Arrive at Bole International Airport, Addis Ababa and at the airport you will be met and greeted by our representative and transferred to your hotel for check-in, the hotel is located five minutes away from the Airport.

Addis Ababa, the capital of modern Ethiopia, and gateway for most tourists, is the political and commercial heart of the country. The name of Addis Ababa can translate as ‘New flower’, spanning altitude of 2,350m to more than 2,600m, climatically the city is warm and temperate, and the summers are much rainier than the winters. The average annual temperature in Addis Ababa is 16.3 °C (61.4 °F). The current population of the city is around 4.5 million people; it was founded by Emperor Menelik in 1887.

Before reaching Debre Libanos, we cross the famed Sululta Plains, which are a brilliant place to find beautiful Spot-breasted Lapwing, the taxonomically strange Blue-winged Goose, and other endemics. We also hope to find our first gelada baboon (nicknamed bleeding-heart baboon) – these ferocious-looking but vegetarian baboons have huge vocabularies and a complex social system. We’ll eventually reach our well-placed accommodation, from where we will look for Egyptian Vulture, Griffon Vulture, Bearded Vulture, and other raptors as they gracefully sail by, as well as Little Rock Thrush and many other mountain

Morning drive to south of Addis Ababa to Awash National Park, driving a total 225km (140 miles) through by going through the first expressway in Ethiopia for 110 Km (70 miles), a toll road that connects Addis Ababa to Adama, oromiya regional towns and we will have a Lunch break along the route  then continue to drive 115 km to Awash on the a major busy highway that connect Addis Ababa to Djibouti port.

Along the route we cross and enjoy the scenic farmlands as well as many birds on the road side such as Augur Buzzards Long-crested Eagles, Northern Carmine Bee-eaters, Abyssinian and Rufous-crowned Rollers and also we may have a short stop at Lake Basaaka and will continue to drive to Awash Nation Park.

Awash National Park is situated in the East Africa Great Rift Valley, known for wildlife viewing and outstanding birdlife; it also contains an interesting range of volcanic landscape. The park vegetation is typical of the hot and arid lowlands. The park takes its name from Awash River, the largest River in Ethiopia, with some spectacular waterfalls near the park headquarters.  In the afternoon we will arrive at Awash National Park to stay over in Awash falls Lodge for two Nights.

Awash National Park is enriched with many species of birds that exceeds 400 and mammals in this park, after checking in the lodge we will search for Abyssinian Ground Hornbill, Abyssinian Roller,Abyssinian Scimitar bill, Arbian Bustard, Bare-faced Go-away-bird, black –billed wood hoopoe, Black-headed Lapwing ,Blue-naped Mouse bird, crested francolin ,Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse, Gillett's Lark, Karibustard ,Nile Valley Sunbird, Northern carmin bee eaters, Olive Bee-eater, Red-bellied Parrot, Somali bulbul buff crested bustard, White-bellied Go-away-bird, Yellow-breasted Barbets. And in the later afternoon we will enjoy the beautiful sunset over the park and see some interesting Wildlife.

Today we explore the wide-ranging species of birds available in and around this semi-desert Awash National Park for full day; the terrain is mainly acacia woodland and grassland. Today’s target birds in the park include; African Collared Dove, African Fire Finch, Boran and Ashy Cisticolas, Bruce’s Green Pigeon, Somali Ostrich, Chestnut-backed, Chestnut-headed Sparrow-Larks, Cut-throat Finch, Egyptian Vulture,Eastern Olivaceous, Warbler,Mouse-colored Penduline Tit, Red billed Quelea, Northern Masked Weaver, Northern White –crowned Shrike ,Pale and African Grey Flycatchers, Singing Bush Lark, Somali Fiscal, Southern Grey Shrike, Swallow-tailed Kite, Woodchat Shrike.

The park also popular for a variety of mammals such as Beisa Oryx, the Anubis Baboon, Colobus Monkey, Black-backed Jackal, Bat-eared Fox, Egyptian Mongoose,Warthog ,Soemmering’s Gazelle, Lesser Kudu, Salt’s Dik-dik etc. The Predators are rare though and very unlikely to be seen.

Today we will drive 215km (135miles) from Awash National Park to Lake Ziway for Birding in the Great Rift Valley lakes; on your way we will a stop at Lake Koka to see birds such as Greater and Lesser Flamingoes, Great White Egret and many others.
The Great Rift valley of Ethiopia is a branch of the East African Rift that runs through Ethiopia in a southwest direction from the Afar Triple Junction. The Ethiopian Rift Valley lakes are the northernmost of the African Rift Valley lakes, in central Ethiopia, the main Ethiopian Rift, also known as the Great Rift Valley, splits the Ethiopian highlands into northern and southern halves, and the Ethiopian Rift Valley lakes occupy the floor of the rift valley between the two highlands. Most of the Ethiopian Rift Valley lakes do not have an outlet, and most are alkaline.  Lake Ziway is the largest of the Northern group of rift valley lakes covering 440 km2 surrounded by volcanic hills and is home of the Zay people. The lake earned just a quick hit on a southern stopover, for its productive birdlife and hippopotamus. The lake encompasses five Islands, including Gelila, Fundro, Debre Sina, Tsedacha and Tulu Gudo, which is home to a monastery said to have housed the Ark of the Covenant around the ninth century.

The Key bird Species we will explore today around the rift valley lakes area will be Spur -Winged Goose, African Comb Duck, Garganey, Hottentot teal, Northern Carmine Bee-eater and Silver Cheeked Hornbill. Then we will have stay over at the beautiful Haile Resort Ziway, owned by a famous Athlete Haile Gebre sillase; Olympic gold medalist and numbers Long distance world record holder.

Today we early morning we start birding around lake Langano area, other wetland sites of the Great Rift Valley and we will visit some beautiful fig forest and associated woodlands that teem with birds, looking for Abyssinian Woodpecker, African fire Finch,African Pygmy Goose, Banded Barbet , Bare- faced go away bird, Bearded Woodpecker, Black Crowned Crane, Black winged love bird , Black-billed Wood Hoopoe, Blue-spotted Wood Dove, Boran Cisticola, Buff-bellied Warbler, Clapperton’s Francolin, Collared Pratincole, Double toothed barbet, Fulvous Whistling Duck, Gray Black fiscal, Grey-headed Batis, Lesser and African Jacanas, Gull-billed tern, Gree backed Eremomela ,Red-fronted Barbet, Heuglin’s courser, little waver Reichenow’s seedeater Mouse-colored Penduline Tit, Northern Black Flycatcher, Pygmy Batises, Rüppell’s Weaver.Von der Decken’s Hornbill, Western Marsh Harrier, White-cheeked Turaco, White-headed Vulture, White-rumped Babbler, White-winged Black Tit, woolly-necked stork ,Yellow fronted parrot. May be if we have time we will also visit nearby Lake Abijata, home to thousands of Lesser and Greater Flamingos.

In the morning we drive 75km (46 miles) to Lake Awassa one of Ethiopia’s most beautiful lakes and home to a huge population of birds.

Awasa, also called Hawassa, is a city in the Great Rift Valley of central Ethiopia; it lies at the eastern edge of large Lake Awassa. Lake Awassa watershed is located in the middle of the Ethiopian Rift Valley between the Abijata–Shalla basin to the north and that of Lakes Abaya and Chamo to the south. Significant numbers of congregatory water birds occur on the lake, 20,000 birds counted along less than 25% of the shoreline in January 1999. It is particularly important for Red-knobbed coot (Fulica cristata) Over 300 Marabou stork (Leptoptilos crumeniferus) were counted in November 1997, the largest concentration of this species in Ethiopia.

Today we will spot will spot various birds that include Pink-backed Pelican, Black -headed heron, Goliath Heron, yellow billed stork, GlossyIbis, and Black Crake.

It is also a good place to find: Banded Snake Eagle,African Harrier Hawk,Bare-faced Go-away-bird,Blue-headed Coucal , Senegal Thicknee, Giant Kingfisher, Pied Kingfisher, Malachite Kingfisher, Pygmy Kingfisher, Woodland Kingfisher, Northern Carmine Bee-eater, Little Bee-eater, Red-breasted Wryneck, Black-billedWood-hoopoe, Grey-backed Fiscal, Spotted Creeper, Variable Sunbird, Shining Sunbird, Lesser Swamp Warbler, Masked Weaver, Grospeakweaver, White-browed Sparrow-weaver, Pied Crow and the king of the lake the Hippopotamus.

After further birding around the lake Awassa early in the Morning, we will drive for 225 km (140 mil) from Lake Hawassa to Bale Mountain National park via Shashemene, the we began climbing steadily upwards through the southeastern highlands then we shall break our journey at the park headquarters where we will see your first Bale birds and mammals.

The Bale Mountains National Park contains a spectacularly diverse landscape. The high altitude, afro-montane Sanetti Plateau rises to over 4,000m and includes the highest peak in the southern Ethiopia highlands. This undulating plateau is marked by numerous glacial lakes and swamps and surrounded by higher volcanic ridges and peaks. The southern slopes of the massif are covered by the lush and largely unexplored Harenna Forest. Often called the “Rooftop of Africa,” the Bale Mountains forests harbour a wide variety of flora and fauna that evolved in isolation. In Bale visitors will see many species of mammals, birds, amphibians, and plants found only in Ethiopia and in some cases only in the Bale Mountains.

With such a high diversity of wildlife, the Bale Mountains National Park is a crucial protected area for a significant portion of Ethiopia’s and the world’s biodiversity. Visitors to the area can see mountain Nyala, the largest population of Ethiopia wolfs, black and white colobus monkeys, baboons, bushbuck, and warthogs, among others animals. Lucky visitors might also get a glimpse of lions, leopards, the rare Bale monkey, or wild dogs. The Bale Mountains are considered Ethiopia’s most important bird area with over 280 bird species. Visitors to the Bale Mountain National Park can explore the variety of bird habitats including grasslands, woodlands, forests, moorlands, wetlands, and alpine lakes. Six of Ethiopia’s 16 endemic bird species are found in Bale and 7 globally threatened bird species can be seen here including the greater spotted eagle, imperial eagle, lesser kestrel, and the wattled crane.

Today we will spot some of the endemics such as Blue-winged Goose, Spotbreasted Lapwing, Abyssinian Long claw, Wattled Ibis, Black-headed Siskin, Rouget’s Rail, Banded Barbet and other species. We will also have the chance to encounter variety of Mammals that include Mountain Nyala,now entirely restricted to the Bale Mountain massif, Menelik’s Bushbuck and Warthog, unusual at this high altitude. Then we drive to Goba Wabe Shebelle Hotel to stay over for one Night, Goba WabeShebelle

Hotel is basic standard hotel but ideally located for early morning Birding.

Today we will have full day for Birding in Sanetti Plateau, Bale Mountains National Park, this will be a day of great contrasts and amazing scenery and birding. We will depart early and ascend the Bale Mountain massif onto the Sanetti Plateau, which lies between 3,800m and 4,377m to search for birds with special focus on the endemic to the Bale Mountains.

Today we hope to see to see the endangered and endemic Prince Ruspoli’s Turaco and other rare birds by walking along a dry river bed and carefully checking the large fruiting figs, you should come across this stunning and charismatic creature to spot birds such as Chestnut-naped Francolin, Mountain Thrush,the secretive Abyssinia Ground- thrush, the vocal Abyssinian Catbird,Abyssinian Slaty Flycatcher,Abyssinian Woodpecker, Brown(Bale)Parisoma,Cinnamon Bracken Warbler, Ethiopian Cisticola, Lammergeier, Moorland Francolin, Red thoarated Pipit ,Thekla Lark, Wattled Ibis and the endemic White-backed Black-Tit and many more birds. If we are very fortunate, we will see a pair of the endangered Wattled Cranes in the moist grasslands.

Later in the day, we will head to beautiful Bale Mountain Lodge to stay over for one night, Bale Mountain Lodge is one of the best and luxury eco lodges available in the country, and it is located deep in the Harenna Forest.  

Today you will have a long drive a head of us and we will start our journey early. Leaving Harenna Forest we will gradually lose altitude en route to Negele, a town in the Guji Zone of the Oromia Region. Negele is one of Ethiopia’s great endemic hotspots and the entire area is packed with great birds. We will exit the forest zone and enter progressively drier thorn savanna in this remote, southern sector of Ethiopia.

Along our drive, we can expect to start adding a number of new species tour list including, Northern Red-billed and Eastern Yellow-billed Hornbills, Lilac-breasted Roller, Orange breasted bush shrike, Pringle’s Puffback, Red-headed weaver, Golden Breasted Starling,Violet-backed Starlings, White crested helmet shrike and yellow-breasted Apalis.

Latter, we will reach a dry wadi on the Genale River; it is one of Ethiopia’s great endemic hotspots and home to Ethiopia’s most sought-after endemic, prince Ruspoli’s Turaco. The bird is named after an Italian Prince, its hapless discoverer, who was killed by an elephant soon after collecting the type specimen in the 1890s.

Then we will search fruiting fig trees along the wadi and should enjoy excellent views of this very unusual and beautiful Turaco. Finally we will arrive in Negele in the early evening and check into our basic hotel.

Yabelo Wildlife Sanctuary is a protected area and wildlife sanctuary in the Borena Zone of the Oromia Region southern Ethiopia, covering an area of 2496 sq km, this wildlife reserve was originally created to protect Ethiopia’s endemic Swayne’s hartebeest.

Today we will have a full day birding in Sanctuary and get better familiar with Stresemann’s Bush crow , White-tailed Swallow. For the entire day we will explore Yabelo Wildlife Sanctuary and Reserve; species to look for include Stresemann’s Bushcrow, White-tailed Swallow, D'Arnaud's Barbet, Eurasian Hobby, Red-naped Bushshrike, Short-tailed Lark, Somali Courser, Somali Fiscal, Speke’s Weaver, Taita Fiscal, Steel blue Whydah, Straw-tailed whydah and purple gerenadier.

Morning drive from Yabello to Arbaminch for 195 km (120Mile), on the way we look for Birds such as Great spotted cuckoo, Golden-breasted starling, Taita fiscal ,steppe Eagles, Boran cisticola.

We will arrive in Arba Minch around midday and checked into a good hotel and enjoyed lunch in the late afternoon we will made the short drive to Nechsar National Park to see birds such as Bat hawk,masked weaver,yellow-throated dangerouse, desert cisticola , black-bellied bustard ,Lesser kestrel, African cuckoo hawk, moutagus barriers, scaly-throated Honeyguide.

Today we will send full day for further birding in Nechisar National park and Lake Chamo area. Nechisar National Park, located between the rift valley lakes of Chamo and Abaya, Nech Sar Park ranks top among the most visited Ethiopia safari National parks. Established in 1974, the park covers a small area of 514sq km of savannah, swamps and muddy lakeshore and rolling hill plains of up to 1,650m above sea level on Amaro Mountains. The Name Nechisar meaning “white grass” and officially called Nechsar in the law – is a very scenic and accessible park.

Nechisar National Park is considered an important habitat for bird populations particularly those migrating. It has a noted population of kingfishers, storks, pelicans, flamingos and African fish eagles. Other birds include Falco naumanni and Circus macrourus, which are fairly common on passage.

Wildlife species in the park include Greater kudu, Ethiopian Swayne’s Hartebeest, Burchell’s Zebra, Grant’s Gazelle, Guenther’s Dik-dik, black backed jackal, grey Duiker, wild boar, gureza and the endangered African hunting dog. Some of the primates in the park include bushbuck,vervet monkeys, Anubis baboon and many others.

After breakfast and relaxing morning in paradise lodge , you will transfer to Arbaminch Airport for the flight to Addis Ababa and you will check  in for day use room and finally in the evening you will taken to traditional restaurant for  fair well dinner  live folklore dance and transfer to International Airport.