To do full justice to the cultural aspects of this fascinating country, we offer an incredible Ethiopia historical tour extension to the northern town of Lalibela where we explore the unique 12th century monolithic churches, hewn out of solid rock and which took an estimated 25 years to construct, now appropriately considered one of the wonders of the world!
Whilst our main focus during the Ethiopia historical tour will naturally be these amazing monuments, we can also expect some excellent birding. Possible species include White-collared Pigeon, White-winged Cliff Chat, Erckel’s Francolin, Egyptian Vulture, White-fronted Black Chat, Abyssinian Catbird, Little Rock Thrush, Thick-billed Raven, White-backed Black Tit, Hemprich’s Hornbill, the scarce endemic Banded Barbet, Black-billed Woodhoopoe and large flocks of White-billed Starlings.
White-backed Black Tit; Thick-billed Raven; Banded Barbet; White-billed Starling; Rüppell's & White-fronted Black Chats; White-winged Cliff Chat; Erckel's Spurfowl; Yellow-rumped & Brown-rumped Seedeaters; Wattled Ibis; White-collared Pigeon; Abyssinian Catbird.
arid escarpments
temperate in highlands
8 with 1 Rockjumper leader
moderate pace, mostly undemanding walks
basic but comfortable
easy
+-70
excellent
Greg de Klerk did a very good job managing the tour, was personable and was highly effective at bird spotting & identification.
This tour was our first one with Greg de Klerk. I would certainly go with him again. He is an extremely good birder, quick to locate birds and get all of the tour group on them. He worked hard to get those difficult endemics. His sense of humour added greatly to the group experience. What I most appreciated about Greg was his method of helping us to see the necessary field marks to identify a bird and to explain the difference between a bird and one that looked similar. I was therefore sure of the identity of every bird we had.
Heinz Ortmann did an excellent job of leading a group with diverse interests. He was particularly patient in showing the birds to the non-birders, and I believe he increased the level of interest in all of them with his enthusiasm. (Graham is already talking about a possible trip to Uganda!). He also did his best with my "wish-list" and I don't think we missed much. I have some stunning pictures of Stresemann's Bushcrow and Vulturine Guineafowl as evidence. It was necessary to make a couple of changes to the itinerary and accommodation, and Heinz managed all of this without any stress to the group.
The guide, Greg de Klerk, did a good job. He was well informed regarding the participants and tried hard to accommodate everyone's needs. He made a good effort to inform us daily as to what birds we might see, which was very helpful.
Julian was a wonderful leader, knowledgeable, enthusiastic and attentive to our needs. The local guide, Bereket, was also excellent and worked particularly hard when we had to find accommodation at short notice. The cultural guide Frui was very knowledgeable and shared both his knowledge and his experience of Orthodox Christianity with us in a very helpful manner. We saw a lot of birds and a good variety of mammals. In addition the food was very interesting and the coffee outstanding.
01 Dec 2024 - 04 Dec 2024 (4 days)
USD1,695 - No Spaces Available
Tour Leader: Robert Williams
27 Jan 2025 - 30 Jan 2025 (4 days)
USD1,895 - Spaces Available
Tour Leader: Julian Parsons
Tour price (Per person): USD1,895 * GBP1,513 * EUR1,758 * AUD2,865
Single Supplement: USD140 * GBP112 * EUR130 * AUD212
Flight costs: USD430 * GBP343 * EUR399 * AUD650
Can be linked with: Ethiopia - Endemics Birding I 2025
29 Nov 2025 - 02 Dec 2025 (4 days)
USD1,895 - Spaces Available
Tour Leader: Quinton Paul Josop
Ethiopia - Lalibela Historical Extension I 2024 - January 2024
Ethiopia - Endemics Birding I 2024 - January 2024
Ethiopia - Endemics Birding II 2023 - November 2023
Ethiopia - Summer Endemics 2023 - June 2023
Ethiopia - Endemics Birding (Small Group) 2023 - February 2023
Ethiopia - Brewer 2023 - January 2023
Ethiopia - Endemics Birding III 2022 - November 2022
Ethiopia - Endemics Birding (Small Group) 2022 - February 2022
Ethiopia - Budget Birding 2019 - November 2019
Ethiopia - Endemics Birding II 2019 - November 2019
Ethiopia - Summer Endemics 2019 - May 2019
Ethiopia - Endemics Birding I 2019 - January 2019
Ethiopia - Budget Birding 2018 - November 2018
Ethiopia - Mega Birding 2018 - January 2018
Ethiopia - Endemics Birding I 2018 - January 2018
Ethiopia - Endemics Birding III 2017 - November 2017
Ethiopia - Glendinning & Welman 2017 - February 2017
Ethiopia - Endemics Birding II 2017 - January 2017