12 Days Ethiopian Endemic Wildlife Watching Experience

We take the morning flight to Gondar, a 17th century royal city of Ethiopia. Afterwards, we will head for the World Heritage Site of Simien Mountains National Park. The drive between Gondar and Debark is very scenic. In the afternoon, from our dramatically-situated lodge (Simien Lodge) we will start our photographic exploration of the extraordinary Simien Mountains.

Overnight: Simien Lodge

On this day we will head to the home of Walia ibex. Early in the morning, after an early breakfast, we will leave the lodge for Chenek guard post, taking a picnic lunch. The scenery around Chenek is even more awesome than further west near our lodge, with huge peaks, crags and cliffs in the foreground and distant granite domes below the Simien escarpment. Here we can look for the endemic Walia ibex. As well as photographic opportunities with the ibex, we will also be hoping for an encounter with the handsome Ethiopian wolf, a declining species that still occurs regularly around Chenek. We also have a high chance of spotting wildlife such as klipspringer, Ethiopian bushbuck, bush duiker and raptors including the huge steppe eagle, tawny eagle and the magnificent bearded vulture or lammergeier.

Overnight: nearby accommodation/camping

Created by massive erosion, the Simien Mountains is one of the most spectacular landscapes in the world: jagged mountain peaks with many summits over 4,000m (roughly 13,000ft), deep valleys and 1,500m sheer precipices. The park is home to the highest peak in the country, Ras Dashen, which is 4543 metres (14,906ft) above sea level. The Simien Mountains is also the refuge of the endangered endemic Ethiopian (or Simien) wolf, the extraordinary gelada baboon and the endangered Walia ibex, a wild goat unique to Ethiopia. It is also home to endemic birds such as the thick-billed raven and wattled ibis.

In addition to its wonderful scenery and wildlife, the park is also famous for its Afromontane forest, hypericum woodland, Afromontane grassland and Afro-alpine moorland dominated by giant lobelias, red hot pokers, tree heaths, giant St. John’s wort and African roses. As you can see, no Ethiopia wildlife photography tour can afford to miss out the extraordinary Simien! We will explore the scenic Simien escarpment in order to find the endemic gelada baboons. Nicknamed ‘bleeding heart baboon’ and ‘lion-monkey’ for reasons that will soon be obvious to all, Gelada Baboons are peculiar to Ethiopia and Eritrea, still being numerous in the Simien Mountains. Geladas are mainly vegetarian, living on herbs, grasses and roots, but they also eat insects including and locusts. Geladas live along the rim and steep slopes of the escarpment, which is their refuge when danger threatens

Overnight: nearby accommodation/camping

Visit the Castles of Gondar, Bath of the Fasilides and Debre Birhan Selassie Church. Our trip continues to Gondar (185 km) via a magnificent landscape of the Amhara region. The farmlands of the Amhara people are visible on the roadside. We will have a quick stop at Awra Amba community, egalitarian society. Unlike other parts of the country, in this community women have equal rights as men, and there is no distinction in divisions of labor between men and women.

Then continue driving to the city of Gondar, which used to be the seat of many Emperors who ruled Ethiopia in the 17th and 18th century. The town is the gateway to the Simien Mountains and lies at an altitude of 2,200 meters above sea level. After lunch, we will visit the famous castles of the town, where former rulers built numerous palaces for themselves and their families.

We continue our journey to the bath of King Fasilidas, where Timkat festival is annually hosted. This is one of the famous festivals in Ethiopia and held annually to celebrate the baptism of Jesus. We finish the day with a visit to the church of Debre Berhan Selassie, which is famous for its beautiful ceiling paintings. The motif of the angelic face became a symbol of the Ethiopian art.

Overnight: at one of the best hotels

On arrival meet with our driver then continue towards the Great Rift Valley (a vast and dramatic geological feature that runs all the way from southeastern Turkey to southern Africa!) After a time we will arrive at Lake Langano where we will overnight at a comfortable Har Langano Lodge right at the lakeside. Lake Ziway is a great place for photography, and of course of a kind we will not enjoy while in the Bale Mountain or Simien Mountain National Parks. We can walk out directly onto either of two promontories that start at our hotel and enjoy the spectacle of numerous water birds, most of which are highly approachable. (An important aspect of Ethiopia, and one which makes it so good for wildlife photography, is that birds and indeed most creatures are not harmed by local people.)

Large flocks of great white pelicans are a feature here and we are likely to get surprisingly close to these huge and impressive birds. Among the many other stars are the jewel-like malachite kingfisher, the long-toed African jacana, the huge goliath heron, the strange hamerkop, the noisy African fish eagle and the superb saddle-billed stork. Additional species we are likely to see include white-faced and fulvous whistling ducks, spur-winged and Egyptian geese, Hottentot teal, pink-backed pelican, reed cormorant, African darter, African sacred and glossy ibises, yellow-billed stork, black-winged stilt, spur-winged lapwing, gull-billed, whiskered and white-winged terns, red-eyed dove and pied kingfisher (try and take them hovering). Rather macabre marabou storks nest in the trees around the lodge.

Overnight: Har Langano Lodge

We will set off early and drive the short distance to the northern end of Lake Langano. The grounds of a rather run-down hotel usually hold impressive greyish eagle-owls and many cryptically-coloured slender-tailed nightjars, and while looking for these nightbirds we are likely to find and photograph the endemic black-winged lovebird and red-throated wryneck, as well as Namaqua dove, white-bellied go-away-bird, the weird-looking speckled mousebird, little bee-eater, Eurasian hoopoe, black-billed wood hoopoe, and colourful greater blue-eared, Rüppell’s and superb starlings.

From Langano we continue south to the town of Shashamane for lunch and then, during the late afternoon, we will explore the rarely-visited Senkelle Wildlife Sanctuary, last stronghold of the endemic Swayne’s hartebeest. These impressive chestnut-coloured antelopes are still common here and the grasslands also feature white-bellied bustard and the gorgeous northern carmine bee-eater. Eventually we will arrive at Awassa, a town situated beside the lake of the same name, where we will stay overnight.

Overnight: Haile Resort

Our hotel is situated right at the lakeshore and the grounds and surroundings are a great place for early morning photography. Along the adjacent lakeshore, the more photogenic birds include the delightful little African pygmy goose, African fish eagle, squacco heron, the perky little black crake and woodland kingfisher. African spotted creeper, a very uncommon and patchily-distributed bird, also occurs here, but we cannot honestly claim it will be at the top of most folk’s targets!

After the day starts to heat up, our thoughts will turn to cool, high mountains, so we will head up into the Bale Mountains for a three nights stay at Goba and Bale Mountain Lodge. This afternoon we will enjoy our first photography session in these beautiful mountains.

Overnight: Goba and Bale Mountain Lodge. 

We will be spending much of our time exploring the wild and spectacular Afro-alpine moorlands of the high Sanetti Plateau, one of the best places in the Bale Mountains for finding Ethiopian wolf. The handsome Ethiopian wolf has had a difficult time in recent decades, suffering from distemper epidemics introduced by domestic dogs (incursions of which have become more co the region’s human population has increased). This is now the world’s rarest canid, although, happily, a recent campaign to vaccinate local dogs, organized by the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme has brought about a welcome rebound in the population.

The wolves tend to go around singly or in small groups and during the course of our visit we should have repeated encounters with them, watching them patrol their territories, greet each other, relax or hunt rodents and other prey. While we should be able to see them catch rodents, you can consider yourself lucky if you witness a close-up ‘kill’ and likewise, although most packs will have pups at this season, getting great photo opportunities with cubs must be considered a real bonus.

The number of rodents here is quite extraordinary, and of course they provide a bonanza for predators. It is estimated that their density is such that combined weight of rodents per square kilometre (or about 0.4 square mile) is no less than 4 tons! The great majority on the moorlands (and the main prey species of the Ethiopian wolf) consist of three Ethiopian endemics: Blick’s grass rat, black-clawed brush-furred rat and the extraordinary, endangered giant mole rat. The latter, a huge blind rodent with very goofy teeth, is constantly enlarging its burrows to reach new food supplies and we will have some fun trying to sneak up on them to take some photos. They have good hearing and also detect vibrations, so in spite of their blindness, a close approach is not easy!

Overnight: Robe, at the one of best hotels/camping

This days is an early morning as we leave to discover the largest tropical rainforest and the chance to spot endemic Bale monkey. Then continue to drive through wonderful stunning landscapes. While the endemic mountain nyala is regularly seen on the moorlands, the landscape is open and approaching them closely on foot is often unsuccessful. For far better opportunities we will head for the Bale Mountains National Park headquarters at Dinsho/Gasses grassland Here, some of the nyalas have become unafraid of humans and will allow a close approach, as will Ethiopian bushbucks and especially the ultra-tame common warthogs, which one can get to within a couple of metres!

Gesse is also a good place for bird photography, often including African wood owl, the huge Verreaux’s eagle-owl and the uncommon endemic Abyssinian owl (Cape eagle-owls also occur here, but are usually too  distant for good images.) Not far away is a good area for photographing bohor reedbucks and olive baboons.

Overnight: Goba Wabe Shabale Hotel

In the morning after breakfast, we will spend the early morning in the area if need be and then head to the nearby Awash National Park. We go for a game drive in the thorny bushes and grassland of Awash National Park including the hike in the riverbank forest by the Awash River Falls. We have a chance to spot mammals such as the Salt’s dik-dik, lesser kudu, warthog, Hamadryas baboon, olive baboon, black-backed jackal, spotted hyena, Abyssinian hare, aardwolf, aardvark, grivet monkey, Nile crocodiles in the shores of the river and more wildlife and numerous birds.

One of the photographic highlights is dependent on how many bee-eaters are around. They use the bustards as convenient ‘lookout posts’ from which to hawk large flying insects. Somewhat surprisingly, the bustards seem to tolerate these colourful ‘hitch-hikers’, perhaps because they provide warning of approaching predators.

Birdlife is varied and among the most appealing photographic targets are the huge Somali ostrich, lappet-faced vulture, tawny eagle, Pallid and Montagu’s harriers, pygmy and lanner falcons, buff-crested, Hartlaub’s and white-bellied bustards, black-headed lapwing, chestnut-bellied sandgrouse, blue-naped mousebird, the superb Abyssinian roller, northern red-billed and eastern yellow-billed hornbills, Somali fiscal and the lovely rosy-patched bushshrike (pairs often duet together). Then we drive to Doho Lodge where we stay overnight and ou can enjoy swimming in hot springs.

Overnight: Doho Lodge