30 Nov 2019: Awassa

Our next destination was Awassa, 300 km north of Yabello. To my great relief it seemed as if dirt roads were excluded for the next few days, and I looked forward to some luxurious tar road travelling. This did not last too long, as we developed a flat tyre about an hour into our journey. Solomon had to unpack the whole vehicle to locate the jack, and I allowed the experts to get on with the work while I birded the road verges. It was actually a very fortuitous breakdown. I found Yellow-rumped Seedeaters – a new species for the year-list. Another great roadside tick was the white morph of Banded Barbet leucogenys. Problems loosening the wheel nuts allowed me time to still find Purple Grenadier, Rufous Chatterer, Swainson’s Sparrow and Grey-backed Cameroptera.

Flat tyre on road to Awassa

Awassa, a large town adjacent to Lake Awassa, hosts a large variety of woodland and waterbirds. I was booked into the Shebele Hotel on the lakeshore. Large trees in the garden of the hotel provided excellent birding and comic relief while watching the antics of a family of vervet monkeys. Early the next morning Fayico parted company with us as he had completed his stint as a guide. Mekemen and myself birded the lakeshore at the back of the hotel compound. Following a pathway along a slightly raised dyke we soon found Malachite Kingfisher, Woodland Kingfisher, Blue-headed Coucal, Common Waxbill, White-rumped Babbler, Nubian Woodpecker and Brown-throated Wattle-eye. The highlight of our early morning walk was ticking Savi’s Warbler in the reedbeds – another new bird for the year-list. After a hearty breakfast at the hotel we left for our second visit to Wondo Genet, 35 km north-east of Awassa.

Brown-throated Wattle-eye, Awassa

Vervet Monkeys, Awassa