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Having read nothing good about Ethiopian Airlines, I wasn’t expecting much for the four and half hour flight to Addis Ababa. Everything went relatively smooth though and the immigration cubicles even had a separate line for Star Alliance Gold members so it took me only about twenty minutes to get through the process and out of the airport. Something important to know is that only about ten of the very top hotels' representatives are allowed to wait for passengers in the Arrivals hall; all others have to wait at the taxi and public parking area. Luckily I read about this and knew I had to walk outside the terminal building. A small crowd of people waited at the parking area and I spotted my name on a sign board almost immediately. I finally met Measho Legesse from Haimanotours after corresponding for the past year and as we talked in the car on the way to the hotel, it was obvious that he knew a lot about birds and that the current birding was expected to be good. Ghion hotel was only about fifteen minutes from the airport and after checking in we quickly sorted payment and ran through the itinerary. I was a little disappointed to find out that Measho would not be guiding me himself but he promised that my guide was very good. It was quite late already so I wolfed down a steak sandwich and climbed into bed just before midnight.
16 December
Daily birds: 93
Cumulative total: 93
Lifers: 29
Top bird: Spot-breasted lapwing
While typing today’s write-up I’m sitting on the edge of a cliff at the Ethio-German Park Hotel, looking down the massive expanse of the Jemma valley – it doesn’t get much better than this. Breakfast this morning at the Ghion hotel was rather ordinary but the coffee so strong that an inch of milk made no difference to the black-as-tar colour – it was delicious! The first four birds in Ethiopia I identified myself shortly after breakfast: Mountain thrush, Ruppell’s robin-chat, Streaky seedeater and Yellow-billed kite. Measho arrived just before 7am and we birded around the Ghion hotel gardens for the next hour. The birds came thick and fast and within ten minutes I ticked my one thousandth African bird for the year: a very boring and common Swainson’s sparrow. At 8am, Measho introduced me to my guide, Girum Tewelde and our driver, and we left to brave Addis traffic for another hour. After a quick stop to put up some company logo stickers on the side of the car, we headed out north to the Sululta plains. Here we stopped twice to walk among the short-cropped grass and marshy areas. The one bird I thought would be quite easy to see here, Rouget’s rail, we did not get, but the quality of the other birds made up double for that. Spur-winged lapwings, Western yellow and Mountain wagtails, Ethiopian siskin, Hooded vulture, Tawny eagle, Bearded vulture, Moorland chat, Red-throated pipit, Isabelline and Pied wheatears, Wattled ibis, Erlanger’s lark and the uncommon Blue-winged goose were all seen very well. Our second stop yielded a very nice surprise – a large (100+) flock of Spot-breasted lapwings, which Girum said he rarely sees on the plains here and then only in very small numbers. A pond also held Ruff, Black-winged stilt, Pied avocet, Northern shovelers and a couple of Black-tailed godwits. We then drove a winding road across the hilly plains that reminded a lot of the Lesotho interior and other high-altitude grasslands in South Africa. By lunch time we reached Debre Libanos and I had my first taste of injera (a sour pancake made from tef, a local grain) at the Ethio-German Park Hotel. They say it’s an acquired taste and I think I’ll need to do a bit more acquiring…. The hotel sits on the edge of the Jemma valley that drops about a kilometer in altitude towards the north east – it’s one hell of a location which is probably just as well since there’s not much else to recommend the place. With lunch done Girum and I walked down to the Portuguese bridge built in the 1600s – the original stone structure is still in place, crossing a fair-sized stream that tumbles down the cliffs just beyond the bridge. This rocky substrate had different birds and we ticked Ruppell’s black chat, Grey-backed camaroptera, Little and Blue rock-thrushes, Black saw-wing, Hemprich’s hornbill and Erckel’s francolin. Late afternoon we drove to the Debre Libanos monastery which had a patch of forest at the back. We traversed a stinking stream to get to the forest but the birding here was excellent. We saw White-rumped babblers, Banded barbet, Mountain white-eye, Brown woodland warbler, Brown-throated wattle-eye and African goshawk. A monk gave us a short tour through the church itself, originally built in the early 1400s but destroyed several times over the years and last rebuilt in 1961. As an anti-theist I have little interest or tolerance for anything religious, especially churches and edifices like these, but I must admit, the church inside was cool and peaceful, covered in carpets and with the most impressive stained glass artwork in the windows. We returned to Ethio-German and ticked a pair of Egyptian vultures as the sun set. At 2700m it gets quite cool here at night so I was not looking forward to a cold shower. But when I opened the shower tap to find deliciously hot water pouring out, I had an extremely pleasant shower followed by a quite palatable dinner of spaghetti and tomato sauce/soup (not like I had a choice though – it literally was the only thing available). Drizzle and a cold wind moved in during dinner and not long after, I cuddled up in bed.
17 December
Daily birds: 111
Cumulative total: 148
Lifers: 10
Top bird: Harwood’s francolin
It was an early start this morning. I was picked up at 5am – it was still dark and not far above freezing. Picking up a breakfast and lunch parcel along the way, we drove for about an hour and a half before starting to drop down into the spectacular Jemma valley. Still very much at the top, we stopped and stood on the edge of the road, scanning the slopes for Harwood’s francolins. These handsome birds roost on the slopes and descend early in the mornings into the cultivated fields to feed. If you don’t catch them while they’re on their way down, you can pretty much forget about seeing them. A few locals earned a few Birr helping us scan and this proved invaluable as they actually spotted movement before either Girum or I did. There were two birds and although they were a fair distance from us, when they stood upon some rocks, we could clearly see the red legs and just about the red cheeks as well. This was by far the most important bird for the day and having ticked it we slowly descended further, scanning the dry corn fields along the way. We added Abyssinian wheatear, Ruppell’s black chat and Blue rock-thrush. We had excellent views of Cinnamon-breasted and Ortolan buntings and at some impressive limestone cliffs, picked out a few Nyanza swifts. Lower down we got out of the car and walked along the road for a bit. Four Black-winged lovebirds flew past and we saw several of the strange-looking Speckle-fronted weavers. Finally we reached the river at the valley bottom and we took breakfast down at the river’s edge. After breakfast we continued upstream for a bit and although we added cool birds like Woolly-necked and more than a hundred flocking White storks, we didn’t get anything new here. Continuing along the road we stopped at another much smaller stream and followed this for a few hundred metres. At about 1.2kms lower than the top of the escarpment, it was much warmer down here and we welcomed a shady spot where we stopped to rest. Incredibly, from where we sat, we saw three different kingfishers: African pygmy, Half-collared and Grey-headed! We only added one new bird here (Black-billed wood-hoopoe) before returning to the car and starting the drive back. Back on top of the escarpment we stopped at a village to add some soft drinks to our lunch parcel. Along the way back to Debre Libanos we stopped at a marshy patch where there were Blue-winged geese, Wattled and Glossy ibis and several other waterbirds. A couple of vultures were devouring a medium-sized carcass, probably a donkey, and the contrast between the diminutive Hooded vultures and massive Lappet-faced vultures was obvious. Back at Ethio-German Park Hotel, Girum and I went for another walk towards Portuguese bridge and added a couple of new birds for the trip, including the near-endemic White-winged cliff-chat, Red-throated wryneck, Common kestrel and Pallid harrier. Back at the hotel at 5pm, we watched a female Gelada baboon picking up some leftovers, literally just one metre from a human couple. Dinner was exactly the same as last night and although it was still quite tasty, I’m now looking forward to something different.
18 December
Daily birds: 42
Cumulative total: 154
Lifers: 3
Top bird: Ankober serin
Today was one of those frustrating days where you need to spend a lot of time getting from A to B with little time for birding in between. We left Ethio-German at 7am and had a quick breakfast stop before heading east towards Debre Birhan. The gravel road was a bit rocky and the going slow; we didn’t have time to stop for the thousands of wheatears and larks I could see along the way. We arrived in Debre Birhan at 10:30 but my room wasn’t ready yet so we visited the local dump site to look for vultures. Although we got some nice close-up views of Bearded and Egyptian vultures here, there wasn’t anything new and since it seems like the prime dump site for cattle and goat carcasses, the stench was truly eye-watering. Back at the hotel we had some lunch and left at 13:30 to drive high up to the escarpment edge to look for one of Ethiopia’s most iconic birds. Finding this bird was the main purpose of the today and the reason for driving so far. So when we got to the site, a terrific scenic road verge at about 3200 metres looking down towards Melka Jebdhu, and found a bunch of people smack in the middle of the birds' favourite feeding ground, it was bloody annoying. Girum assured me though that the people would leave around 5pm (they were road side vendors selling handicrafts) so we decided to stick it out at least until then and in the meantime enjoyed the antics of a large troop of Gelada baboons. We also strolled to several different possible spots where we might find it and although we picked up Ethiopian cisticola and African stonechat, our target remained elusive. After about two unsuccessful hours, I walked back to the main parking area from where I sat photographing Geladas and gave up on finding the bird today. Focusing on the Geladas I didn’t really concentrate on what was going on around me and ten minutes later our driver came to call me. Girum had wondered off and apparently managed to find the birds some way down the road. We jumped in the car and drove half a kilometer down the road to a quarry-like cliff-face, hidden from the road by a raised terrace. Girum was waiting for us and I quickly scrambled to the top. And there on the vegetated basalt cliffs was a small flock of our target birds: Ankober serin! This is one of the most wanted birds of Ethiopia and it was just fantastic to finally see it after more than two hours searching for it! I spent the next fifteen minutes taking photographs before we headed back to Debre Birhan in the setting sun. It was a low-count day today but the serin was absolutely worth it.
19 December
Daily birds: 85
Cumulative total: 184
Lifers: 11
Top bird: Yellow-throated seedeater
Girum and the driver picked me up at 5am and we drove to the top of the escarpment at Ankober. As we descended into the Melka Jebdhu valley, the sun struggled through a thick cloud layer but by the time we reached the bottom of the valley, it was already warm enough to take off jackets. At our very first stop, a noisy group of seedeaters turned out to be Yellow-throated seedeaters – the main target for the day. With that done and dusted we slowly birded further into the valley, ticking off Yellow-breasted barbet, Masked shrike, Reichenow’s seedeater, Scarlet-chested sunbird, and a few more common birds. Our second stop was at the Melka Jebdhu river, a clean and clear stream bubbling over river stones. We sat here for breakfast. A longer walk along the river, and later higher up on the slopes, produced White-browed scrub-robin, Eastern gray plantaineater, White-bellied go-awaybird, Black-billed barbet and White-winged black tit. By the time we returned to the car it was warming up quickly and we only had one more walk before turning back. Our second walk produced Black stork, Abyssinian black wheatear, Green sandpiper, White-browed coucal and a stunning Northern carmine bee-eater. Around noon we headed back up the escarpment and stopped at the Ankober Palace Lodge for lunch. At 2800m, its much cooler here and the view from the restaurant simply quite stunning. This was emperor Menelik’s seat of power between the 1850s and 1906 when he died. A strategic location without doubt and for us, a quite enjoyable lunch spot, despite the hundred metre vertical climb to get there. We were back in Debre Birhan just before 4pm and Girum decided to try for a Cape eagle owl at an old quarry about 20kms outside of town. Unfortunately it appeared that the quarry was back in use as there were fresh cuttings on one side and no sight of any owls. After a very welcome shower, albeit in a disgusting bathroom, I had dinner and headed for bed.
20 December
Daily birds: 98
Cumulative total: 224
Lifers: 3
Top bird: Black-crowned crane
I’m sitting outside a sparkling little hotel called Bethlehem hotel, not far from the shores of Lake Ziway. I have a checkered table cloth, cold sodas, friendly staff and an impeccably clean room – can’t ask for much more. We started immediately after breakfast this morning with a 2-hour drive back Addis Ababa from Debre Birhan. We changed vehicles and drivers here and it was nice to climb into a spotlessly clean car. The company logo stickers that had collected dust on the first vehicle for the past four days, were neatly peeled off and stuck to the second car’s windows. Traffic was thankfully light in Addis Ababa since it was a Sunday and an hour or so later we stood on the edge of lake Chelekleka in Debrezeit. We were now below 2000m in the Rift Valley with a whole different suite of birds. There were lots of birds around but most were either in a small patch of open water a few hundred metres away, or hidden by stunted but thick grasses in the shallower end where we were. We picked up Ruffs, Wood sandpiper, Black-winged stilts and a couple of Hamerkops. The Marabou storks were only outnumbered by the flies and we didn’t stay very long. Lake Hora was our next stop, a steep-sided crater like with no shallows whatsoever. But it was better than our first stop as we picked up a few rafts of Great white pelicans, a single Pink-backed pelican, Black-crowned night herons, Little and Great egrets, Grey-headed gulls, Reed and White-breasted cormorants. The acacia woodland was also productive and I picked up my first batis – Black-headed. There were a couple of Little bee-eaters and both African and Mountain thrush around, but the star of the show was simply spectacular close-up views of a Spotted creeper that hopped up several tree trunks right in front of us. A popular motel/restaurant complex served us lunch in a junction town and the gardens here produced African dusky and African grey (Greyish) flycatchers. Further south it seemed like the surroundings got a bit drier and dustier. We stopped at the edge of Lake Koka and spotted some interesting looking birds in the distance. We walked closer and were ecstatic to not only pick out Yellow-billed and Saddle-billed storks, but five Black-crowned cranes! Back on the road we were held up for about ten minutes as a couple of boys struggled to control a herd of about a hundred camels. We continued all the way to Ziway and arrived at this beautiful little hotel on the edge of the lake at about 4pm. After check-in and a short drinks break, we walked down to the lake shore where hundreds of Great white pelicans and Marabou storks fought over fish scraps. There were also Black-headed gull, Hottentot teal, Common moorhen, Black crake, Black-winged lovebirds, African jacana, lots of Western yellow wagtails, a single Black heron and my second batis for the day, this time a Grey-headed. We were back shortly before 6pm and I settled in for a quiet dinner and peaceful night.
21 December
Daily birds: 104
Cumulative total: 260
Lifers: 14
Top bird: Abyssinian ground-thrush
Today I was reminded why I love this continent so much. The start of the day was auspicious in two ways. First, while the staff at Bethlehem hotel were still cleaning before breakfast service, I birded around the grounds and picked up two new birds: Lesser whitethroat (lifer) and Wattled starling. Then, after breakfast, our vehicle wouldn’t start and we had to push to get it going – not easy for a large Nissan Patrol. Driving south we picked up two new birds: Superb starling and Northern white-crowned (White-rumped) shrike. We entered the sparse acacia woodland of Abiata-Shalla National Park at lake Abiata and added a few great birds: Mouse-coloured penduline-tit, Buff-bellied warbler and a roosting Verreaux’s eagle-owl being harassed by two Pied crows and a Peregrine falcon. We drove towards lake Abiata – one of a few soda lakes in the Rift Valley. According to Girum it has shrunk significantly in the last twenty years and even since last year. Due to the nature of the soda mudflats, we couldn’t drive close to the shore and ended up walking almost two kilometres across grassy plains that eventually got replaced by dried out mud encrusted with salt and soda. The only new things we picked up here were a few Kittlitz’s plovers and three flocks of overflying Chestnut-bellied sandgrouse. When we returned to the car, it wouldn’t start again. Push starting a heavy Nissan Patrol on an uneven sandy track proved surprisingly difficult. It eventually took five tries with seven people pushing – me, Girum, our park scout and four youngsters who tagged along on our walk. Obviously there was something wrong and Girum promised they’d have it looked after in Shashemene, the next big town. First we made stops at lake Shalla and lake Langano where we saw Greyish eagle- and Northern white-faced owls, Slender-tailed nightjar, Red-faced crombec, Red-fronted barbet and Somali ostrich. I also saw my first Abyssinian hare and Grant’s gazelle. In Shashemene, Girum and I had lunch at one of the famous Ethiopian runner, Haile Gabreselassie’s chain of restaurants and hotels, while Fouad our driver went to get the car looked at. Fouad returned shortly with bad news – it wasn’t just the battery – it was the car’s regulator over-charging and weakening the battery and it needed a new regulator. After lunch, Girum and I got dropped off along the road next to the Hawassa University’s forestry section and we met a local bird guide who would escort us into the forest. Fouad returned to Shashemene to get the car fixed. It was a long and hot walk in the mid-afternoon sun to get into the forest but once there, the birding was just brilliant: Silvery-cheeked hornbills were constantly flying overhead. Scaly-throated honeyguide, Yellow-fronted parrots, Ethiopian boubou, Northern puffback and Ethiopian oriole were all calling loud and clear and a rustle in the undergrowth revealed for me the bird of the day – a stunning Abyssinian ground-thrush. We saw a few other more common forest birds including my first sighting of White-cheeked turacos. While bending down at a little stream to splash some water on my face, a loud rrriiiipp signaled an embarrassing foot-long tear in the front of my favourite trousers and for the last kilometre’s walk to our accommodation, I had to strategically dangle my hat through the throngs of locals. We arrived at the Wabe Shebelle hotel just before 6pm, an old, tired and run-down hotel with uninspiring rooms. Fouad was still in Shashemene with the car so I couldn’t do anything about cleaning up or changing trousers. It was a little depressing really. But the staff were friendly and two cold sodas helped to refresh me a bit. After Girum left on a motorcycle to go and sort their accommodation for the night, I ordered a shish kebab for dinner in the vague hope that it would be edible. Boy, did I underestimate the restaurant! When the food came, I had four freshly baked bread rolls, a plate full of short-grain rice, stir-fried carrots, onions and peppers, crispy chips and a foot-long kebab of the most perfectly cooked, tender and juicy lamb, spaced with green chillies and baby onions. It was the best meal I had in Ethiopia so far. In fact, it was the best meal I had this entire year from any of the other countries I’ve been to! My spirits were perked up and when Girum and Fouad showed up shortly after I finished with news that the car was fixed, it was the perfect end to a long but highly rewarding day. The smiling hotel staff and waving children along the way just made the day feel a little bit extra-special and just reminded me why I keep coming back to Africa
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22 December
Daily birds: 62
Cumulative total: 273
Lifers: 9
Top bird: Abyssinian owl
Today’s bird tally was low but the few that we did get were bloody brilliant! We started with a pre-breakfast walk at Wondo Genet. It was surprisingly chilly and it seemed like the birds were waiting for the sun before they would be prepared to move. We only had two new birds on the walk: African olive pigeon and Slender-billed starling, but we also paid a visit to the hot-springs (68 degrees C) that feed the hot water cisterns of the Wabe Shebelle hotel. When I asked Girum about the car, I was concerned to hear that it again didn’t want to start this morning. Although we stopped briefly in Shashemene to have it looked at, I’m not sure that Fouad, Girum or any of the mechanics that worked on it really knew what was wrong – not surprising considering the car troubles I’ve had to put up with this year so far. Either way, I didn’t ask out any further and it didn’t seem to bother Fouad or Girum much so I decided to not let it bother me either. We continued up into the Bale mountains and stopped briefly at a small high altitude wetland to tick Rouget’s rail – a bird I was starting to worry we might miss. Luckily I also reminded Girum that we haven’t seen Abyssinian longclaw yet either but a quick and short detour through some scrubby bushes with longish grass produced two beautiful longclaws. At the Bale Mountains Park headquarters in Dinsho we stopped for a rather ordinary lunch of spaghetti with carrots and cabbage and then met up with the park’s scout who apparently goes out every day to find where mainly the Abyssinian owls and Montane nightjars are roosting. He obviously knew exactly where to go and we tried to skirt chest-high thorny and spiky vegetation on the way to a beautiful old podocarpus tree where an Abyssinian owl looked down his bill at us. Ear tufts standing boldly upright, it was a pretty little owl and one that’s quite difficult to find. Chuffed with the owl, we duly followed the scout downhill to a grey rock shadowed by some young shrubs. He pointed to the rock and said something I didn’t understand. Even though I was standing just two metres from the rock I couldn’t see what he was pointing at at all. Only when Girum came to stand next to me and explained where to look could I finally make out the Montane nightjar roosting openly on the rock. It blended beautifully and I took a “Spot the nightjar” photo of the rock and bushes. Very happy with proceedings, we carried on to a gate in the fence where Girum suddenly shouted “White-backed black tit!” This was a much-wanted endemic and a great little bird to get. There were several around and while we watched them, the scout suddenly yelled “Woodpecker!” And there was yet another endemic – Abyssinian woodpecker, another tricky bird, in the same tree as the tits. We were still watching all the activity in the tree when a beautifully melodic whistle sounded from the neighbouring tree – it was an Abyssinian catbird! The third endemic in five minutes standing in the same spot! Feeling very happy that we saw pretty much all the birds Dinsho could produce we started back towards the Dinsho Lodge where we had lunch. We had a brief glimpse of a Chestnut-naped francolin to round out the afternoon’s birding. Just after 3pm we left Dinsho and drove through to Goba to check in at another Wabe Shebelle hotel. Considering the rather shabby appearance of this one as well as the previous one in Wondo Genet, their name is quite apt. The fact that power was off when we arrived didn’t make me like the place any better and the prospect of staying here for three nights was grim. But hey, nothing I can do about it so just go with the flow and enjoy the birds. Tomorrow we’ll head into the hot eastern desert of Sof Omar to look for Salvadori seedeater.
23 December
Daily birds: 54
Cumulative total: 293
Lifers: 12
Top bird: Rosy-patched bush-shrike
There’s no point sugar coating it. Sof Omar is a filthy collection of cow shit dwellings held together by a string and a prayer, perched on the lip of a small canyon. Leaving at 5am, our breakfast and lunch parcels got well acquainted on the bumpy gravel road. We arrived just before 8am and immediately got out to walk down the road into the canyon. This was apparently prime habitat for Salvadori’s seedeater, our main target for the day, as well as Brown-tailed chat. Two and a half hours later, having walked the canyon bottom and descending road three times and inspecting closely anything smaller than a sparrow, we had still not found the seedeater. We did however get good sightings of Bristle-crowned starling, Von der Decken’s hornbill, Shining sunbird, Northern brownbul and Brown-tailed chat. It was getting quite hot and although the shade provided some relief, it was time for a change of scenery. We drove a little further along the road to where it exited the canyon again but didn’t see anything new. Returning to the other side, we drove into the village to a shack where a lady served coffee. This was literally a 45-minute process that started with her roasting the beans over a small wood-stove, then crushing it by hand in a mortar and pestle and then finally stewing it in a pot on the stove. It was strong and not all-bad but there was a strange taste I did not find particularly pleasant and my companions seemed equally unimpressed. Combined with getting stared at by half the village’s children standing in the doorway and having to swat flies left, right and centre, it was not the best experience I’ve had in Ethiopia. At noon we returned to the bottom of the canyon to wait for the seedeaters. While Fouad dozed in the car, Girum and I picked a large shady acacia for a vigil and spent the next two hours waiting for the seedeaters. We had lunch in the shade as well and then took a last desperate walk upstream. This did produce great views of Nubian woodpecker, Acacia (Somali) tit and Red-bellied parrot, but alas, no seedeater. I suppose sooner or later we were going to dip on a major target and today was that day. At 3pm we left for the long drive back and got a consolation prize of a Rosy-patched bush-shrike. Back at Goba’s Wabe Shebelle at 6pm, the hot shower was the first thing on my mind after the dusty road and thereafter a marginally better dinner than last night.
24 December
Daily birds: 52
Cumulative total: 304
Lifers: 2
Top bird: Red-billed chough
They don’t look much different to many of the mongrels you find in Ethiopia but there’s something special about seeing the rarest canid on the planet. Today I had the incredible privilege to see six individual Ethiopian wolves. Seeing them is like watching one of those incomparable Drakensberg sunrises – you get goose bumps all over and you feel a touch of damp in the corners of your eyes. This morning I had breakfast at the hotel before we left at 06:30. There were a fair amount of cloud around and as we ascended high into the Bale mountains, fog enveloped us. There were plenty of Chestnut-naped francolin about but the more special Moorland francolin was nowhere to be seen. We soon reached the Sanetti plateau – at mostly over 4000m, it’s a desolate, windswept, mist-shrouded moorland of incredible beauty – I just love places like this. It was therefore a bit frustrating that we sped over the top, past Ethiopia’s second highest point, Tulu Deemtu (4377m). The reasoning was that it was still too cold on the plateau for birds and wolves and birding in the Harenna forest on the southern slopes would be better. One of the many small moorland ponds did get us three Wattled cranes and a pair of Ruddy shelduck though. Once in the Harenna forest we got out and walked for a bit along the road but the birding was not exactly fantastic – we only added Sharpe’s starling and Cinnamon bracken-warbler as new birds. At a small hut in one of the sparse villages along the road, we stopped for some delicious chai tea and flat bread with greens. Then we headed back up to the Sanetti plateau and this time drove much slower. No sooner had we reached the top when Girum spotted the first two Ethiopian wolves. They were about fifty metres away and looked like they were hunting for giant molerats. This was an amazing moment for me and I took my time photographing them. When we eventually moved off they were still scouring the soft ground. Bird activity was very low but we did manage to get two pairs of Red-billed chough and a number of soaring Golden eagles. On the other side of the plateau we got four more wolves and spent more time photographing them, as well as the very scenic edge of the mountain. Descending much slower this time, we searched fruitlessly for Moorland francolin and eventually gave up. Girum and Fouad dropped me off at the hotel for a late lunch and at 15:30 picked me up again for a bit of late afternoon grassland birding. Girum and I walked along some wheat fields and pastures for another hour and a half but only added Common waxbill as a new bird. Birding-wise, today was one of the slowest I’ve had in Ethiopia so far, but having seen Ethiopian wolves, completely made up for that. And then some….
25 December
Daily birds: 90
Cumulative total: 326
Lifers: 10
Top bird: Prince Ruspoli’s turaco
There was some rain overnight and I woke up to a power outage. I’ve packed a backpack a hundred times before by torchlight so that wasn’t an issue but it did result in a late breakfast. Last night our troublesome Nissan Patrol got exchanged for a battered and bruised Landcruiser. Nothing on the instrument panel worked and the left back window could not be wound down. But it was a Toyota and I hoped that everything would now keep going right. We ascended to the Sanetti plateau slower than yesterday but still could not locate a Moorland francolin. On top we came across a couple of Northern pintails and African black duck. It was cold and very misty on the plateau; we didn’t linger and quickly made our way down into the Harenna forest. A short walk produced a Dark-capped bulbul (first for the trip) and an African emerald cuckoo with a completely unfamiliar call. It started drizzling a little and with a long way still ahead of us, our driver increased speed and we soon found ourselves out of the forest in the town of Dolamena. The rain cleared up and forest made way for dense acacia woodland and when we came across a bird party, we cashed in big time: White-headed buffalo-weaver, Shelley’s starling, Grey-headed batis, Abyssinian scimitarbill, Ethiopian oriole, Northern masked weaver, Red-fronted barbet, Nubian woodpecker, Orange-breasted bush-shrike, White-crested helmetshrike and Fork-tailed drongo. Shortly after passing through the town of Bidire we stopped at the top of a breezy hill and had lunch. The sun was fierce but when it disappeared behind some clouds, it was actually surprisingly pleasant. From here, the acacia woodland was replaced by broad-leaved woodland and at a patch of fruiting trees we stopped to look for Prince Ruspoli’s turaco. The type specimen for this turaco was famously discovered in the bag of the Italian prince after he got killed by an elephant. As soon as we stopped, we were surrounded by teenagers and adults. Apparently they all knew where turacos could be seen and they all beckoned us into different directions. I stuck to Girum’s side as he followed an older fellow. A group of fruiting trees stood on the other side of the road and immediately after jumping a ditch, we got good views of a turaco. It was rather skittish though and liked dense foliage – the moment I got within a good spot for a photo it would fly off. I managed to snap one reasonable head-shot before eventually giving up. Jumping back in the car we drove on through several small and short rain-showers – all of them very welcome to help cool things down. We reached the tar road to Negele in the late afternoon and just before the town got our first Eastern chanting goshawk. At 17:30 I was checked into the Turaco hotel in Negele – reasonable accommodation but they don’t serve any food. At 7pm I was picked up for dinner at a local restaurant where standards aren't quite the same as the hotel food we've had so far on the trip. Options were rice or spaghetti and vegetables or meat (type of meat unspecified). I chose rice and meat and received a plateful of rice with about a dessert spoon size sprinkling of mince in-between. It wasn't inedible but certainly a far cry from the shish kebab from a few days ago.
26 December
Daily birds: 63
Cumulative total: 344
Lifers: 9
Top bird: Liben lark
We had breakfast at the same place we had dinner last night – just an omelet and dry bread – no tea, coffee, butter or jam. By 7am we were on the road and headed east into the Liben plains – a large open grassy plain that’s heavily overgrazed. This is the ideal habitat for Liben lark and thankfully, the community seems to have caught on to the importance (at least, the monetary importance of preserving this for the rich tourists) of this incredibly localized endemic and they’ve used acacia branches to fence off an area of about ten hectares to try and keep the cattle out. Girum opened a “gate” in the fence and we started scouring the plains. Heavy clouds were moving in from the east and blocked out the sun, making the temperature on the cooler side of pleasant. The first few birds we saw were Somali short-toed larks and after twenty minutes we still hadn’t found it. A community leader arrived to help us and about ten minutes later located one in shorter grass on the other side of the fence. We quickly made our way over and had excellent views of this handsome lark, looking quite a lot like the South African endemic Rudd’s lark. With our main target ticked, we moved on and soon had some rain from the heavy clouds. New birds included lots of White-crowned starlings and Ethiopian swallows, a couple of Somali crows and a single Somali fiscal. A patch of acacias had calling Boran and Rattling cisticolas and Pectoral-patch cisticolas flew over from the grasslands. The rain didn’t last very long and when the sun emerged, it got warm quickly. The plains gave way to mixed woodland as the countryside became a little more hilly – we stopped here for a last desperate attempt for Salvadori’s seedeater but couldn’t find any. On our way back to Negele, we stopped at a small dam where animals and humans alike came to quench their thirst. There were a number of waterbirds around but nothing unusual or new. Back in Negele, I had one of the least pleasant meals yet: spaghetti with essentially boiled offcuts of sheep – I won’t call it mutton because that would make it sound nicer than it was. An afternoon siesta was followed by another trip east. This added a few new birds: White-bellied bustard, Yellow-necked spurfowl and Temminck’s courser. While getting cleaned up before dinner, our driver managed to back the Landcruiser into an open sewer. With lots of hands, they managed to get it out but I’m concerned that he may have damaged the axle or differential. Only time will tell if our car troubles are about to start…
27 December
Daily birds: 97
Cumulative total: 373
Lifers: 20
Top bird: Streseman’s bush-crow
We left Negele at 05:30. It was pleasantly cool and heavy-looking clouds were drifting in from the east. After a bumpy hour and a half we stopped at a few patches of acacia alive with activity. Our first stop yielded Black-throated barbet, Marico sunbird, Dodson’s bulbul and a few others. The second produced Grey-headed batis, Black-billed scimitarbill, Ethiopian oriole, White-headed buffalo-weaver, Nubian woodpecker and D’Arnaud’s barbet, thereby cleaning up all the possible barbets. We started losing altitude and for the first time on the trip, dropped through 1000 metres above sea level. We stopped for breakfast at 8am on the southern side of a river-bed with a trickle of water. At the river bridge, Lesser striped swallows and Common house martins were plenty and in the bushes at our breakfast spot, a couple of Rufous chatterers were found. At a small town just before the Dawa river we located a single White-winged dove, a pair of Pygmy batis and a whole flock of Black-capped social weavers. The town was full of annoying kids and teenagers that kept shouting “Youyouyouyou!”, invaded my personal space constantly and when one grabbed my pen and notebook (luckily attached to my camera strap), I had enough. We drove out of the town and stopped at the Dawa river, at 890m, the lowest point on our trip so far. Scattered clouds moderated the temperature somewhat but when the sun emerged it was ridiculously hot. We walked upstream for about a kilometer, looking for Juba weavers, but it appeared to be too hot for them as well. It wasn’t a fruitless walk though as we saw Purple grenadiers, a stunning Bare-eyed thrush and flushed a pair of Black-faced sandgrouse. Back at the car we ran into Measho who was guiding two Japanese clients and Measho also thought it was too hot already for the Juba weavers. Further on we added another great pair of sandgrouse, Lichtenstein’s this time, and then also a Eurasian wryneck, Grey kestrel and Hunter’s sunbird. Driving along at a medium speed, Girum suddenly yelled for the driver to stop as something walked across the road. It was a cat and it purposefully walked quickly, straight into the bushes on the other side of the road, with something furry dangling from its mouth. It was a large sturdy cat and the rufous coat and long pointy ears only meant one thing - it was a caracal! This was a lifer for me and I was ecstatic! We stopped for lunch in a dusty little one-camel village and sat in a filthy backyard of the local shebeen, trying to wash down a dry bread roll with a warm Coke – haven’t had much worse so far on this trip. Shortly after leaving the town we turned a little more northwards and when I saw some hilly terrain up ahead, my eyes lit up. Steadily ascending, we topped out about 600 metres higher and the respite from the heat was just awesome. The fresher air seemingly revived the birds too and with the afternoon starting to push on, we added more birds: Chestnut weaver, Grey-headed social weaver, Red-winged starling, Pied wheatear, and then the big one: Streseman’s bush-crow! Featuring on the cover page of my field guide and being a unique monotypic genus of debatable affinities, this very localized endemic was number one on my must-see list. There was a party of five birds and although I got close to them, the light was too poor for photographs and we eventually moved on. With some distance still to cover, we moved on but stopped again not long after for another localized endemic, White-tailed swallow. At 5pm we reached the tar road to Yabello, hopped out and walked along the road for a last bit of birding. After getting excellent views of Chestnut sparrow, it was time to go and we got into Yabello at 17:45. During a much nicer dinner, Girum informed me that our driver was unable to start the car after they dropped me off and the car was now at the mechanic. I do hope today was not my last birding day in Ethiopia…
28 December
Daily birds: 71
Cumulative total: 395
Lifers: 17
Top bird: Vulturine guineafowl
In the middle of the night I was woken by something crawling on my legs. In the dark I reached down to my knees and squeezed and slept on. This morning I woke up next to a dead cockroach... We had breakfast at 6am, left just before 06:30 and drove for about an hour to a nice birding spot next to the road. As it turns out, not even Toyotas are immune to the onslaught of African mechanics. While Girum and I ticked off new birds, our driver must’ve fiddled with the car because we could hear him constantly trying (unsuccessfully) to start the car. Thinking we’ll worry about it later we kept on birding. We saw Abyssinian white-eye, Red-naped and Rosy-patched bush-shrikes, Spotted palm-thrush, Somali bunting, Scaly chatterer, Straw-tailed whydah, Banded parisoma, White-bellied and Northern grosbeak canaries, Pale prinia and Common rock-thrush. We returned to the car at about 9am to find the bonnet propped up with our driver busily tinkering. Something was wrong and he couldn’t get it started. It turned over fine, but just wouldn’t catch, and push-starting also didn’t work. While we waited, he phoned the mechanics that worked on the car yesterday and then tinkered some more. At one point, I kid you not, he took a tyre spanner and bashed something in the engine with it. As the birding time ticked away I started getting annoyed and eventually the mechanics back in Yabello were asked to come help us out. But we were about 80kms south of Yabello so it would be at least an hour. Frustrated, Girum and I started birding the other side of the road and added Foxy lark, Three-streaked tchagra and a Bateleur before the mechanics eventually showed up. It was now past 11am already and the driver and mechanics smashed and bashed to no avail. Eventually it was decided that the mechanics would help to push the car to the next town we could see in the distance. Since this was more than five kilometres away, I can’t for the life of me think why they seriously thought that this was the best plan. With the two mechanics pushing, the driver got in the car, and miraculously, as he tried popping the clutch again, the engine took. With the engine running, they fiddled about for another ten minutes and we then drove into the next town to try and get it fixed “properly”. Arriving at noon, it took another hour, with the help of some tools borrowed from a local mechanic to get the problem sorted out. With the car finally "fixed", just as we were about to leave, an argument broke out between the local mechanic, the driver and the two Yabello mechanics. Since this was almost certainly about money, I threw some Birr at this additional problem and Girum managed to get the local mechanic to leave just before things started to get really out of hand. We hadn’t had any food yet but with our other planned birding site just 20kms further down the road, we decided to bird there for a short time. Within minutes we had picked up Magpie starling, Taita fiscal and Short-tailed lark but when we couldn’t find Tiny cisticola after another fifteen minutes we turned around and raced back to Yabello. Back at 3pm, we quickly ordered lunch and discussed what to do with the remainder of the day. I was certainly pissed-off to have lost four hours birding time but there was nothing anyone could do about it now. We hadn’t seen Pringle’s puffback, Somali crombec or any silverbills yet but I was far more concerned about Vulturine guineafowl. So in the end we left immediately after lunch and drove solidly for two hours to a densely wooded area where they normally come out at sunrise and sunset. After driving the entire section of road where they’re normally seen, we were still missing them and eventually turned around. Thinking that I most likely missed 10-15 species today because of all the car trouble, I felt quite depressed and as the sun touched the western horizon, I gave up on the guineafowl as well. Just then Girum shouted at the driver to stop and right next to us were a group of about twenty Vulturine guineafowl. They disappeared quickly in the dark undergrowth and there was barely time for a few snaps. On the way back we stopped twice to look and listen for nightjars but this is not breeding season and they weren’t displaying or calling. We got back to Yabello just after 8pm, ordered dinner and took quick showers. It was a long day. The early morning’s birding was fantastic but I’m still going to feel pained for some time that we couldn’t carry that through for the whole day. Having heard the untrue confirmation that the car is fixed now for about ten times this year, I’m getting decidedly fed-up of shoddy workmanship in Africa. As much as I love this continent, and as much as I love having stories like these to tell afterwards, it really is time for Africa to wake up.
29 December
Daily birds: 62
Cumulative total: 405
Lifers: 1
Top bird: Bare-faced go-awaybird
The eight-hour drive from Yabello to Awassa is one hour of pleasure and seven hours of pure hell. We left immediately after breakfast and I spent the next hour gazing at the beautiful open landscape, dominated by dense acacia woodland, sparse collections of huts and rising mountains in the distance. All this peace is set to change though as I understand the government-owned cattle ranches in the area plan to dismantle the Yabello Wildlife Sanctuary and take over the land for cattle grazing. About half an hour out of Yabello, Girum spotted a Bare-faced go-awaybird flying across the road and we jumped out quickly to have a look. Another thirty minutes or so later we reached Agere Maryam and here the road disintegrated completely. The next 200kms took us seven hours to drive. It really is shocking that a government would allow the main arterial road of the country running south to the Kenyan border to become so badly eroded. The surface is either terribly rocky and dusty gravel, or some of the worst potholed tar I’ve seen this year. The road is very busy with trucks, cars, tuk-tuks, motorcycles, donkey carts, cattle, donkeys, goats and people and the dust penetrates deep. We reached Dilla at noon and stopped at a fancy hotel for a reasonably good meal before driving another three hours over absolutely shit roads before reaching Awassa. Granted, there’s active road works going on along most of the road but quite frankly, they’re about twenty years too late. I was checked in at the United Africa hotel on lake Awassa’s shore at 4pm and had half an hour break while Girum and the driver found their accommodation. I took the time to try and get rid of some of the dust that accumulated on top of and inside everything. Just before 5pm Girum and I spent some time in the hotel gardens and walking along lake Awassa’s shore. It was very crowded though, both with humans and mosquitoes. The shore is also absolutely filthy – I should think quite an embarrassment for the people but obviously not. We added African pygmy goose, White-backed duck, Marsh warbler, Blue-headed coucal, and lots of other common waterside birds. Sunset provided some terrific photo opportunities but we decided to get back to the hotel before we got eaten alive. Dinner was tasty and my bed quite comfortable. My shower for a change had a shower curtain as well and I didn't have to spend ten minutes after to mop up the bathroom floor.
30 December
Daily birds: 91
Cumulative total: 412
Lifers: 2
Top bird: Sombre rock chat
We braved the mosquitoes before breakfast this morning and again walked along the shore of lake Awassa. We had some nice views of several Sedge warblers and also added a White-browed robin-chat. Breakfast was a buffet for a change but it was all fried stuff – no fruit or yoghurt, porridge, cereal or muesli. And geez do I crave some bacon! The coffee though was just absolutely stunning and I had a second shot before we left. On our way out of Awassa we stopped at another point on the lake shore and added some Black-tailed godwits, Black-winged stilt, Red-billed teal and our first (and only) Garganeys. The drive across the Rift Valley was uneventful, hot dry and dusty. We stopped in Oromia’s capital, Adama, for lunch. The Safari Lodge here has a pleasant shady courtyard style open restaurant and the tilapia and chips I ordered wasn’t half bad. Around 2pm we carried on and started descending out of the Rift Valley into the hot north-east that eventually leads to the Afar plains. Unfortunately the road is the main artery to the only port that Ethiopia can use – in Djibouti – so it is absolutely choked with cargo trucks. We barely averaged 50kph and only got to the old lava flows that Sombre rock chats like at about 4pm. Mount Fantale towered above us to the north and we stood on a lava flow from the 19th century looking south to lake Besaka. It took us about five minutes to find a pair of chats, got decent views and then moved on. It was hot. Across the road we walked past an old World War II Italian fort and then climbed up and over a massive lava flow fissure, in places more than fifty metres deep. We got a brief glimpse of a Blackstart and some very distant moving blobs turned out to be our first Helmeted guineafowls for the trip. To be honest, the geology at this point was a bit more interesting than the birds so we took some time exploring the fissures, blister cones and a large blister cave. Returning to the car we drove another 25kms to the Awash National Park entrance and then another 11kms to the Awash Falls Lodge. Facilities here are quite primitive and if it was anymore rustic we would’ve been camping. It’s hot and uncomfortable here so I’m hoping tomorrow’s birding will be worth it.
31 December
Daily birds: 70
Cumulative total: 420
Lifers: 5
Top bird: Buff-crested bustard
Geez did I miss the Ethiopian highlands today! By 8am the mercury was climbing north of 30 degrees and by early afternoon it was 38 and decidedly unpleasant. We left the lodge at 6am while it was still cool and spent the next two hours looking mainly for bustards and larks. My last day in 2015 was not a good birding day. The local people use Awash National Park to graze their cattle when they feel like it and the government is powerless to stop them. Consequently, the beautiful grassy plains studded with acacias I’ve seen in the photos were no more. Everywhere we looked the grass was mowed to the roots and not a thing moved. The current lack of rain did not help and although we ticked a few common birds, the big tally I was hoping for did not happen. We did eventually find two Arabian bustards and on the way to breakfast, a Buff-crested bustard too, but the morning was really disappointing. Girum thought it would be a good idea to stay at another lodge tonight, rather than a second night at Awash Falls – it would enable us to visit the Alledeghe plains tomorrow. Doho lodge is a sister lodge of Awash Falls and they were able to transfer our reservation without problems. After a late breakfast we packed up and left and drove to Doho lodge, about 50kms away. The access road is bone dry and powdery dust fills the air everywhere. But the actual lodge was a big surprise. It’s perched on the edge of a 20m tall embankment that appears to be several hundred metres long. The embankment cuts through the water table and everywhere on the slope, water filters through and ends up in a large palm-fringed pool immediately below the lodge. We enjoyed a welcome drink on a small shaded deck, ordered lunch and then took a quick walk around the area. Here I saw what turned out to be my last new bird for 2015 – a beautiful Nile valley sunbird. After lunch we took a long siesta along with the birds and at 16:30 took another longer walk. Although we added a few more birds, including a flushed Slender-tailed nightjar, there was nothing new and my African Big Year had come to an end. I watched a beautiful sunset before dinner but the mosquitoes drove me inside the hut soon after. With so many experiences this past year and with the new year looming, I usually like to reflect on things a bit at this time on the last day of the year. To be honest though, the heat and mosquitoes occupied my mind quite a bit more and the night was a bit fretful.
01 January
Daily birds: 47
Cumulative total: 422
Lifers: 1
Top bird: Red-winged lark
I entered 2016 slapping at mosquitoes under my mosquito net. When my alarm went off at 05:30, I could barely hear it above the din of mosquitoes. Although a few managed to get inside the net, it did a pretty good containment job. Outside the net, it was a whole different story. Every single task I had to do to get ready, I had to do with one hand only -the other was busy waving and swatting mosquitoes. You could literally not stand still for 3-4 seconds and you’ll have 5-10 landings. I did everything as quick as I could and vacated my room in 16 minutes flat from when my alarm went off – with an additional twenty bites. It was deliciously cool still so I wanted to get going. I swallowed a quick breakfast and we were on our way. As we drove, the headlights scared up a couple of Slender-tailed nightjars, a Buff-crested bustard and a Common jackal before we reached the tar road. We turned north, deeper into Afar country. Some forty kilometres further we stopped at an outpost and picked up a scout to guide us around the Alledeghe plains. In the rainy season, the plains below Asabot mountain apparently turn green with grass and teem with wildlife. Now it was literally a stony desert dotted with a few dead-looking acacias and white-bleached skeletons. This now really looked like proper Ethiopian desert. I was a bit frustrated that we raced across the plains and didn’t really stop much. We did see a pair of Somali ostriches heading a trail of dust, a beautiful Red-winged lark, a couple of Chestnut-bellied sandgrouse and three groups of Black-headed lapwings. In less than an hour we were back on the tar and then braved the smoke-belching trucks to and from Djibouti for another two hours to reach the same old Italian fort at lake Besaka we visited two days ago. We stopped here again to look for buntings and sparrowlarks but it was probably too hot already. Around 11am we started back up to the Rift Valley, stopped in Bishoftu for lunch and then spent another two hours on the 50kms to Addis Ababa. It was awful being back in Addis - traffic was horrendous and we just couldn't get out from behind smoking slow-moving trucks. Finally at around 5pm we got to the Haikan hotel where I would stay for the last night. Girum joined me in my room for a last chat and we said our goodbyes - he's a pretty good bird guide, extremely capable at sorting out issues and a fantastic guy to be around with. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with him and would highly recommend him as a guide to anyone. Measho visited at 7pm and we chatted a bit about birding and final logistics for my return tomorrow. At 8pm I had a decent steak dinner before bed.
At 5am I used the hotel shuttle to the airport and had an uneventful flight home. By Saturday afternoon I was back in Middelburg and it was really good to see Nicola. It was a fantastic trip. Really, just a mind-blowing whirlwind of experiences. Ethiopia has some problems. over-population, over-grazing, pollution, drought, etc. But compared to most other African countries, I had a much easier time here. On average, the accommodation is better, the food's better and the roads are better. Apart from the constant "youyouyouyou" and the blatant staring, people are friendly and almost always smiling. the lowlands are fiercely hot, but the highlands are deliciously cool and pleasant and the scenery hard to beat. I saw a total of 422 species in 17 days of birding. There are 54 Horn-of-Africa endemics and near-endemics that occur in Ethiopia and I saw 42 of them. Considering that this list include a number of birds found in sites we did not visit as well as ridiculous birds like Nechisar nightjar (a live Nechisar nightjar has never been seen), this is a pretty amazing number. The only real misses we had was Salvadori's seedeater, White-billed starling, Moorland francolin and Juba weaver. There were a number of other good birds like Abyssinian waxbill and Abyssinian crimsonwing, Pringle's puffback and Somali crombec that we also missed but these are hard birds to find so I never really expected to see these. Birding is generally quite easy as most of habitat is either open high-altitude grassy plains and agricultural fields, acacia, mixed and broad-leaved woodland at the lower altitudes and stony plains to the east and north-east. Forest birding is as tricky as anywhere but there's precious little of it left in Ethiopia - but the big finds though are almost all in highlands or the acacia woodlands. For those interested in visiting Ethiopia, below is some tips and advice.
General
Food and drink
Generally speaking, food in Ethiopia is quite a bit better than any of the other African countries I travelled to this year. It’s only really in Debre Libanos where the options were limited to injera and spaghetti with tomato sauce and in Negele where even the spaghetti was barely tolerable. All the other places had decent variety on the menu and even things like shish kebab or a hamburger were available – you wouldn’t dream of ordering this in pretty much all of the rest of Africa. The Wabe Shebelle hotels had the best food. If you take a liking to injera, good for you, because then you can really eat anywhere. I didn’t like it all that much and managed to do just fine without it. Breakfasts are invariably bread (either fresh, toasted or rather stale) with a version of eggs (scrambled, fried or omelet). In the large hotels you can maybe get some porridge too. Eva was the only hotel that had a bit more variety but the options were rather awful to be honest. In most of the hotels serving breakfast, you should get a little bit of jam and/or margarine but don’t bet on it. Vegetables usually means cabbage and if you’re lucky, a few thin slices of carrot and onion. Fruit is surprisingly uncommon in the restaurants even though I’ve seen street vendors selling pawpaw, banana, pineapple, mango and plums. Their coffee is strong and the stuff brewed properly at the hotels is fantastic. But I actually liked their chai tea even more and this was as good as any I’ve tasted in India. Bottled water is widely available as is both the main Coca-Cola and Pepsi branded soft drinks. There’s a variety of local beers and even wine available but I didn’t bother with either of these.
Accommodation
Generally speaking again, the available accommodation is a fair bit better than the rest of Africa. Compared to South African standards though, Ethiopian hotels and lodges are rather awful: the rooms and beds themselves are generally OK and apart from poor lighting, lack of power outlets, and poor workmanship and finishing, they provide a reasonable night’s rest. It’s really in the bathrooms where things go pear-shaped. I had shower curtains only five out of eighteen nights – I really don’t get it – do they think we like standing on a wet bathroom floor or having to spend twenty minutes mopping up after a shower? Leaking basins with loose tap and pipe fittings were common, and caked soap scum, lime scale and mildew are a given. General construction and maintenance show an appalling lack of skill and experience and everything looks like a DIY job done by a toddler. All that being said, it's still better than accommodation in other African countries. I’m rating all the hotels I stayed at out of ten below. Consider that a 10/10 would be equivalent to a decent 3-star place in South Africa.
- Ghion hotel, Addis Ababa, 8/10: decent hotel with decent food. Rooms are clean and relatively neat, the bathroom is functional and neat, shower has a shower curtain but there’s no frills.
- Ethio-German Park Hotel, Debre Libanos, 6/10: this place is not quite as bad as the internet will have you believe. The location is about as good as it gets in Debre Libanos and although the rooms are a bit too airy and the roofs tend to leak when it rains, I was quite comfortable here. The bathroom was clean and the shower had a curtain and deliciously hot water. The kitchen only does injera and spaghetti with tomato sauce though so don’t go expecting anything else.
- Eva Hotel, Debre Birhan, 4/10: Eva was probably my biggest disappointment. Internet reviews were good and I think the rooms in the main hotel are probably OK but the room I had in the annex was horrible. Lighting was terrible and both the room and bathroom were quite dirty. There was no shower curtain and the basin was fixed at an astonishingly skew angle. The basin tap was completely loose so you actually needed two hands to open the tap. Staff were surly or indifferent, dinners were OK but breakfast I thought rather poor for such a big place. I should say that this was the only place where I found working internet (only early in the morning though).
- Bethlehem Hotel, Ziway, 9/10: Wow, what a breath of fresh air! This is a wonderfully quiet hotel, very close to lake Ziway. The rooms are fresh, neat and spotlessly clean. The bathroom had no frills but was one of the cleanest and neatest I’ve seen. Food was pretty good and the staff were always smiling and helpful – I really enjoyed staying here.
- Wabe Shebelle, Wondo Genet, 7/10: Being the only guest in this large complex of old buildings felt a bit eerie and although the high-ceilinged room I had was quite comfortable, I didn’t feel very comfortable. The bathroom was definitely old but reasonably neat and clean. The food however, was simply the best I had on the entire trip. It was fresh and well-seasoned, the drinks were ice-cold and the staff friendly and attentive.
- Wabe Shebelle, Goba, 7/10: This one is also a little run-down but looks perhaps a shade better than the Wondo Genet version. The room’s a bit better than the Wondo Genet hotel too but the bathroom was not great - no shower curtain, very mildewy and dirty. The food’s not bad but they’re a bit heavy-handed with the cabbage.
- Turaco hotel, Negele, 7/10: Turaco hotel is in a quiet and shady section off a cobbled road. The room is smaller than most but fairly comfortable. Again there is no shower curtain and the black basin and toilet were not the cleanest I’ve ever seen. So the accommodation itself is not bad but their biggest failure is that they don’t serve any meals and the options in town are rather grim. Neighbours were also very noisy on both nights we stayed here.
- Yabello Motel, Yabello, 5/10: Five out of ten is perhaps a little bit unfair since the staff here were very friendly and helpful but the bathroom’s basin leaked, the tap was loose, the toilet didn’t flush properly, the shower head sprayed into the middle of the bathroom (obviously there’s no curtain), rather than the unstable shower bowl and the mosquito net was full of holes and too small for the bed. I also had a cockroach in the bed. The food here is not bad at all though and their drinks were fantastically cold. Despite being right next to the main road, it’s not that noisy and it’s quite a popular place so the place does feel alive and pleasant.
- United Africa Hotel, Awassa, 8/10: United Africa had the neatest and cleanest bathroom of all the places I stayed at, there was actually a shower curtain and a proper mosquito net. The grounds have huge shady trees full of colobus and vervet monkeys and a couple of olive baboons too. The food here was very good and the staff very friendly and helpful. It’s location does unfortunately also mean a mosquito population of unprecedented proportions and as a last complaint, the lighting in the room is particularly poor.
- Awash Falls Lodge, Awash, 3/10: Admittedly, this place is in a remote area and they’re probably doing the best they can with what they have. There isn’t really anywhere else to stay in the southern part of the park so you don’t have an option. Rooms are super basic with rock and cement floors, a little half-wall to divide off the bathroom from the bedroom, a chair and couple of towel hooks. There’s a single light bulb and a single very dodgy looking power socket. The beds are OK and at least have decent mosquito nets – bring lots of repellent though because they have an open-air restaurant and you won’t be able to eat enough to keep the mosquitoes from sucking you dry. There is only tepid water in the shower (not that this matters since it’s very hot here). The power went out several times while we were here but my biggest complaint is that most of the units are built in groups of four together, sharing walls, and since the walls are just woven grass mats, you can hear everything (literally, everything) that’s going on next door. It was high season now and the place was full – I much like my privacy and this place has none whatsoever.
- Doho Lodge, Awash, 4/10: A sister lodge to Awash Falls but more remote. It’s just one year old at present and the units are definitely better than Awash – they have fairly even cement floors and are standalone so privacy is better. Beds have decent mosquito nets and the bathrooms are bigger. It also has a great location overlooking a small dam – this unfortunately also means the mosquitoes are even worse than at Awash Falls. They don’t seem to be connected to the main electricity grid as there’s no power during the day and at night they switch on a generator from about 18:30 until around 21:30.
Roads
Other than road linking Agere Maryam to Awassa and further on to Addis Ababa, most tar roads are fairly even and smooth, sometimes even really good. Apart from the expressway in the Rift Valley and in the larger towns, you won't find any double- or multi-lane roads though. In the Rift Valley and en route to Awash, you are going to spend a lot of time driving slowly behind trucks, getting lung cancer from all the shit that comes out of their exhaust pipes. Perhaps because Ethiopia is generally a fairly dry country, gravel roads are reasonably solid and although quite bumpy in places, not nearly as bad as in the rest of Africa. Some notes on specific sections:
- Addis Ababa – Debre Libanos: tar, good condition, fair amount of traffic, 2 hours
- Debre Libanos-Jemma valley: gravel, fair condition but a little rougher on the steep sections into the valley, very little traffic, 2.5 hours
- Debre Libanos to Debre Birhan: gravel, a bit rougher than the road into Jemma valley and carries a little more traffic, 3 hours
- Debre Birhan to Ankober and Melka Jebdhu, a bit rougher still and in places a high-clearance vehicle is definitely a far better option. There are some steep sections too and it’s a long road so be prepared. There’s not a lot of traffic on this road. 3 hours
- Debre Birhan to Addis Ababa, smooth tar all the way, light traffic, about 2 hours
- Addis Ababa to Ziway to Wondo Genet: the back roads are single lane tar, and in need of an upgrade. It carries quite heavy traffic, trucks, cars, cattle, camels etc and the expressway is a much faster option. Addis to Ziway, about 2 hours and to Shashemene and Wondo Genet, another 2 hours – the expressway could probably save an hour or more.
- Wondo Genet to Goba: smooth tar road and really beautiful as you get into the Bale mountains. Traffic is fair as it carries tourists and locals alike but not nearly as bad is in the Rift Valley. 4-5 hours, depending how much you like the scenery
- Goba to Sof Omar: fairly rough gravel road but perhaps not quite so rough as the one into Melka Jebdhu. Very little traffic here so you have the place almost all to yourself, 2 hours
- Goba to Sanetti plateau to Harenna forest to Negele: this is a gravel road all the way. Up to the Sanetti, across and down into the Harenna forest is not a bad surface at all but the high winds on the plateau do make it a bit dusty. There is some traffic here as it’s the only link between Goba and pretty much everything immediately south of the Bale mountains but it’s still very quiet. The first major town after Harenna forest has more traffic but from there to Negele it was very quiet. There are a few rough patches but generally it’s fairly easy driving if you’re not in a rush. Set aside a whole day for this drive.
- Negele to Yabello: this is a long 300km gravel stretch that will take most of the day. There are a couple of steep passes along the road with rough sections closer to Negele. Traffic is virtually non-existent – don’t break down here. Definitely a whole day if you include a few birding stops. If not, 6-7 hours
- Yabello to Awassa: beautiful smooth tar to Agere Maryam with very little traffic. From Agere Maryam to Awassa is the worst section of road I’ve experienced on this entire trip. They’re busy working on it but I don’t expect them to finish within the next two years. Total distance is only about 280kms but it will take 8 hours. Awassa to Nazret: as for the Rift Valley above – either the back roads or the expressway. 4 hours for the back road
- Nazret to Awash: Single lane tar road but very unpleasant to drive as it’s hot and carries the heaviest traffic I’ve seen so far – mostly trucks to and from the Djibouti port. 2 hours
Great photos
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