Driver for trip to Ethiopia (1 Viewer)

Hi all,

we are planning a trip to Ethiopia with 4 people this winter. Can anyone suggest a reliable company for renting a car with driver? We don't need/want a guide, but would prefer a driver who has driven birders before, knows their "demands" and maybe the sites as well.

Thanks a lot,

Felix

kfjachmann said:

Hi all,

we are planning a trip to Ethiopia with 4 people this winter. Can anyone suggest a reliable company for renting a car with driver? We don't need/want a guide, but would prefer a driver who has driven birders before, knows their "demands" and maybe the sites as well.

Thanks a lot,

Felix

Click to expand...

Ethiopian Quadrants,run by a long-time resident in Addis,Tony Hickey,does the ground arrangements for many of the well-known bird tour companies,so knows all about what birders want,but he also runs a general travel agency.I can highly recommend him and I am sure he has reliable drivers some of whom may well know some of the sites.However he also has driver/guides on his books and in my view, with four of you sharing the cost, to get the most out of the trip you should bite the bullet and accept some birding help. On a recent private visit in spite of being armed with the two current bird-finding guides and several trip reports we would have missed some of the endemics without local knowledge. We used Abiy Dagne, who was a superb birder,took us to several sites not in the literature, but also drove the vehicle himself and even cooked breakfast for us when we were out in the field before dawn.
Tom Lawson.

Can I just second everything Tom has said.

Ethiopian Quadrants were brilliant and Abiy was/still is a fantastic guide and birder - and probably as important, he is a great person to be with, so no friction/problems at all thoughout our trip.

Its a fantastic country and you will have a great time

I did a 3 week birding trip this autumn organised trough Nurgi Birding Ethiopia. Our driver was Mesfin and I can recommend him 100%. Not a bird guide, he knew all the sites for the most important targets, had contacts at every site, joined us for birding all the time and handled food/accomodation during the trip.

Thanks for all your help. Tiger Pitta, how did you get in contact with Nurgi? We have been trying and were not successfull so far.

Hi, kfjachmann. I sent you a PM, maybe you've seen it? Included some stuff on Nurgi and the excellent driver he provided for us in 2010... Includes an email address.
Cheers,
Andy.

Hi Andy,

I did get your stuff. Thanks a lot, it was very helpful. Unfortunately we still have not received an answer from Nurgi.

Cheers,

Felix

Hi Klaas Felix,

I met you in Mindo Loma 2009. Send me an email for any more info besides what I wrote here (practical and birds):
http://www.freewebs.com/lievendetemmerman/trip reports/ethiopia 2009 travel report pdf.pdf

Andy has probably some more up-to-date info.
Best regards,
Lieven (yoemy at hotmail punkt com)