Ruaha again, we are here training rangers of TANAPA and Wildlife Division for walking safaris, it is a big project under the name of SPANEST, funded by UNDP.
We are a good team of walking trainers and more then that a great group friends.. Ethan Kinsey, Andrew Molinaro, Simon Peterson and me.
The park was amazing, green but still with short grass and not that rainy. Plenty of elephant around and together with the rangers we approached them more then 120 times.... AWESOME
We did not have much time for birding but nonetheless I still find some new ones for the list as African crake, Violet tipped courser, Pallid harrier, Southern red bishop, Mottled spinetail and the secretive Black coucal
Total count 406
Sunday, 17 February 2013
The rift valley lakes
Leavin Jinka and the Omo river behind we had a nice lunch (the usual macaroni with berberè) in Konso, and from the restaurant deck I got really lucky.
TWO LIFERS, first a Slender billed starling feeding on the fig tree just above us and then.... my first Egyptian vulture, it was high in the sky but still unique in its shape and color.. HAPPYNESS
We drove out towards Shashemene and then Lake langano were we slept, the morning after I woke up early and got rewarded by a good view of White cheeked turaco and a Northern black flycatcher.
Driving of we had other two beautiful gifts: two new birds for me, Black scimitarbill and Clapperton's francolin and a bird that I saw in a previous trip to Ethiopia, the black winged lovebird. They all were around bushes and fields dotted with huge, really huge fig trees.
The only other stop before Addis was a fishing pier getting out on the lake bordered by swamps full of delicate waterlilies.
Useless to say also here there were stunning ones... Common moorhen, Hottentot teal, White wagtail and the super cute PIGMY GEESE.
Total count 395
TWO LIFERS, first a Slender billed starling feeding on the fig tree just above us and then.... my first Egyptian vulture, it was high in the sky but still unique in its shape and color.. HAPPYNESS
We drove out towards Shashemene and then Lake langano were we slept, the morning after I woke up early and got rewarded by a good view of White cheeked turaco and a Northern black flycatcher.
Driving of we had other two beautiful gifts: two new birds for me, Black scimitarbill and Clapperton's francolin and a bird that I saw in a previous trip to Ethiopia, the black winged lovebird. They all were around bushes and fields dotted with huge, really huge fig trees.
The only other stop before Addis was a fishing pier getting out on the lake bordered by swamps full of delicate waterlilies.
Useless to say also here there were stunning ones... Common moorhen, Hottentot teal, White wagtail and the super cute PIGMY GEESE.
Total count 395
Tribal feathers
Just getting there, half way from Arba Minch to Konso, I had great sightings, my first Bruce's green pigeon. I was sooooo happy.. it was a bird I was really longing to see. Beautiful colours, maaaan, so nice!!! On the same acacia even a Scops owl was peering at us...
We spent the next few days up and down from Konso to Dimeka, from Turmi to Omorate, from Jinka to the Mago NP.
The landscape varies from thick scrubland to open acacia woodland to open plains, all quite arid and dusty.
Birds are all over and actually quite relaxed, the viewing is nice and lot of lifers were on the way.
The first one was Black headed plover and then sooo many more, we looked a lot for Abyssinian roller and eventually we found it, an obvious flash of red in a distant fig tree revealed itself through the binos as a marvelous Double toothed barbet and again Lichtenstein sand grouse, Black throated barbet, the easily overlooked White billed buffalo weaver....
There were so many birds around that it was hard for me not to stop every ten meters, we even saw Vulturine guineafowl many times and Pigmy falcons and Abyssinian black weathear, again the White rumped babbler etc...
Safi sana
I almost forgot something, probably because is not about birding.
WE HAD AN AWESOME SIGHTING OF A BIG MALE LEOPARD BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD IN MAGO NP!!!!!!!!
Total count 382
Birds of the horn
Ten days in Ethiopia are such a treat, a mixture of elevated excarpments, big lakes with riverine forest, bushy savannahs and open plains gives out a great variety, an unbelievable variety.
Just the road from Addis heading south to Arba Minch gave me some lifer as Hemprich's hornbill, Hartlaub's bustard and even a Barbary falcon.
The road is long, bordered by fields of teff and patches of woodland dotted with Eucalyptus, birding is difficult also because the guests were not very much into it.
I used a couple of Archaeological visits to get the most out of my binos. It was good, I got a stunning Mocking cliff chat, an impressive Thick billed raven, a lone Hartlaub's bustard, a couple of Abyssinian ground hornbills, flocks of the endemic Wattled ibis and a shy Northern puffback and many others.
not bad for the first day.
The next day we just moved around Arba Minch, I walk up to the sound of Black headed oriole calling, many other calls could be heard and amongst them also White cheeked turaco and Blue spotted wood dove, just before leaving a Lammergeier flew in front of the cliff overlooking Nechisar NP, later in the morning we headed up the escarpment to visit the Dorze people.
On the way I had another lifer: White rumped babbler, a really beautiful bird.
In the afternoon we had a boat trip on lake Chamo were the highlight for everybody were the birds also because the crocs were way too hidden in the vegetation.
We had wooly necked stork, Western marsh harrier, White winged tern together with many waders.
Total count 357
Just the road from Addis heading south to Arba Minch gave me some lifer as Hemprich's hornbill, Hartlaub's bustard and even a Barbary falcon.
The road is long, bordered by fields of teff and patches of woodland dotted with Eucalyptus, birding is difficult also because the guests were not very much into it.
I used a couple of Archaeological visits to get the most out of my binos. It was good, I got a stunning Mocking cliff chat, an impressive Thick billed raven, a lone Hartlaub's bustard, a couple of Abyssinian ground hornbills, flocks of the endemic Wattled ibis and a shy Northern puffback and many others.
not bad for the first day.
The next day we just moved around Arba Minch, I walk up to the sound of Black headed oriole calling, many other calls could be heard and amongst them also White cheeked turaco and Blue spotted wood dove, just before leaving a Lammergeier flew in front of the cliff overlooking Nechisar NP, later in the morning we headed up the escarpment to visit the Dorze people.
On the way I had another lifer: White rumped babbler, a really beautiful bird.
In the afternoon we had a boat trip on lake Chamo were the highlight for everybody were the birds also because the crocs were way too hidden in the vegetation.
We had wooly necked stork, Western marsh harrier, White winged tern together with many waders.
Total count 357
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