Stresemann Bush Crow 12/03/10

Northern Puffback in the courtyard of the hotel, a good start of the day. The road will bring us from Negele Borena to Yabello, the door of the Omo valley.

The first hours are a monotonous open grassland, the habitat of the super endemic Sidamo Lark, one of the birds with the smallest range in Africa, we were not lucky enough to see it, but we enjoyed both Ethiopian swallow and the handsome White crowned starling.

The latter were so use to people herding cattle that I could approach it at close quarters.

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The road from tarmac changed into dirt and from open grasslands we entered an acacia woodland.

We travel through a pristine nature dotted with small villages, some with mud houses with a strange roof of growing grass and others with round huts covered with plastic sheets. People is very colourful.

On the road we spotted a good number of Dik Diks, but they are different from what we are used to, they are in fact Guenther’s Dik Dik a different specie.

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Birding is quite good, amongst the acacias and commiphoras plenty of life is hidden. Shelley’s starling, Rosy patched bush shrike, Black billed wood hoopoe and Vulturine guineafowls made the drive more exciting then we were expecting, and this were only the ones we did not see before, we saw many other birds and even the special Golden breasted starling again and Pigmy falcon.

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Eventually we reached Yabello, a small town, very neat and clean. Our hotel is good and after a shower we head out with a precise target, it is a very localised bird, basically visible only around this town, it is on many bird books covers in Ethiopia, the Stresemann Bush crow.

It is a beautiful bird, not black as we would normally expect from a crow but shining white with a fantastic blue eye rim.

To see it we drive towards a lodge under construction, we saw the first crows even before reaching the lodge, they were busy nesting and they are super wonderful. We observed them for half an hour and then went inside the lodge and enjoyed a couple of beers with Franco, the owner.

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Prince Ruspoli Turaco 11/03/10

The road from Goba to Negele Borena is a long long way. We crossed again the plateau and got the last sighting of the Simien wolf, a place and a mammal that will stay in our heart for ever, we descend the escarpment and we cross the Harenna forest. Only today we actually realised how big it is, we drive for hours in a never ending forest of huge trees. There is people around, old man harvesting honey and young girls weaving baskets but the area still look pretty wild.

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Out of the forest the landscape is quite wild, harsh and thorny but pristine, we have no time to stop but some birds are so colourful that even from the car you can spot and id them easily like the blue breasted bee eater and like the most beautiful starling I have ever seen, the Golden breasted starling.

We cannot stop because we have to reach the Genale river, the habitat of one of the more localised birds of Ethiopia, the Prince Ruspoli Turaco.

We are crossing a woodland of acacias dotted by the white spot of the giant rooty base of the elephant foot, one of the strangest thing ever. This shrub develops a foot up to 2 meters of diameter completely out of proportion compared to the foliage.

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Around 20 km from the river the first turaco crossed our path, it as stunning as unmistakable with its white crown. We are jumping with joy and we got other 2 in the next 5 km, the second one was special, we had time to get out of the car and follow him between bushes and trees, we had a great view of it, but we could not take any picture because there was always something bin between.

The birds is so special and although we were already happy and satisfied we were waiting to see more close to the river. This did not happen, there are no more trees close to the river and we had no time to walk.

Negele Borena’s hotel is a rat’s hole and the restaurant even worst. But nothing can change our mood after the turaco

I just forgot to mention a wonderful Abyssinian ground hornbill

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Harenna forest 10/03/10

We are directed to the Harenna forest, but to reach the place we have to climb again the Sanetti plateau and descending the escarpment on the other side.

At least for the morning our aim are not the wolves so we drive a bit faster. The weather is perfect, sun from early morning. As soon as we reach the plateau the first wolves are waiting for us, an entire pack is waiting for us some 100 mtrs from the roads, they are waking up, the adults stretching and the puppies playing hide and seek. It is so cool to see them interacting, they behave very similar to Africa hunting dogs, the same way of begging for food, the same way of running, the only big difference is the colour.

We are again lucky with birds, a Long legged buzzard was soon added to the list.

We pass the same road of yesterday with mountains and pools just before climbing the escarpment down. The road is steep and the view breathtaking, beautiful flowers frame the perfect mountain postcard that is opening in front of us.

From above we see a strange water pool and as soon as we reach that flat bit we decide to walk to the water. The small walking is fun, the bush are so thick that reaching the water is an effort but eventually we arrive, it is a spring, crystal clear with beautiful reflection, and all around Erica and Thyme bushes.

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Back on the car we headed towards Katcha a camp site inside the forest of Harenna, it is a strange forest, huge with different ecozones, the upper one made of Erica arborea the lowest of the majestic Podocarpus.

We stop the car in the campsite and we go for a walk, is a weird place, huge bare mountains similar to inselbergs in the back, horses are grazing in the clearing and ficus and bamboos in the intricate forest. In the forest still live a population of lions, we see no evidence, the only wildlife visible is birds, amongst them we spotted a White cheeked turaco and an Abyssinian black headed oriole.

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Again in the cruiser we proceed on the main road and we just stop for a piknik in the podocarpus area.

After lu nch we go back towards the escarpment we pass again the upper forest and go for a walk in this narrow belt of it which is totally made of huge trees of Erica arborea, a full forest of tree up to 10-12 mtrs of twisted wood and old mosses. The place look so fairy that you would expect magic creatures to appear anytime.

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Up on the plateau we start wolfing again, many sightings of the canids cannot quench our thirst of them yet. We observed one individual hunting three rodents from the same tunnel within 20 minutes, puppies climbing up and down between rocks and lobelias.

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With the sun the place is very different, a bit less eerie but the same breathtaking.

On the way back we enjoyed the last sightings, a lone wolf with a herd of Nyalas in the background

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