13-Day Safari Ethiopian Birding

• You'll be collected from the airport.
• Accommodation before the tour starts can be arranged for an extra cost.

Arrival in Addis Ababa

Arrive at Bole International Airport (Addis Ababa) and transfer to the Hotel.

If possible city tour (depending on the time arrival of your flight). If you arrive early morning, your first visit in Addis Ababa will be the National Museum. It houses numerous antiquarian relics and archaeological artifacts (most famous exhibit is the 3.5 million year old skeleton of Lucy).
Then you will continue to visit Mount Entoto (3 200 m above sea level. The Church of St Mary (1885) and Emperor Menelik II Palace. The Entoto Museum, with its historical exhibits is well worth a visit. Lunch at Restaurant.
After lunch you will visit Trinity Cathedral. It was constructed by Emperor Haile Selassie in 1947 (ornamented with carvings and mosaic and other artistic works such as paintings of saints and the apostles on the stained glass) and visit Merkato, the largest open market in Africa. In the evening, you will have dinner at the hotel or external restaurant and you will rest.

Main Destination:

Addis Ababa (City)

Accommodation:

Monarch Parkview Hotel

• Mid-range hotel located in Addis Ababa (City)

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+8 Photos

Meals & Drinks:

• All meals included
• Non-alcoholic drinks

Drive to Awash National Park

This day after breakfast you will be driving to Awash National Park on the way you will be stopping at the Rift Valley Lake of Bishoftu near Debre Zeit to take some pictures near to those lake then we will continue our drive to Awash National Park and visit an area frequented by hyenas. After lunch you will take a Birding in Awash National Park which is located in the Great Rift Valley. Many species of birds are found here: African Orange-bellied Parrots, Bustards, Weavers, Hoopoe, Yellow-throated Serine, Red-fronted Barbet, Pygmy Batis, Lesser-striped Swallow, and the House Martin. The park also boasts a variety of mammals: the Anubis Baboon, Columbus Monkey, Black-backed Jackal, Bat-eared Fox, Egyptian mongoose, Warthog, Beisa Oryx, Summering’s Gazelle, Lesser Kudu, Salt’s Dikdik, etc. Overnight at Doho Lodge.

Main Destination:

Awash National Park

Best Time To Visit Oct to Feb (Little rain and less hot)

High Season Sep to Apr (The park is never busy)

Best Weather October to February

Wildlife in Awash NP

Olive baboon Abundant

Beisa oryx Common

Soemmerring's
gazelle Common

Hamadryas baboon Common

Salt's dik-dik Common

Show more

Lesser kudu Occasional

Desert warthog Occasional

Defassa waterbuck Occasional

Nile crocodile Occasional

Spotted hyena Occasional

Guereza monkey Rare

Ethiopian wolf None

Gelada monkey None

Walia ibex None

Accommodation:

Doho Lodge & Hot Springs

• Mid-range lodge located just outside Awash NP

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+9 Photos

Meals & Drinks:

• All meals included
• Non-alcoholic drinks

Visit Aledeghi National PArk

Drive to Aledeghi Reserve and Doho Lodge with its hot springs and Kirayawa Gorge, exploring riverine forests, wetlands, thorn woodlands, savanna grasslands, rocky hills, cliffs, and escarpments. The park boasts a bird list of 460 species and we will make an effort to find 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. Overnight at Doho Lodge.

Main Destination:

Aledeghi Wildlife Reserve

Accommodation:

Doho Lodge & Hot Springs

• Mid-range lodge located just outside Awash NP

Meals & Drinks:

• All meals included
• Non-alcoholic drinks

Drive to Lake Langano

We will depart early to Langano. stop around the Lake Beseka, then Lake Koka. We will have lunch and birding stop at Lake Ziway where the surrounding lake teems with birds, and we will 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 will also visit Koka Dam and Lake Ziway. Here we will search 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. Overnight at Sabana Resort.

Main Destination:

Lake Langano

Accommodation:

Sabana Beach Resort

• Mid-range resort located at Lake Langano

Meals & Drinks:

• All meals included
• Non-alcoholic drinks

Drive to Bale Mountain National Park

We will spend this morning exploring our hotel gardens and will enjoy our first taste of Ethiopian forest birding. Species we may find include Ayre’s Hawk-Eagle, screeching flocks of endemic Yellow-fronted Parrots, White-cheeked Turaco, the endemic Banded Barbet, Yellow-fronted Tinkerbird, Lesser and the elusive Green-backed Honeyguide, Little Spotted Woodpecker, Brown Sawwing, Mountain and Gray Wagtail, Olive Thrush, Brown Woodland-Warbler, Abyssinian Slaty-Flycatcher, White-rumped Babbler, Collared and Scarlet-chested Sunbird, Western Olive-Sunbird, Dark-headed Oriole, Slender-billed and the rare Sharpe’s Starling, Green-backed Twin spot and Black-and-white Mannikin. At the park headquarters in Dinsho we will search the trails for the colorful Chestnut-naped Francolin, Groundscraper Thrush (of the distinctive, endemic race simensis), the secretive Abyssinian Ground-Thrush, vocal Abyssinian Catbird, and the endemic White-backed Black-Tit. Overnight at WabeShebele Hotel.

Main Destination:

Bale Mountains National Park

Best Time To Visit Nov to Feb (Little rain)

High Season Oct to Jan (Park is never busy)

Best Weather November to February

Wildlife in Bale Mountains NP

Ethiopian wolf Common

Mountain nyala Common

Warthog Common

Menelik's
bushbuck Occasional

Guereza monkey Occasional

Show more

Olive baboon Occasional

Bohor reedbuck Occasional

Starck's hare Occasional

Giant mole-rat Occasional

Bale monkey Rare

Giant forest hog Rare

Golden jackal Rare

Gelada monkey None

Walia ibex None

Accommodation:

Wabe Shebelle Hotel Addis Ababa

• Mid-range hotel located in Addis Ababa (City)

+2 Photos

Meals & Drinks:

• All meals included
• Non-alcoholic drinks

Visit Bale Mountain National Park

As we ascend juniper forest zone. We will search for the African Goshawk, Rufous-Chested Sparrow Hawk, African Hill Babbler, Abyssinian Woodpecker, Cinnamon Bracken Warbler, Montane White-Eye, and Yellow-Bellied Waxbill. If we are very fortunate, we will see a pair of endangered Wattled Cranes striding through the moist grassland, or spot a Cape Eagle-Owl sunning on a rocky perch. We will 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. W drive to Harena forest the largest intact forest block in Ethiopia and the largest protected Afro-Alpine forest on the continent. Here, we will search for the uncommon Mountain Buzzard, Rameron Pigeon, Lemon Dove, Tambourine Dove, African Emerald Cuckoo, Narina Trogon, Brown Woodland-Warbler, Abyssinian Crimson-Wing, African Citril, and Cape Canary. Overnight at WabeShebele Hotel.

Main Destination:

Bale Mountains National Park

Accommodation:

Wabe Shebelle Hotel Addis Ababa

• Mid-range hotel located in Addis Ababa (City)

Meals & Drinks:

• All meals included
• Non-alcoholic drinks

Drive to Negele

We will depart early onto the Sanetti Plateau. As we lose altitude, we will exit the forest zone and enter Abyssinian Ground Thrush by Rich Lindie Golden-breasted Starling by Rich Lindie RBL Ethiopia – Budget progressively drier thorn savanna in this remote, southern sector of Ethiopia. Along the dusty drive, we can expect to start adding a number of new species to our burgeoning list including Red-and yellow Barbet, Golden-breasted, Shelley’s and Superb Starlings, Northern Red-billed and Eastern Yellow-billed Hornbills and Lilac-breasted Roller. Finally, we will reach a dry wadi on the Genale River, home to Ethiopia’s most sought-after endemic, Ruspoli’s Turaco. The bird is named after an Italian Prince, its hapless discoverer, who was killed by an elephant soon after collecting the type specimen in the 1890’s. It took another 50 years before explorers saw the turaco again, and only in the 1970’s was anything revealed about this bird. Overnight at Turako Pension.

Main Destination:

Negele (Town)

Accommodation:

Turaco Hotel

• Budget hotel located in Negele Borana (Town)

Meals & Drinks:

• All meals included
• Non-alcoholic drinks

Visit Negele Area

Archer’s Lark is restricted belongs to the unusual genus Heteromirafra, which also includes South Africa’s Rudd’s Lark. We should also find small parties of hovering Lesser Kestrel, giant Kori Bustard (the world’s heaviest flying bird), White-bellied Bustard, Temminck’s Courser, Black-winged Lapwing, the range restricted Somali Short-toed Lark, Plain-backed Pipit and Pectoralpatch Cisticola. This area supports a recently found population of the tricky endemic Salvadori’s Seedeater, scarce Golden Pipit, elusive Red-naped Bushshrike, White-winged Black Tit, Pringle’s Puffback, Three streaked Tchagra, Foxy Lark, Somali Crombec, Taita Fiscal, Red-fronted Barbet, garish Golden-breasted Starling, attractive flocks of White-crowned Starlings, Somali Crow, African Silverbill, Shelley’s Sparrow and Somali Bunting. We should see Guenther’s Dik-dik and possibly Gerenuk. Ruspoli’s Turaco by Clayton Burne D’Arnaud’s Barbets by Clayton Burne. Overnight at Turaco Pension.

Main Destination:

Negele (Town)

Accommodation:

Turaco Hotel

• Budget hotel located in Negele Borana (Town)

Meals & Drinks:

• All meals included
• Non-alcoholic drinks

Drive to Yabello

Yabello region, home to two of Ethiopia’s most sought-after endemic birds, both listed as globally threatened: the enigmatic Stresemann’s Bushcrow and glistening White-tailed Swallow. This area is characterized by giant red termite mounds and both these birds seem to be associated in some way with these marvels of natural architecture. The social Bushcrow (or Zavattariornis) was only discovered in 1938. Although it appears starling-like, it is presumed to be most closely related to Crows. Several birding stops will break the journey, the most notable being a stop at the Dawa River in search of Juba Weaver, White-winged Collared Dove and Black-bellied Sunbird. Other noteworthy birds we may encounter en route to Yabello include Somali Courser, Magpie Starling, Black-throated and D’Arnaud’s Barbets, Pygmy Batis, Acacia Tit, Dodson’s Bulbul, Red-fronted Warbler, Purple Grenadier, Black-capped Social Weaver, Steel-blue Whydah and its host, Black-cheeked Waxbill. Overnight at Yabello Motel.

Main Destination:

Yabello Wildlife Sanctuary (Wildlife Sanctuary)

Accommodation:

Yabello Motel

• Budget hotel located near Yabello WS (Wildlife Sanctuary)

Meals & Drinks:

• All meals included
• Non-alcoholic drinks

Visit to Yabello

Birding the Yabello area: Stresemann’s Bushcrow and White-tailed Swallow. Other birds we will be looking for are Gabar Goshawk, the shrike-sized African Pygmy Falcon, Yellow-necked Spurfowl, glamorous flocks of Vulturine Guineafowl, Black-faced Sandgrouse, Mottled Swift, Tree Pipit, the localised Bare-eyed Thrush, ventriloquial Spotted Palm Thrush, African Grey Flycatcher, Pale Prinia, Yellow-bellied Eremomela, Banded Parisoma, Hunter’s and Shining Sunbirds, Superb and Wattled Starlings, Chestnut Sparrow, Yellow-spotted Petronia, Grey-capped Social Weaver, Chestnut Weaver, Green-winged Pytilia, White-bellied Canary and White-winged Widowbird. A night drive in this exciting area could produce Donaldson-Smith’s and Slender-tailed Nightjars, Greyish Eagle-Owl, Northern White-faced Owl and Three-banded Courser. Nocturnal mammal sightings have included Striped and Spotted Hyenas, Serval, African Wild Cat and Ethiopian Genet. Overnight at Yabello Motel.

Main Destination:

Yabello Wildlife Sanctuary (Wildlife Sanctuary)

Accommodation:

Yabello Motel

• Budget hotel located near Yabello WS (Wildlife Sanctuary)

Meals & Drinks:

• All meals included
• Non-alcoholic drinks

Drive to Hawassa

Drive to Hawassa and spot numerous species: Silvery-Cheeked Hornbill, Abysinnian Ground Hornbill, Roget’s Rail, Marabou Stork, Black and White Egrets, African Pygmy Goose, Spur-winged Goose, Swallows, Ibis, African Fish Egret, Woodland Kingfisher, Malachite Kingfisher, etc. After lunch we arrive to Lake Hawassa. Amongst the lilies and great reed beds that encompass the lake you will find Black, Goliath and other herons, the ugly Marabou Stork, Hamerkops, Hadada Ibis, a variety of egrets, dainty Pygmy Geese, Fulvous and white-faced Whistling Duck, Knob-billed Duck, Black Crakes, African Jacans, Three-banded plovers Whiskered and white-winged Black Terns and Kingfishers, pied and Malachite, Grey-headed and Woodland Kingfishers, Red-breasted Wrynecks, Green Wood-hoopoes, Sulphur-breasted Bush Shrinkes, White-browed Robin chats, African Thrushes, Rufous Chatters, Swamp Warblers, Red-faced Crombeces, Wattle-eyes, Puffbacks, Spoted Creepers. Overnight at Haile Resort Hawassa.

Main Destination:

Awasa (City)

Accommodation:

Haile Resort Hawassa

• Mid-range resort located in Awasa (City)

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+5 Photos

Meals & Drinks:

• All meals included
• Non-alcoholic drinks

Drive to Langano

Early in the morning we drive to Wondo Genet is a hot spring resort set among forested hills. The springs are said to have curative properties and the Emperor Haile Selassie had a lodge here, now part of the hotel. In the gardens of the hotel we will see the Silvery-cheeked Hornbill, White-cheeked Turaco, and Yellow-fronted Parrot. The medium depth reddish-brown Lake Langano, shallow, brackish Abijatta, and the extremely deep, blue Shalla, once a volcanic crater and now home to several bubbling sulphuric hot springs, are all superb birding localities.
We will spend today exploring the lake shores and surrounding woodlands of all three lakes, and hope to find Somali Ostrich, huge flocks of Greater and Lesser Flamingo, Northern Shoveler, Southern Pochard, Cape Teal, Dark Chanting-Goshawk, Imperial and Long-crested Eagle, Gray Kestrel, the rare Clapperton’s Francolin, Little Ringed, Common Ringed and Kittlitz’s Plover, etc. Overnight at Sabana Beach Resort.

Main Destination:

Lake Langano

Accommodation:

Sabana Beach Resort

• Mid-range resort located at Lake Langano

Meals & Drinks:

• All meals included
• Non-alcoholic drinks

Drive to Addis Ababa and Departure

Following an early breakfast, we will try and spend time today exploring the surrounding woodlands of Lake Langano for Clapperton’s Francolin, White-winged Cliff Chat, Little Rock Thrush, Buffbellied Warbler, Beautiful Sunbird, Ruppell’s Starling, White-faced Goaway-bird, Black-winged Lovebird, Abyssinian Wheatear, White-winged Black Tit, Black-billed Wood Hoopoe, Von der Decken’s Hornbill, Ruppell’s Weaver, Banded and Black-billed Barbets, Grey-headed Batis, African Pygmy Kingfisher, Bearded Woodpecker and Masked Shrike. After a final successful morning’s birding, we will spend the balance of the day driving northwards, reaching the capital in the late afternoon. We will enjoy a final celebratory dinner before wrapping up the tour.

Main Destination:

Addis Ababa (City)

Accommodation:

No accommodation (End of tour)

Meals & Drinks:

• All meals included
• All drinks (Except for spirits/liquor)

• Additional accommodation can be arranged for an extra cost.
• You'll be dropped off at the airport.