23 Nov 2019: Wondo Genet to Bale Mountains
- vagranttwitcher
- Nov 23, 2019
- 4 min read
It had rained the previous evening, so we decided to head for the Bale Mountains directly after breakfast. A pre-breakfast walk ticked a Scaly Spurfowl near the hotel. The subspesies that we saw will soon be elevated to full species status, Schuett’s Spurfowl Pternistis schuetti, due to genetic research done by the FitzPatric Institute of African Ornithology and the University of California.
Later the morning, at a quarry near Shashemene, we found a pair of Abyssinian Wheatears. While we were taking photos of these wheatears two local young men became quite aggressive about our presence in their area. Perhaps they did not understand the concept of people walking around with cameras and binoculars, or perhaps they just wanted to shake down the tourists for some cash. We avoided a confrontation by hopping into our vehicle and driving off before things escalated and got out of hand.
Our next stop, a bridge over the Little Dadaba River, has a poignant South African connection. During the Second World War, at the beginning of May 1941, retreating Italian troops formed a defensive line on the Little Dadaba River near Shashamane. On 10 May an intensive artillery battle commenced between South African and Indian artillery on one side and the Italian artillery on the other. After two days of reciprocal bombardment, on May 13, the Natal Mounted Rifles and King's African Rifles crossed the river and attacked the entrenched Italian forces. At one stage during the battle Captain A.E. Blamey, company commander of ‘C’ Company Natal Mounted Rifles, led a frontal attack under heavy machine-gun fire and captured three Italian light tanks. Three more concealed tanks then opened fire on them. Revolver in hand he then charged this trio, leapt on to an enemy tank and grabbed the twin barrels of its machine-guns, thereby forcing the barrels upwards so that they could not fire on his men. The Italian forces were overwhelmed and most of their officers died on the battlefield. Captain Blamey was awarded the Military Cross. As one South African soldier to another – Captain Blamey, I salute you!
We stopped for coffee in Shashamane as I needed to purchase air-time for my cellular. This turned out to be a much greater hassle than anticipated. Serious language barriers had to be overcome before I realised that I first needed to open a local bank account, then make a deposit, and then finally the bank could deduct funds from my account and credit me with air-time. But first I had to wait for my application for an account to be approved. This whole cumbersome process took about two hours of precious birding time.
In Shashamane Mekemen and myself also met up with another bird guide, Fayico, who was allocated by Flamingo Tours to accompany us for the next week. I was sincerely hoping that this would enhance our identification skills, but this turned out not to be the case. The complexity of wheatears and other local LBJs still stumped my birding companions.
The headquarters of the Bale Mountains National Park at Dinsho was only 170 km due east of Shashamane, but the journey itself took about five hours. I came to realise that our vehicle’s shock absorbers were only attached to the chassis for aesthetical purposes. Their functionality was non-existent. At anything above 40 km/h the vehicle became unmanageable on a dirt road. It was a long and backside thumping ride to the Bale Mountains. Along the way we managed to tick five new birds for the year-list. Firstly, we found numerous small groups of Wattled Ibis, endemic to Ethiopia and Eritrea. These dishevelled-looking birds are usually found in highland grassland and moorland, but has now adapted – like the Hadeda Ibis – to human habitation and cultivation. We also identified three types of wheatears by means of much deliberation and paging through guide books: Red-breasted Wheatear, Cyprus Wheatear, and Pied Wheatear. Our final twitch before reaching the Bale Mountains was another Ethiopia/Eritrea endemic, the Thick-billed Raven. Its gurglingly, cacophonous call would wake me up at dawn over the following few mornings.
The Park headquarters at Dinsho is situated on the massif’s northern slopes. We paid our park fees for the next few days and then connected with a local bird guide to show us the hangout of the Abyssinian Owl, an uncommon resident of the montane forests of the area. Threatening storm clouds were gathering above us as we hurried through the Hagenia-juniper woodland to their last known position. A quick search of the trees by the local guide revealed a pair of Abyssinian Owls, trying to hide from the light drizzle that had started to fall. On the way back to the vehicle we found two more specials – the inconspicuous Abyssinian Ground Thrush and an endemic Abyssinian Catbird that was located by its explosive, fluting call in duet with a partner. A bonus was finding a small grouping of Mountain Nyala, a near-endemic of the northern slopes of the Bale Mountains.
On our way to our accommodation, the Wabe Shabelle Hotel in Goba, we managed to tick more year-list birds. In highland ponds adjacent to the road we found small groupings of Blue-winged Goose. This once relatively common endemic is now listed as “Vulnerable” due to habitat destruction and hunting. My guides informed me that they are easy to capture as they are mostly unafraid of humans, and that there is a growing market for their meat in the large Chinese expat community. Another confiding near-endemic in the high grasslands was Rouget’s Rail. This characterful rallid would strut along road verges and march fringes, constantly flicking its tail. Fayico then found the final near-endemic for the day – a flock of While-collared Pigeons were feeding in a nearby pasture. This brought the number of new year-birds seen in Ethiopia up to 30, and the total for the year to 1467 species.
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