Birding holidays not requiring car (1 Viewer)

[YuShan]

I gotta research this, thanks!!

Some low hanging fruit in Ethiopia (2014):

• Hotel grounds of the Ghion hotel in Addis Ababa was already excellent birding. I didn't even stay there (I stayed somewhere super budget) but just walked in and nobody seemed to care.
• Entoto Hills right outside Addis Ababa. Is just a short bus ride away (or even walkable from where I stayed)
• Debre Libanos. Can be reached by bus (few hours from Addis). You can stay in a hotel (not too expensive) on location overlooking the gorge, where you can see many birds but also Gelada Baboons. Explore the area on foot by yourself.
• Bahir Dar. Truly excellent birding place. Many birds can be seen within the town itself around the lake, at hotel grounds (I always just walked in without staying there, nobody cares). You can also go on foot outside town and explore the countryside around it and tick off tons of birds. The spectacular Nile Falls are a short bus ride away, and also in that area you can see many birds and it's very scenic too.
• In Harar (nice town, but remote) take a bus to Dakata and bird that area by yourself. At the end of the day stop a bus along the road to go back to Harar.
• Awash, Hawassa, Ziway and Bishoftu. Just walk in and around town and pick up birds.
• Metahara, simply walked out of town and picked up Sombre Rock Chat (and some others)
• Yabello (reached by bus). I stayed in a hotel at the junction where the road splits off to the actual town (basically in the middle of nowhere). From there I spent a few days exploring on foot the direct area. It was unbelievable the amount of new birds I kept ticking off there.

I have done some more serious hiking there too, for example a multiple day hike / camp in the Simien Mountains (the only time that I didn't explore alone, because an armed guard is mandatory and arranged by the national park. I also hired a mule + muleman to carry all stuff, because this team of 2 people plus mule only costed $15 per day). On this super scenic hike I picked up many more birds (incl Ankober Serin).

Also visited some other places like Lalibela (super expensive world heritage - ticket for 3 days was $50, which is quite ridiculous) and even there I picked up more birds around the churches. The birds are simply everywhere. I visited more places, but I listed the best ones already, with Bahir Dar and Yabello getting my top rating for abundance of good birds and the ease of birding on foot.

Without your own transport you still miss out on many birds because many areas are simply too remote to visit. But there is so much that is within reach with buses and on foot, that your birding will be excellent anyhow. But do note that I'm fit and healthy and I love walking. If you are old and fragile and require many comforts, then it might be different for you.

Ethiopia is one of the best places where I ever birded. And certainly the cheapest. In 53 days (in 2014) I spent a grand total of €943 including visa, food, accommodation, all transport inside Ethiopia, entrance fees, etc. (Edit: actually, I just checked and Ecuador worked out even cheaper, but there I camped in my own tent for more than half of the time - accommodation is usually your biggest expense, even in cheap countries).

 

[Patudo]

Interesting stuff YuShan. I wonder why the local populace hasn't decimated the birds a la much of Southeast Asia?

Harar ... the name rings a bell from somewhere. Isn't it the town where spotted hyenas are all over the place?

to the original poster: Singapore is far more sanitised than Ethiopia (!!!) but a pretty decent place if you want/need to rely on public transport, as I do. Networks to quite a few good birding sites (Botanic Garden etc) are very good. Main issue is probably the oppressively hot and humid climate, but that can be moderated by going early and late, visiting during the cooler months (also best in terms of birding variety), etc.

 

[YuShan]

Interesting stuff YuShan. I wonder why the local populace hasn't decimated the birds a la much of Southeast Asia?

I have no idea. Ethiopia is certainly a much easier place to see stuff. (I ticked off my first two endemics even before I had left the airport!)

Harar ... the name rings a bell from somewhere. Isn't it the town where spotted hyenas are all over the place?

Yes that's the place. They are roaming through town at night.

 

[Andy Adcock]

Some low hanging fruit in Ethiopia (2014):

• Hotel grounds of the Ghion hotel in Addis Ababa was already excellent birding. I didn't even stay there (I stayed somewhere super budget) but just walked in and nobody seemed to care.
• Entoto Hills right outside Addis Ababa. Is just a short bus ride away (or even walkable from where I stayed)
• Debre Libanos. Can be reached by bus (few hours from Addis). You can stay in a hotel (not too expensive) on location overlooking the gorge, where you can see many birds but also Gelada Baboons. Explore the area on foot by yourself.
• Bahir Dar. Truly excellent birding place. Many birds can be seen within the town itself around the lake, at hotel grounds (I always just walked in without staying there, nobody cares). You can also go on foot outside town and explore the countryside around it and tick off tons of birds. The spectacular Nile Falls are a short bus ride away, and also in that area you can see many birds and it's very scenic too.
• In Harar (nice town, but remote) take a bus to Dakata and bird that area by yourself. At the end of the day stop a bus along the road to go back to Harar.
• Awash, Hawassa, Ziway and Bishoftu. Just walk in and around town and pick up birds.
• Metahara, simply walked out of town and picked up Sombre Rock Chat (and some others)
• Yabello (reached by bus). I stayed in a hotel at the junction where the road splits off to the actual town (basically in the middle of nowhere). From there I spent a few days exploring on foot the direct area. It was unbelievable the amount of new birds I kept ticking off there.

I have done some more serious hiking there too, for example a multiple day hike / camp in the Simien Mountains (the only time that I didn't explore alone, because an armed guard is mandatory and arranged by the national park. I also hired a mule + muleman to carry all stuff, because this team of 2 people plus mule only costed $15 per day). On this super scenic hike I picked up many more birds (incl Ankober Serin).

Also visited some other places like Lalibela (super expensive world heritage - ticket for 3 days was $50, which is quite ridiculous) and even there I picked up more birds around the churches. The birds are simply everywhere. I visited more places, but I listed the best ones already, with Bahir Dar and Yabello getting my top rating for abundance of good birds and the ease of birding on foot.

Without your own transport you still miss out on many birds because many areas are simply too remote to visit. But there is so much that is within reach with buses and on foot, that your birding will be excellent anyhow. But do note that I'm fit and healthy and I love walking. If you are old and fragile and require many comforts, then it might be different for you.

Ethiopia is one of the best places where I ever birded. And certainly the cheapest. In 53 days (in 2014) I spent a grand total of €943 including visa, food, accommodation, all transport inside Ethiopia, entrance fees, etc.

Didn't I read that Ethiopia is now confiscating binoculars on arrival?

 

[YuShan]

Didn't I read that Ethiopia is now confiscating binoculars on arrival?

Now that you mention it, I read that too somewhere. It wasn't a problem when I visited. In fact, this being a possibility didn't even cross my mind.

 

[Andy Adcock]

Interesting stuff YuShan. I wonder why the local populace hasn't decimated the birds a la much of Southeast Asia?

Harar ... the name rings a bell from somewhere. Isn't it the town where spotted hyenas are all over the place?

to the original poster: Singapore is far more sanitised than Ethiopia (!!!) but a pretty decent place if you want/need to rely on public transport, as I do. Networks to quite a few good birding sites (Botanic Garden etc) are very good. Main issue is probably the oppressively hot and humid climate, but that can be moderated by going early and late, visiting during the cooler months (also best in terms of birding variety), etc.

Because there is no market for caged, songbirds in Africa, that I know of anyway.

 

[DMW]

Such places for me are always very frustrating - you know, you are missing much more just a short distance away. And if you ever go on a true birding trip, you will see all these common birds again on the day one.

I spent a lot of time backpacking in East Africa in the late 1980s and can only agree with this. It's easy enough to get around Africa on public transport if you have time and a high threshold for discomfort, but getting to good birding sites is often not straightforward and many NPs require you to have a vehicle.
In general, Asia is by far the easiest continent for non-drivers on a budget.

 

[greer3]

Go on a cruise! You won't need a car for sea watching on the sea days obviously and if you do a little research beforehand you can often work out the possibilities for birdwatching when you're in port using public transport or walking around the port destination. Just done a couple of cruises- one to Iceland and Norway; the other to Norway- and seen a lot of birds along the way, especially sea birds.

 

[Lerxst]

Now that you mention it, I read that too somewhere. It wasn't a problem when I visited. In fact, this being a possibility didn't even cross my mind.

Same here. Visited Ethiopia in April 2018 without incident.

 

[Andy Adcock]

Same here. Visited Ethiopia in April 2018 without incident.

A lot can change in five and a half years.

Ethiopia and binoculars

Hi, any experience with binoculars and Ethiopian customs? I was just surprise reading in the Swiss embassies travel info that binoculars need to be registered. Is there a risk that they might be confiscated? I plan to travel to Ethiopia for work. I will not go birding there, but I plan to do so...

www.birdforum.net

 

[earlytorise]

Because there is no market for caged, songbirds in Africa, that I know of anyway.

African songbirds do find their way to Hong Kong. So that trade probably exists.

I myself found a Purple Starling in Mai Po Nature Reserve once. Quite the surprise.

 

[ovenbird43]

Another possibility in Africa - I did most of Ghana using only public transport. I don't know that one could do Ankasa that way, we hired a guide and driver for that portion, but we got to Kakum National Park, the crater lake, the Picathartes site, and Mole National Park using public transport almost entirely, with short taxi rides as needed for the last few miles. I did find myself wishing I had access to a car at Mole though, lots of interesting areas we just couldn't reach, but birding around the lodge grounds was quite good. Overall Ghana is doable without a car if you're not worried on cleaning up on all the specialties.

 

[Andy Adcock]

I'm sure it must have been mentioned within the thread somewhere but time, is a precious commodity if you only have a two week trip so most people won't use PT for that reason alone.

On longer trips, I've used a lot of PT, especially in Asia.