Birding Tour Ethiopia: Complete Abyssinia

Our birding tour to Ethiopia, “the Roof of Africa”, is an absolutely unique and spectacular birding experience. Ethiopia is one of Africa’s most scenically beautiful countries, boasting some of the continent’s highest mountains and plateaus (but also contains a depression that reaches slightly below sea level), impressive escarpments, Great Rift Valley lakes and volcanoes, and highly varied vegetation from juniper forests to arid savanna dotted with monstrous red termite mounds. Descending from the highlands to the deep valleys far below can seem like entering a completely different world, all within the same day – it is such an amazingly varied country.

The stunning and near-endemic White-cheeked Turaco should be seen on this trip.

Our Ethiopia birding tours visit Ethiopia’s unique mountain topography situated in the middle of the “Horn of Africa” which is not just stunningly scenic but also produces an impressive number of endemic birds (about 20 species) found in no other country. This is in addition to a lot of near-endemic bird species that are most easily found in Ethiopia – especially since other countries in north-east Africa are currently considered unsafe to visit. The list of Ethiopian endemics includes the spectacular Ruspoli’s Turaco, the striking, bizarre, and taxonomically puzzling Stresemann’s Bushcrow, and Archer’s (Liben, Sidamo) Lark, which is sadly considered the next bird likely to probably go extinct in Africa.

On this Ethiopian birding tour, we will target all of the Ethiopian bird endemics as well as a number of Horn of Africa endemics, which are also found in some of Ethiopia’s neighboring countries. Ethiopia is also one of the best places to see birds such as Arabian Bustard, with luck having Northern Carmine Bee-eaters riding on their backs. Ethiopia’s birds are generally easy to find, and in addition to the plethora of endemics it is not too difficult to end up with an impressive bird list of around 500 species after a two-and-a-half-week trip to this country.

Ethiopian Wolf — the world’s rarest canid should be seen on the Sanetti Plateau.