Ornifolk’s first trip to Ethiopia was successful due to the tireless efforts of our local guide, Merid Nega Gabremichel. Ten members participated, including Joel Abramson, Brian Beers, Ken Cole, Mark Elwonger, Mike Flieg, Travis MacClendon, Rod Martins, Don Rathbun, Peter Roxburgh, and Shoaib Tareen.

Roughly 2/3 of the highlands (above 2,000m) in Africa are found in Ethiopia and these provide one of the major hotbeds of endemism for the continent. We saw 15 of the 18 Ethiopian endemics and 17 of the 18 Abyssinian endemics, as well as 24 of 42 restricted-range or threatened species. Our total species count after 27 days was 481.

Birding Ethiopia was easy. Western-style food was usually available except in some of the more remote areas we visited, but most participants adapted easily to wot, tips and injura.  The cultural and scenic aspects of this trip should make it a continuing Ornifolks favorite.

A trip report is now complete. It is available as a PDF file from this link (it's 54 pages and will take about 5 minutes to download at 50Kbps) or for $15 from Mike Flieg. Merid has invited Ornifolks members for a return visit, and by this time we hope he has found an alternate site for Sidamo lark!

Contact us if you are interested in a trip during fall migration: 2001 or 2002.