Addis Ababa, Debre Libanos

Debre Libanos - Upon arrival, your tour guide will greet you at the airport. We’ll start with Ethiopian coffee and breakfast before heading to Debre Libanos. Overhead, you’ll see flocks of Hooded Vultures and Black Kites, and we should spot Dusky Turtledoves, the endemic White-Collared Pigeon, Tacazze Sunbirds, Baglafecht Weavers, and Streaky Seedeaters. After breakfast, we’ll cross the Sululta Plains, high-altitude grasslands that offer excellent birding despite heavy cultivation. Here, we might see the Secretary Bird, White-Backed Vulture, African Hobby, Erckel’s Francolin, Red-Chested Swallow, Cape Crow, Pectoral-Patch Cisticola, and African Quail Finch. The plain then dramatically drops into the Blue Nile drainage system, where the Debre Libanos Monastery is perched on the gorge’s edge, one of Ethiopia’s most sacred Christian sites. Here, we’ll look for Rappel’s Vulture, Verreaux’s Eagle, African Hawk-Eagle, Augur Buzzard (dark-morph birds are common), Lanner Falcon, Nyanza Swift, Hemprich’s Hornbill, and three endemic birds — Rüppell’s Chat, White-winged Cliff-chat, and White-Billed Starling — along with Mocking Cliff-Chat, Yellow-Rumped Serin, and Cinnamon-Breasted Bunting. You might also see the Lion-Headed Baboon in this area.

Debre Libanos, Sululta

Sululta - We’ll leave early in the morning to search for the highly localized endemic Harwood’s Francolin, likely spotting it around dawn by Jemma Gorge. The rest of the day will be spent exploring terrestrial birding before driving to Sululta town for the night.

Sululta, Awash

Awash National Park - The Sululta Plain is known for its bird abundance. This morning, we’ll look for Ethiopia’s endemic species: the Abyssinian Longclaw, Erlanger’s Lark, Ethiopian Siskin, Wattled Ibis, Blue-Winged Geese, and Spot-Breasted Plover. Then, we’ll head to Awash National Park, stopping to look for birds along the way.

Awash

Awash National Park - Today, we’ll explore the superb Awash National Park, birding around the Alleghedi Reserve and Doho Lodge with its hot springs, the Awash River, and Kirayawa Gorge. We’ll explore riverine forests, wetlands, thorn woodlands, savanna grasslands, rocky hills, cliffs, and escarpments. The park boasts a bird list of 460 species, and we’ll try to find, among others, the Egyptian Vulture, Greater Spotted Eagle, Scissor-Tailed Kite, Shikra, Arabian, Buff-Crested, Hartlaub’s and White-Bellied Bustards, Three-Banded Courser, Helmeted Guinea Fowl, Small Buttonquail, Eastern Grey Plantain-Eater, White-Browed Coucal, Plain Nightjar, Northern Carmine Bee-Eater, Greater Honeyguide, Wire-Tailed Swallow, Red-Winged Lark, Singing Bush Lark, Blackstar, Red-Backed Scrub-Robin, Eastern Olivaceous Warbler, Green-Backed Camaroptera, Grey-Headed Batis, Pale Flycatcher, Slate-Colored Boubou, White-Rumped Shrike, Somali Fiscal, Nile Valley and Marico Sunbirds, Grey-Headed and Sulphur-Breasted Bush Shrikes, Fan-Tailed Raven, Red-Billed Quelea, and Red-Rumped Waxbill. Mammals we might see include the Aardwolf, Lion, Leopard, Beisa Oryx, Aardvark, Soemmering’s Gazelle, Hamadryas Baboon, Abyssinian Hare, African Wild Cat, Black-Backed Jackal, Spotted Hyena, and Greater and Lesser Kudu. We’ll also take a night drive to look for elusive nocturnal species.

Awash, Langano

Langano - We’ll depart early and head south towards the Great Rift Valley lakes, making our first birding stop at the Lake Beseka crater, then at the artificial Lake Koka. We’ll have lunch and a birding stop at Lake Ziway, where the surrounding area teems with birds. We’ll look for flocks of approachable Black-Winged Lovebirds, Blue-Breasted Bee-Eaters, White-Faced Whistling Ducks, Hottentot Teals, Great White Pelicans, Black Herons, Black-Billed Barbet, Rufous-Necked Wryneck, African Yellow Warbler, Rüppell’s Robin Chat, Black-Headed Batis, Beautiful Sunbirds, and Rüppell’s Weaver. We’ll also visit Koka Dam and Lake Ziway, searching for the Pink-Backed Pelican, Great White Pelican, Intermediate Egret, African Darter, Goliath Heron, Hamerkop, Yellow-Billed Stork, Saddle-Billed Stork, Spur-Winged Goose, Egyptian Goose, Comb Duck, African Pygmy Goose, African Fish Eagle, Black-Crowned Crane, African Jacana, Lesser Jacana, Senegal Thick-Knee, Spur-Winged Lapwing, Pied and Malachite Kingfishers, and Winding Cisticola. After lunch, we’ll proceed to Lake Langano and our lodge.

Langano

Langano - We’ll explore the ecolodge grounds all day, looking for Sulfur-Breasted Bush Shrike, Northern Puff Back, Black Shrike, Yellow-Shouldered Shrike, Common Red Start, Slender-Tailed Night Jar, Senegal Thick Knees, Abyssinian Ground Trush, and many more.

Langano, Bale

Bale Mountains National Park - In the morning, we’ll head to the world-famous Bale Mountains National Park. At the park headquarters in Dinsho, we’ll search for Chestnut-Napped Francolin, Ground Scraper Thrush (endemic race simensis), Abyssinian Ground-Thrush, Abyssinian Catbird, and the endemic White-Backed Black-Tit. We also hope to see various mammals, including Mountain Nyala, Menelik’s Bushbuck, and Desert Warthog.

Bale (Senettie Plateua), Harenna Forest

Bale Mountains - We’ll drive up the Bale Mountain massif onto the Senetti Plateau, which lies between 3800 m and 4377 m above sea level. As we ascend, we’ll enter a tid, or juniper forest zone, searching for the African Goshawk, Rufous-Chested Sparrow Hawk, African Hill Babbler, Abyssinian Woodpecker, Cinnamon Bracken-Warbler, Montane White-Eye, and Yellow-Bellied Waxbill. Once we reach this unique plateau, we’ll drive on Africa’s highest road, passing close to the summit of Ethiopia’s second-highest mountain. This habitat, termed ‘Afro-Alpine moorland,’ is characterized by jibrra, or giant lobelias, towering over the rich tussock grasslands. This site is an important bird area of immense significance, supporting seven globally threatened species and nearly all of Ethiopia’s highland biome species. If we’re fortunate, we’ll see a pair of endangered Wattled Cranes striding through the moist grassland or spot a Cape Eagle-Owl sunning on a rocky perch. We’ll also search for the Black Stork, Wattled Ibis, Lammergeyer, Chestnut-Naped Francolin, Moorland Francolin, Rouget’s Rail, Spot-Breasted Lapwing, Thekla Lark, Red-throated Pipit, Red-Breasted Wheatear, and Moorland Chat. The grasslands are estimated to support an amazing biomass of 4000 kg of rodents per hectare, attracting raptors like Steppe Eagles, Golden Eagles, and Pallid Harriers. They share this abundant food source with the plateau’s most celebrated resident, the Ethiopian, or Simien, Wolf, the world’s rarest canid. Finally, we’ll reach the escarpment of this elevated plateau and look down through the clouds at the vast Harenna Forest below. This is the largest intact forest block in Ethiopia and the largest protected Afro-Alpine forest on the continent, still supporting populations of Lion and the only surviving forest-dwelling African Wild Dogs. Here, we’ll search for the uncommon Mountain Buzzard, Rameron Pigeon, Lemon Dove, Tambourine Dove, African Emerald Cuckoo, Narina Trogon, Brown Woodland-Warbler (a subspecies endemic to this national park), Abyssinian Crimson-Wing, African Citril, and Cape Canary. In the afternoon, we’ll return across the Senetti Plateau to Goba.

Bale, Awassa

Ziway to Addis Ababa

Lake Ziway - This morning, we’ll take a boat trip to Lake Ziway from Haile Resort Hotel to spot different families of Hippos and then head to Bird Island to watch Creeper, Red-Throated Wryneck, Eurasian Wryneck, African Pigmy Goose, White-Backed Duck, and Blue-Headed Coucal. We’ll return to the hotel in Addis Ababa. In the evening, we’ll transfer to the airport, marking the end of the tour.

• Air Conditioned Land Cruiser Vehicle
• Professional Guide specialized in Birding Tours
• Breakfast included

• Alcoholic Drinks
• Photography Camera fees

During this bird-watching excursion, you’ll have the opportunity to observe a considerable number of bird species indigenous to Ethiopia. Thanks to Ethiopia’s extraordinarily diverse ecosystems, it harbors a rich milieu of bird and mammal species, making it one of the most biodiverse regions in Africa. Home to over 860 bird species, Ethiopia represents about 10% of the global bird population and nearly half of all bird species found in Africa. Sixteen of these species can only be seen in Ethiopia, making this destination a bird-lover’s paradise.
Throughout this avian-filled holiday, you’ll be able to witness many distinctive Ethiopian birds. Our journey will take us through breathtaking landscapes such as the Jemma River Gorge, the Sululta Plains, the Rift Valley Lakes, Wondo Guenet Forest, and the awe-inspiring Bale Mountains, a haven for over 10 of the endemic birds of Ethiopia. While our primary focus will be bird-watching, we’ll also be on the lookout for a variety of unique Ethiopian mammals.

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.