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.
*2024 Prices are estimated and dates may change*
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.
Glen Valentine is an asset to any birding group with his excellent knowledge of birds and his friendly outgoing personality. He is helpful to both experienced and inexperienced birders alike. I would not hesitate to join another birding tour where he was leader or co-leader as I know from experience that it would be a thoroughly enjoyable and informative tour.
Greg de Klerk was an excellent guide and his lively manner and humour did much to make the trip enjoyable.
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.
Simply stated, David Erterius is an exceptional individual: patient, kind, diligent, and hard-working almost to a fault. He was ever-conscious of his clients' welfare, with remarkable birding skills which he relentlessly employed to ensure that all members of the group regularly saw, identified and enjoyed each species, including mammals and reptiles.