you couldn’t have written a script for it!
Bleary-eyed
the following morning, we birded before breakfast, the best bird being Blue-headed
Coucal. Afterwards we left
to visit the local fish market and the surrounding area.
I thought the vibrancy of the fish market was superb and gave me a
feeling of really being in Africa.
There
could only be one top bird here and it had to be Giant
Kingfisher. The size of a
Jackdaw, a real showstopper. Our
next stop was at an Ostrich farm in Shalla National Park. The following hour was one of the most frantic and exciting I
have ever spent birding. It seemed
that every bird you put your bins on was a lifer, you just couldn’t take it
all in, but birds I do remember included a pair of roosting Greyish
Eagle Owl, Von Der Decken’s Hornbill,
White Helmet Shrike and Black Crowned Tchagra.
Our
last stop before returning to Addis was lunch at Lake Langano, and again the
birding was unremitting, with a choice of food or birds.
We saw over 20 breeding plumaged Great Black-headed
Gulls, but my personal highlights had to be the roosting Slender-tailed
Nightjars (see pic left - there are two birds here!) and the Heuglin’s
Courser that was nearly trodden on, so good was the cryptic plumage.
Also seen there was my first ever sandgrouse, not just seen flying away
– Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse.
We
arrived back at Addis and said our goodbyes to the rest of the group who were
flying back to the UK the next day. The
following morning we took a one hour internal flight up to Lake Tana.
This extension was to be a mixture of relaxation, culture and visiting
the Blue Nile Falls as well as birding. Later
that afternoon we birded around the lake margins and you knew it got good when
even our guide got excited – Lesser Jacana is
just tiny and must be often overlooked. We
had great views of two birds and also Lesser Moorhen.
Sometimes, Lesser really is more! Add
in a pair of beautiful Black Crowned Cranes and
it rounded off a sensational day.
The
next morning was our culture trip to visit a monastery.
We boarded the hotel’s pleasure boat, little knowing that en route we
would stop at a stake-out for one of Africa’s most enigmatic birds.
Superficially resembling a cormorant or a darter, African
Finfoot is like nothing I’d seen before. We had incredible views of a
male and female in an island cove. I
can only claim in my defense that the unsatisfactory pictures were the result of
a surge of adrenalin!
On
our final morning we were lucky enough to visit the Blue Nile Falls, where a
recently completed hydro-electric project had diminished the flow, but on the
day we visited it still looked quite spectacular. Not forgetting our birding, I managed a good look at Long-crested
Eagle (see pic left) which was perched on a telegraph pole.
A missed Abyssinian Roller brought a frown
to our faces, but the gods must have been smiling on us that day as just down
the road we had great views of a more obliging bird, which very neatly was our
350th species for the trip. Overall
we had nearly 200 lifers. Summing
up, Ethiopia is well worth a trip. Naturetrek
run a good trip which is sensibly priced with a good knowledgeable local guide.
The countryside is remarkably
varied. Drinks were cheap and food
was plentiful in the hotels but the ubiquitous soup caused much discussion at
each meal time! The extra
days around Lake Tana made the trip for us personally.
If anyone would like more details, I would gladly give advice.
DUNCAN DINE
Pic left: Superb Starling
Pic left: Lesser-striped
Swallow