Gareth James Blog: Ethiopia - Day 6 (12/03/20) - Bilen Plain, Aledeghi Wildlife Reserve and Awash Falls Lodge

One of the biggest disappointments from our last trip to Ethiopia in November 2019 was not seeing Arabian Bustard so this was a bird we were very keen to catch up with this time. The best area to see it is in the thorny Afar country to the north-east of Awash National Park, an area we didn’t have time to visit in 2019. Unfortunately, the news from Sayed the chief scout (local guide) in the area was not promising with talk of a dispute taking place between the local Afar and Somali insurgences who cross the border to steal livestock, and stories of casualties on both sides. Nevertheless, it was agreed that we would meet up with the scout at 08:00 and assess the situation from there. The sight of armed soldiers on the side of the road as we drove north did little to ease the tension but on arrival at the small village of Andido we were greeted with the welcome news that the scout would accompany us and we could visit the Bilen Plain. I don’t think our guides quite appreciated how important it was to us that we saw Arabian Bustard and we seemed to waste a lot of time looking at common African birds and also trying to get views of two singing Black Scrub Robin in a dense area of scrub which steadfastly refused to give even the briefest of views. With a long camel train passing through the area, it was decided we would try another less disturbed part of the plain, a move that eventually paid dividends with Bridget suddenly shouting out ‘bustard’. We hastily jumped out of the 4WD and saw the bird well enough to confirm it was Arabian rather than Kori before it got up and flew. Fortunately, it only went a short distance and, rather than follow it on foot, we opted to jump back in the vehicle and use it to get closer. This worked a treat with prolonged close range views as it walked through the acacia woodland. Other birds seen on the Bilen Plain included: two Nile Valley Sunbird, Pygmy Falcon, Chestnut-headed Sparrow-lark, two Spotted Thick-knee, and eight Egyptian Vulture.

Back at Andido, there was more good news in that we could also visit the Aledeghi Plain which even back in 2010 was described in ‘Where to Watch Birds in Ethiopia’ as ‘not necessarily safe’. Although most of our birding here was restricted to the vehicle, we saw some excellent birds and mammals including two more Arabian Bustard, a pair of displaying Somali Ostrich with Northern Carmine Bee-eaters on their backs, a Secretarybird on a nest at the top of a tree, four ringtail Pallid Harrier, Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse, c50 Chestnut-backed Sparrow-lark, Slender-tailed Mongoose, three Abyssinian Hare, three Gerenuk, Salt's Dik-Dik, 30 Soemmerring's Gazelle, two Golden-backed Jackel and two Beisa Oryx. However, the undoubted highlight was a party of three superb African Swallow-tailed Kite which were a delight to watch hawking overhead and one of the birds of the trip. Unfortunately, our stay in this superb area was cut short by a call on the scout’s mobile to say that the dispute was kicking off again and that, being in ‘no man’s land’ and a vulnerable target, we needed to vacate the plain immediately. Luckily the main road wasn’t too far away and we made it back to safety without incident.

Having dropped the scout off back at the village, we headed south to Awash where we had lunch and then to an area of scrub around some buildings on the opposite side of the road to the entrance gate to Awash Falls. There were plenty of birds here including: Yellow-necked Spurfowl, a male Cut-throat Finch, a male Somali Bunting, 20 Long-tailed Paradise Whydah, Red-fronted Barbet, Abyssinian Scimitarbill, five Crested Francolin and a pair of Rosy-patched Bushshrike.

Strangely, however, the access road to the falls and the area around the lodge itself were largely devoid of birds, perhaps due to the very hot weather we were experiencing with the temperature gauge in the vehicle registering 37C.

Night spent in the Awash Falls Lodge.