The tour starts in the fascinating high-altitude city of Addis Ababa, which has a population of about 3.5 million people. Here we can already find many of Ethiopia’s more common endemics, such as the oddly-proportioned Thick-billed Raven, White-collared Pigeon, the beautiful Abyssinian Longclaw, the pretty Black-headed Siskin, Abyssinian Slaty Flycatcher, Black-winged Lovebird, and others.

Today, you will have your domestic flight to Gondar. Depart Gondar, and drive to Sankaber via Debark where the park’s entrance fee is paid, and obligatory staff are met. You will be dropped off at Buyit Ras for a 3-4 hours hike to Sankaber by which you will pass close to the escarpment edge. Nearing Sankaber, you will have beautiful views on both sides of the escarpment ridge and where you will likely see the endemic Gelada baboons.

A further 24km takes you to the Chennek campsite, passing through the Kurbet Metaya viewpoint (500m before the campsite). Once you pass Kurbet Metaya keep your eyes peeled for the Walia ibex. Continue 2km to one of the highest peaks in the Simien Massif: Mount Bwahit at 4,200m. Drive along the foothills through a valley crossed by wild streams. The road then descends from the plateau passing through spectacular scenery. Look for the Walia ibex and Ethiopian wolf.

If your arrival in Gondar is before lunch, you will quickly visit the Royal Enclosure of Gondar and Debere Berhan Selassie before you go to the airport for your return flight.

We drive to Dinsho, which is the gateway to the fabled Bale Mountains, which reach an altitude of around 4 500 meters (more than 14 000 feet). Here we spend the next two days birding varied habitats for such sought-after species as Abyssinian Owl, Cape (Mackinder’s) Eagle-Owl (the most massive of three subspecies), African Wood Owl, Wattled Ibis, Chestnut-naped Francolin, Moorland Francolin, Wattled Crane, Red-billed Chough, White-backed Black Tit, Abyssinian Catbird, African Emerald Cuckoo, Abyssinian Crimsonwing, and, with luck, Golden Eagle, as well as a long list of other birds. Interesting mammals here are mountain nyala, klipspringer, Menelik’s bushbuck, Bohor reedbuck, and others. The days in this area are also a botanical treat, with vegetation ranging from Hagenia-dominated forest to giant Erica woods to high-altitude moorlands, sometimes with fabulous giant lobelias. In the adjacent Harenna Forest, it might be possible to spot some star birds like Brown Parisoma, Ayers’s Hawk-Eagle, African Emerald Cuckoo, Abyssinian Ground Thrush, Cinnamon Bracken Warbler, Rüppell’s Robin-Chat, White-browed Robin-Chat, Abyssinian Crimsonwing, and Slender-billed Starling, or even a flock of migrating European Bee-eaters.

To the south of the Park lies a 1200m (3700 ft) escarpment, below which is one of the largest and most extensive forests remaining in Ethiopia, the Harenna Forest. The slope of the southern escarpment falls rapidly from the tree line at 3200m to around 2000m within a distance of only 8 km, producing a rapid and spectacular change in landscape, habitat, and species composition. The Bale Mountain Lodge is located beside a clear mountain stream, within a natural forest clearing beneath the escarpment, and enjoys breathtaking views of the mountains and the surrounding forest. Here rare Bale Monkeys inhabit the trees and the birdlife is spectacular. Wild coffee is harvested to the south of the lodge and delicious Bale honey is obtained by the local people from hives placed high within the canopy. Here is also found 3% of Africa’s remaining bamboo forest. Harenna is truly a magical place in which to relax or to explore.

In the morning, you will have breakfast and drive to the Sanetti Plateau (altitude of 4000 meters, with Afro-alpine Moorland, beautiful wild alpine scenery). Driving further, stands of Hypericum trees host the endemic griseiventris subspecies of Brown Parisoma. Moorland and Chestnut-naped Francolins and Cinnamon Bracken Warbler frequent dense shrubbery, and Ethiopian Cisticola prefer the more open areas. Then we will be driving on Africa’s highest road, passing close to the summit of Ethiopia’s second-highest mountain. Here on the Sanetti Plateau, an island of tundra in the tropics, the habitat is classified as “Afro-alpine moorland”, characterized by a fascinating range of unique plants, including giant lobelias, which tower like monolithic giants over the rich tussock grasslands, and extensive cushions of yellow everlasting flowers. The grasslands are estimated to support incredible biomass of 8,800 pounds of rodents per hectare. This attracts a rich array of raptors, and we should see Steppe and Golden Eagles, Augur Buzzard, and the elegant Pallid Harrier circling over this verdant floral sea. They share this abundant food source with the plateau’s most celebrated resident, the Ethiopian wolf, crowned with the unenviable title of “the world’s rarest canid.” Watching these vibrantly colored animals, most closely related to the European Timber Wolf, exhibiting their hunting prowess while bouncing on giant mole-rats (another endemic to the Sanetti Plateau) is surely among Africa’s greatest wildlife experiences.

Morning, start driving to Lake Langano, where we will spend the night. We will bird this and other lakes, among them beautiful Lake Ziway, and wetland sites of the Great Rift Valley, looking for Black Crowned Crane, Collared Pratincole, African Snipe and several other shorebird species, various Tern species including Gull-billed, Lesser and African Jacanas, Fulvous Whistling-Duck, African Pygmy Goose, Western Marsh Harrier, and many others. Other highlights today might be Greater Spotted Eagle, Egyptian Vulture, White-headed Vulture, Clapperton’s Francolin, Blue-spotted Wood Dove, Lichtenstein’s Sandgrouse, Buff-bellied Warbler, Northern Black Flycatcher, Blackstar, Black-headed and Pygmy Batises, the striking Masked Shrike, Green-winged Pytilia, and Red-fronted Warbler, as well as many others.

Some of the species we might find today are Black-winged Lovebird, Banded and Red-fronted Barbets, Little Weaver, and Little Rock Thrush. The rocky escarpment above the hotel holds Blue-breasted Bee-eater, Mocking Cliff Chat, Abyssinian Wheatear, Fan-tailed Raven, and rock hyrax. Alternatively, a walk in the adjacent dry acacia woodland might yield Black-billed Wood Hoopoe, Bearded Woodpecker, Von der Decken’s Hornbill, Boran Cisticola, Buff-bellied Warbler, Mouse-colored Penduline Tit, White-winged Black Tit, White-rumped Babbler, Grey-headed Batis, and Rüppell’s Weaver. Later on, we may visit the grounds of another hotel for roosting Slender-tailed Nightjar and Verreaux’s and Greyish Eagle-Owls, as well as Clapperton’s Francolin. During the afternoon we plan to visit the forest around Bishangari on the southeastern shore of the lake. The acacia woodland bordering the road could produce Western Banded Snake Eagle, Bare-faced Go-away-bird, and Red-throated Wryneck, among others. The remnant patch of natural forest at Bishangari Lodge is home to a number of endemics and special birds, including Scaly Francolin, Lemon Dove, Narina Trogon, Silvery-cheeked Hornbill, Yellow-fronted Parrot, White-cheeked Turaco, Abyssinian Woodpecker, and Ethiopian Oriole. Noisy groups of Grey-backed Fiscal inhabit the more open areas, and guereza can be found in tall fig trees.

Drive back to Addis Ababa via Lake Koka and Lake Ziway. You go shopping in Addis Ababa. Then you will go to the Yod Abyssinia Traditional restaurant for a farewell dinner party. From the restaurant, you will go to the airport and the tour ends.