The penultimate instalment (I think) to help pass those long hours at work before the festive break!
26th November - Hawassa to Addis Ababa
The following morning saw up departing Hawassa at 6am, and despite struggling to find a bajaj to take us to the bus station, we made it onto one of the rapid coaches that run to the capital. The journey was considerably more comfortable than any we’d experienced so far, and we continued north through the rift valley. The coach made a number of stops to collect passengers, but the most productive was a toilet stop on the highway next to a colony of White-headed buffalo weaver. Other species noted at various random stops included European Roller, whilst a particularly long queue near to a wetland brought Spur winged plover, Cattle egret, White pelican, Sacred ibis, and best of all, 4 Black crowned crane. The journey saw us travelling through the worst of the weather, with several extremely heavy downpours throughout. We arrived in Addis just after lunchtime, and spent the remainder of the day organising a driver, proposed route and various other details, before returning to our favourite french restaurant for an injera break in the evening.
27th November - Addis Ababa to Debre Libanos
It was another early start, as our driver arrived promptly at 8am. Having abandoned any hope of visiting Menz Guassa, we had devised a route which would allow us three days to explore an area of the central highlands, with a loop taking in Mugar gorge, Debre Libanos, Jemma Valley and Ankober before returning to Addis. Our journey took us north out of the city, and onto the Suluta plains. We made a couple of brief stops in some interesting looking river valleys and arable areas, but the species seen were typical of highland areas; Wattled ibis, Blue winged goose, Moorland chat and Ethiopian siskin being ubiquitous throughout. We turned off a main road and headed towards the village of Derba and our first destination; Mugar gorge. Along the road brief stops were made as we encountered fields containing several wheatears, with careful scanning of the Pied, Northern and Isabelline finally producing Abyssinian Black wheatear, a slight misnomer as the bird looked most similar to Mourning wheatear to my eye, but a delight nonetheless. Another stop produced a rather confiding Lizard buzzard, but our attention drew towards mammals as we neared the gorge. Upon arriving at the escarpment, we were immediately surrounded by a gang of children, all of whom seemed keen to meet us and show us the way to the edge. A few trip reports had mentioned how this quickly became an annoyance, and despite my somewhat misanthropic outlook on life, we had a great time showing the children various birds through the binoculars, camera and scope.
A quick scan of the cliffs revealed our primary target very quickly, with several Gelada scaling the vertigo inducing face. The main attraction firmly in the bag, we spent a while watching these impressive primates with the children, before making our way back to the car. I’d also noted a couple of interesting birds, with Blue rock thrush, Siberian stonechat and the first of many Ruppell’s Black chat flicking around. Hopefully this site will be visited by more tourists in the future (I believe it is the closest location to Addis where one can see Gelada), and the monetary value of conserving these fascinating mammals will be highlighted to the local people, who apparently had very differing opinions on their neighbours as a result of their penchant for crops/rubbish.
Our next stop was a brief pit stop on our journey towards Debre Libanos, where an incredibly showy Pied wheatear posed for extreme close-ups, whilst nearby arable fields contained large flocks of Yellow bishop and the odd Pin-tailed whydah. In the background a large group of Common crane were feeding amongst a menagerie of horses, goats, sheep, cows and chickens.
We arrived at Debre Libanos in the afternoon, and spent 30 minutes or so watching the antics of another troop of Gelada on the monastery road. The lighting had improved greatly, and as subjects the group were incredibly intimate, allowing an approach to within a few meters.
Having taken our share of photos, our driver took us to the Ethio-German hotel which is perched on the clifftop with a spectacular view of the valley. We organised a room for the evening, and then settled down for a much needed coffee, and to take in the view. Naturally, I couldn’t help but notice a few birds as we sat there, with Blue rock thrush, Ruppell’s Black chat, Ruppell’s magpie robin and White billed starling all making an appearance, whilst several Griffon vulture were joined by both Tawny and best of all Verraux’s eagles! After a while, we decided to enjoy the short walk down to the famous Portuguese bridge, with the hope of further encounters with Geladas. Overhead an odd looking raptor was being mobbed by Fan tailed ravens, and eventually I realised that it was an adult Harrier hawk, only the second I’ve seen.
The walk along the escarpment towards the bridge was breath-taking, if not a little nerve racking for those who aren’t so good with heights - a close approach to the cliff edge and its 1km drop to the valley floor were appreciated in full. Raptors appeared to be numerous here, with Steppe buzzard, Lanner, Booted eagle and Black kite all noted, whilst a few Variable sunbird zipped about the flowers.
The bridge was manned during the afternoon, and we weren’t keen on the frankly extortionate 900birr each that the watchers were demanding, so we headed back to our room for a while. Another bout of coffee drinking ensued, and I was simply astonished when an adult Lammergeier flew past almost at eye level. That was pretty much it for me, as this was yet another species I’d hoped to catch up with over the last decade or or, and here was a superb adult floating around less than 500m away. I could quite happily have flown home then and there.
We decided upon a return to the bridge before dinner, and the best was yet to come. The watchers had left, replaced by a large troop of Gelada baboons. With perfect lighting and the sun setting behind us, we spent a good hour or so in their company, enjoying as wide a range of behaviour as one could anticipate. We didn’t venture down onto the bridge for fear of upsetting any locals who may be watching, but we enjoyed the view looking down into the steep gully. Several Blue breasted bee-eater were joined by Red rumped swallows, whilst a pair of Ruppell’s Black chat scolded a smart Mocking cliff chat. From the slopes below us, the calls of both Ethiopian boubou and Erkel’s francolin were carried up on a light breeze. Finally, with the sun setting, the Geladas disappeared over the edge of the cliff to their precipitous sleeping areas, and we headed back up towards the hotel. It had been yet another fantastic day in this incredible country, and we enjoyed a wonderful feast of injera as the last rays of light moved up the cliff face opposite, before engulfing the valley in the night.