Ethiopia

27 November 1999 - 17 January 2000

Journal - (weeks 1&2) Johannesburg - Addis Ababa

Saturday 27^th November 1999

Driving a slow old Landrover, I have found it essential to leave as early as possible, so one doesn't have to push too hard - which also saves a lot of petrol. So, at 02h00, I set out from Johannesburg, taking the main road north past Pretoria to Pietersburg and then on to Messina. Arriving at the border post at 08h00 it is still relatively cool, and in less than 20 minutes I was across and leaving Beit Bridge for Harare.

After changing some US dollars for Zimbabwe dollars at one of the new service stations, I was able to reach Harare comfortably by 15h00, and so continued to Chinhoyi on the road to Lusaka. Stayed at the Orange Grove Motel, which has an excellent campsite.

Sunday 28^th November 1999

This time I could afford a somewhat later start, and so left at 06h00, reaching the border post at Chirundu at about 09h00. Here it was already getting warm, and arriving much later can be very uncomfortable indeed. Again the border post was very easy, and I was through in under 30 minutes. Luckily it was a Sunday, because otherwise the traffic jams in Lusaka are dreadful, so it took less than 20 minutes to get through. On the northern edge of Lusaka one hits some nasty potholes, but the road soon improves again, with only scattered potholes on the road to Kapiri Mposhi. If you are looking for Zambia's only endemic - Chapin's Barbet - an hour's side-trip off this road will give you an excellent opportunity to find it

Turning east just after Kapiri Mposhi, there is an excellent new road, and I was able to each the Forest Inn at Mkushi by 15h00. The Inn has a very nice camp site, with hot showers, etc. Bird-watching in the garden as I relaxed, I started to see the first species not covered by the South African field-guides, such as African Thrush. If one has time, there is a superb miombo woodland in the Mkushi FR approximately 30 km to the north, which is well worth a day's excursion - if you can’t afford longer and camp in the forest itself (no facilities).

Monday 29^th November 1999

Another reasonably early start was required to get to Shiwa Ng'andu as early as possible to get in some bird-watching in the miombo on the entrance road. The road from Mkushi past Serenje to the turnoff towards Lake Mweru is excellent. After that the tar deteriorates a bit, although until Mpika all potholes had been filled, and crews were busy filling the rest to the north. Zambian potholes are the most frustrating of any I have come across. The road is virtually perfect for 10 km, when suddenly there is 20 to 50 m of potholes that you have to slow to walking pace for. This is fine in the dry, but as I drove north there was scattered rain, which meant that you couldn't tell how deep the puddles were - 1 cm or 50 cm. This resulted in my having to slow right down, and cruise along at about 40 km/h, hoping that I could spot the bad potholes - not always successfully. In the dry, one can easily cruise along at 100 km/h! There were many police road blocks - although on the trip north, they only wanted to know where I was going. Pale-billed Hornbill was seen flying across the road at one point.

I arrived at Shiwa Ng'andu (the turnoff is well sign-posted), and started down the gravel road. After a few km one reaches the boundary fence, and some well-developed miombo woodland. This is an excellent spot where I found Miombo Pied Barbet, White-headed Saw-wing, Böhm's Flycatcher & Miombo Grey Tit, as well as many other southern African birds. Of course, the Anchieta's Barbet and Bar-winged Weavers that I really wanted were in hiding.

Before dark I continued to the Kapishya campsite, which is rather basic, but is right next to the hot springs. After a very relaxing time in there, I wandered over to the adjacent lodge for a cold beer and a chance to look out over the river which often has Peter's Finfoot on it.

Tuesday 30^th November 1999

Woken up by the incessant calling of a Broadbill, which allowed yet another 06h00 start. The road continued in its frustratingly potholed state, but with no rain, I could drive much faster. By 10h00 I had reached the border post. This border crossing took about 45 minutes, but only because there was a lot of walking to do between the various desks. I was most disappointed to learn that they understood the GP number-plate to stand for "Gangster's Paradise" - although this was made up on my return when GP was now thought to be "Great Place". One has to remember to move one's watch forward by one hour at this point.

On leaving the border post at Nakonde, the road is slightly pot-holed on the way to Mbeya, where one can change money at the bank - which generally offers a better rate than at the border post. From Mbeya one continues east on an excellent tar road, which only suffers from corrugations on steep hills. This road passes through the Mikumi NP, which is worth spending some time viewing from the road (don’t enter unless you are really rich) - but I continued without stopping as this was another full days' drive. However, several Bare-faced Go-Away Birds were seen.

Passing Iringa, I continued another 20 km to reach the new Riverside campsite, which has hot showers and a great riverside setting. Ross's Turaco were heard calling in the morning. The campsite has been started up by David Moyer, who heads the Tanzanian office of the Wildlife Society. I spent a couple of hours chatting with him, and making sure I had all the necessary information for my (probable) next trip, which will be to the Eastern Arc mountains of Tanzania. As a small sideline, David is currently involved in setting up tours that will cover all the endemics, so is the expert on the birds of this area.

Wednesday 1^st December 1999

Another lengthy day's driving was ahead, so it was yet another 06h00 start. Soon after leaving the campsite one drives along the northern boundary of the Udzungwa Mountains NP. On the few times I have driven along this road, the most common bird to be seen is the Ashy Starling. However, if one has the time, there would be many more specials to find.

Continuing eastwards through Morogoro to Chelinze, the road remained excellent. From here one must turn north towards Tanga, and on reaching Segera, turn north-west towards Arusha. Along this road I had noticed several policemen, but only one stopped me for doing 61 km/h in a 50 zone. Many others were caught speeding - they have very efficient radar traps - but I had no problems talking my way out of this one.

Before reaching Moshi, I kept my eye out for suitable weaver habitat, but nothing was visible. I suspect that to see the very localized Taveta Golden Weaver, one actually needs to take the road east to Taveta.

From Moshi the road is quite heavily used, and progress slows considerably as one approaches Arusha. Also, on entering the town, a significant number of potholes appeared - although to be fair, they had all been repaired by the time I returned. The road to the excellent Masai campsite remains in terrible condition, but it is well worth putting up with. The campsite not only has good hot showers, but an excellent "fast food" restaurant. Invariably you will find two or more overland trucks - but I have never experienced any of the problems normally found with them at this campsite. What I was able to do was to talk with about 10 different groups of people who have travelled extensively throughout eastern Africa. Here was my chance to find out about the current situation in northern Kenya and Ethiopia. However, no-one present had been there, or even heard of anyone travelling there recently! However, it was still an excellent chance to meet new people and discuss current travelling experiences.

Thursday 2^nd December 1999

Again I left at 06h00, but from hereon I was able to start bird-watching, although this was to be another day requiring a lot of driving. Apart from a (temporarily) badly potholed road for a few km north of Arusha, the road returned to a good tarred surface. Here the acacia bush seems to hold a greater number of birds than comparable habitats elsewhere I have visited, and Pied Wheatear, White-headed Buffalo-Weaver and Purple Grenadier were quite common, while a single Mourning Wheatear was also seen.

Since I had no idea of what arrangements I needed to make for the convoy through the northern Kenyan deserts, I continued without stopping to the border at Namanga. Again the only delay was the walking between the various desks - which seem unending. However, it probably took less than 40 minutes.

Once in Kenya, the roads are no longer pothole-free - just the opposite. It is necessary to reduce speed as it is impossible to dodge them all. Continuing north from the border, one reaches the main Mombasa - Nairobi road, and turns left into Nairobi. I doubt it is possible to get through the traffic jams here in less than an hour, but in the end (with the aid of a decent map) I was able to get onto the Thika road, and continued north, keeping to the west of Mount Kenya. Along this stretch of road many birds were seen including the local race of Pale Chanting Goshawk, Red-rumped Swallow and Northern Anteater-Chat, but not the few target species I was looking for (Jackson's Whydah, Grasshopper Buzzard, etc).

I was able to reach Isiolo by 16h00, giving me time to continue to the road-block. Here I was able to find out that on payment of 1 000 KSh, I would be assigned a soldier, who would travel with me right through to Moyale. Although I didn't need to join the convoy, it was suggested that I do so for greater safety.

Having got this ready, I returned to stay at the Bomen Hotel, there being no easy place to camp. At the hotel, an American woman called Deirdre asked for a lift to Ethiopia, as she was hitching, and had spent the previous 4 days recovering from Malaria, and there had been no alternative transport in that time other than paying for a lift on the back of one of the trucks. This was to prove one of the more interesting experiences of the trip.

Friday 3^rd December 1999

Deirdre and myself managed to get to the police checkpoint at 06h00 ready for the convoy - except there wasn't one. So we set off with the soldier on the road to Samburu GR. I had travelled this road previously and was praying that someone might have done something to fix it. No such luck. The first 40 km took 3 hours, as it was still raining and the road was very muddy. It was not actually necessary to get into 4-wheel drive, but the vehicle slid around a lot as one avoided the worst of the potholes and mud.

After this first section of the road, it looked as if it might get better. However, just as I thought it was safe to speed up a bit (to 30 km/h), there was a sudden bad patch, or corrugations. After a few hours of going slowly, with occasional times when I would speed up, only to hit heavy corrugations again, I decided to try the faster option (which all the other smaller vehicles were doing - OK all was only 3, but 3 out of 3 seemed a reasonable percentage). It was probably here that I made a mistake - although that is pure hindsight. With bbad corrugations, one has the choice of going very slowly - approximately 10 km/h and just suffering as the vehicle vibrates itself to pieces, or taking it at about 50 km/h in which case the vehicles travels more smoothly, but the suspension is worked very hard. It only took a few minutes before an ominous thumping started.

At first it was not clear what the problem was, but after stopping a few times and checking the springs and drive shaft, the problem was spotted. It took a bit of finding, simply because it was (to me) so unexpected. I had broken the shackle mounting on the rear left spring. This meant that the rear spring was simply bouncing on the chassis, which was, of course, the source of the noise. Anyway, there was nothing to do but to slow right down, and just get to Marsabit, where I might be able to get it fixed - nothing less than a full welding job would handle this one.

Eventually (as it seemed) we reached Marsabit - at about 15h00, i.e. taking 9 hours to cover 250 km. Stopping at the first garage, we asked if they could help. Quiet laughter, followed by a team of "mechanics" who removed the wheel and springs in a matter of seconds. Before I knew it, the shackle mount was welded back on, and the spring re-attached, discarding the U-bolts as they had been twisted with the movement of the axle over the worst of the bumps. OK, it did take about 2½ hours and 500 KSh, but I doubt many people could fix it that quickly - obviously I wasn't their first client with this type of problem. Anyway, I have to say that this repair lasted for the remainder of the trip.

From the garage, it was a short trip up to the National Park campsite. The soldier wandered off to stay with a friend, while Deirdre decided that she wasn't prepared to risk camping in a national park, and so found a cheap hotel to sleep in. The drive to the campsite confirmed my opinion that the Kenyan road authorities are completely mad. Driving along a muddy deeply pot-holed gravel road at the reckless speed of 10 km/h, I had to cross about 5 speed-humps, all of which were so high and steep that it was necessary to slow down! Anyway, after two km I reached the gate to the park, where there was a very pleasant camp site, with running water (no-one else I have met believes this, because it appears that to find running water there is a very rare event).

Ostrich, Long-tailed Fiscal & Superb Starling were seen near Samburu and Vulturine Guineafowl were common along the road, but not much else of note (given I was concentrating on the road).

Saturday 4^th December 1999

While I managed to wake at dawn, it was cold, wet and misty. Not what one expects when camping on a small mountain in the middle of the desert - but that is what makes Marsabit such a special place.

On leaving the park, I needed to pay the required fees (having arrived after the office was closed). Here started one of the most embarrassing moments of the trip. When last in Kenya, the fees were US$ 30 per person, US$ 20 to camp and US$ 30 for a foreign registered vehicle - making US$ 70 to stay one night in a national park. Then it used to be possible to camp at a park entrance camp site for just the camping fee - which was still ludicrously expensive, but safer than anywhere else. Anyway, they wanted 200!. Big argument about how they must be joking. 10 minutes of discussion, and the manager arrived. Further argument until one minor issue was clarified - they were talking KSh! The government had dropped the price, so the total package for entry with a foreign vehicle and camping was now 200 KSh - i.e. about US$ 3. Much apologizing and laughter, and I left at about 06h30.

This was about half an hour after I had promised to meet Deirdre and the soldier. Deirdre wasn't a problem - there was no-one else she was going to get a lift with - but the soldier was - we needed him to get through the next road-block. Luckily we saw him climbing onto a truck just as it pulled out from town, so we were able to attract his attention and he jumped off - travelling on the front seat of a Landrover is infinitely more comfortable than sitting / standing on the back of an overloaded truck.

The remainder of the road to Moyale was just as rough and boring as the trip from Isiolo, and took nearly as long - we arrived in Moyale at 14h00. However,, this was the first opportunity to stop for some serious bird-watching (ignoring the fact that the reason we had a soldier was to stop armed bandits attacking us). Soon after leaving Marsabit one reaches an area of red soils with extensive black lava rocks. This is the habitat for some of the rare desert larks in Kenya. Just after entering the habitat, I stopped having seen some small lark fly off and land close to the verge. Finding it was not at all hard, and to my complete surprise - a William's Lark. This endemic literally only occurs in this small area of desert. There were quite a few other larks around, but none would allow a close enough approach to identify properly. Anyway, a good start. Sadly, though, the state of the road meant that I had to concentrate much too much on the road thereafter, and didn't find anything other than D'Arnaud's Barbet just before reaching Moyale new (although a lot of the more "common" desert species were seen).

Once in Moyale, we drove straight on to the border post, which took about 10 minutes for the Kenyan side. On entering Ethiopia, the first problem was to drive on the right. It was fine on the tarred roads where there was traffic, but once onto the gravel roads where one simply drove on the least potholed line, it was often a problem to remember which side to drive when one met the only vehicle of the day.

The Ethiopian officials were very friendly, and we got through immigration with no problem. Customs took a bit longer, with the official filling in a lengthy form in quintuplicate (?). He was OK, he had plenty of sheets of carbon paper. However, when he asked me to write my name, address and profession, he carefully removed all the carbons, so I had to write it out 5 times. Then he read the letter from the Ethiopian Embassy in Pretoria - which was in Amharic (I often wondered what it actually said) - and finally asked me to pay for the honour of importing my vehicle into Ethiopia. US$ 1. As I was to learn, Ethiopian officials are strongly into bureaucratic procedures, but not into trying to take as much of your money as possible. The same cannot be said of Ethiopian businessmen.

At the border one must declare all currency being brought in, and then keep careful records which will be checked before leaving. I had no problems, but Deirdre (having changed some money at the border), was trying to persuade the official that she could manage on US$ 4 and a credit card. He clearly knew she had changed some money illegally, but I think was being very cruel when he allowed her in anyway.

While it is a prerequisite that all vehicles entering Ethiopia be thoroughly searched, an old Landrover filled with dirt, dust & bird-watching equipment didn't appeal to the official. After the first two metal trunks he gave up, and we were on our way. The whole process had taken less than an hour.

The road north from Moyale is tarred on the Ethiopian side (a fact that they are enormously proud - as are the Tanzanians to the south - it really is a serious indictment of Kenya, which is supposedly so much richer than either country that it cannot maintain its roads). Although the road was tarred, and there were virtually no potholes, it is not a very smooth road, since Ethiopians do not believe in levelling the tar they use to patch potholes. This leaves a very rough surface. In this respect, the standard of the road deteriorated steadily from Moyale through to south of Addis Ababa, where the new road is slowly progressing southwards.

We passed through Mega without actually realizing it was Mega, and there was no hope of reaching Yavello before dark, so I decided to camp in what looked like a small abandoned village. Later I realized it was probably a small market, which would only be occupied during market days. Anyway, it provided a reasonable campsite for me. It was now that Deirdre announced that she had never camped in the bush before - although she had back-packed throughout the world over the previous 10 years. So, out of the kindness of my heart, I let her sleep in the back of the Landrover - why should I worry, I was perfectly safe in the roof-top tent.

Sunday 5^th December 1999

Having slept perfectly, I was somewhat surprised to find Deirdre had spent the night unable to sleep through shear fright. Her worst fears were apparently realized when a couple of herdsmen passed by in the early hours of the morning. Not that they did anything, but the fact that they could have attacked us was the problem. Deirdre, for all her worldwide travelling experience was not a "bush-person".

An hours birding around the village produced a variety of species including Orange-bellied Parrot, Black-billed Wood-Hoopoe, Spotted Palm-Thrush, Grey Wren-Warbler, Northern Black Flycatcher, African Grey Flycatcher, Northern White-crowned Shrike, Shelley's Starling, Grey-headed Sparrow, White-headed Buffalo-Weaver & Baglafecht Weaver. Driving slowly to Yavello, several flocks of Stresemann's Bush Crow were found, and the birds were remarkably tame, so could be approached quite close. White-crowned Starlings and Brown-rumped Bunting were also seen on a couple of occasions. Phillips' Dik-Dik were seen on this stretch of road (and regularly thereafter).

After passing Yavello, the road started to deteriorate, but as I was keeping more of an eye out for birds, I was going slow anyway. However, just before reaching Dila, there was an almighty crash and the vehicle stopped rather suddenly. The U-bolts on the right-hand rear axle had snapped - presumably from the additional strain put on them when the shackle mounting broke on the other side. This was my chance to prove that I really knew how to fix a Landrover - and within seconds there was a crowd of about 20 to watch. So, out with the hi-lift jack, carry it round to the side of the vehicle and - put my foot on the edge of a pothole, and twist the ankle. Brilliant start. After walking around for 10 minutes to try and ensure it didn't swell up too much, I continued. To my own surprise - and I am sure everyone else's - it took me only 20 minutes to replace the U-bolts, using all 3 jacks to position the springs.

Continuing on towards Awasa, we arrived at 15h00. About 10 km outside Awasa, the brakes failed - the brake-fluid pipe had broken loose when the U-bolts had snapped, and the pipe got caught near the shock-absorber. No big problem, it was just a matter of using the gears to slow down, and the handbrake to stop. The roads in close to Awasa were very potholed, but in the town they were basically OK. What was a surprise was the existence of traffic lights. Not only that the were there, but also that they worked. Probably 90% of all Ethiopian traffic lights worked (and most towns had them). The quirk is that they allow only one road to move at a time - not a bad idea given the general standard of driving in Africa.

The hotel we camped at was the Wabe Shabele #2 Hotel, and was not too impressive, with the "campsite" no better. The facilities were limited to long-drop toilets with 3 walls but no door, and a shower in the open. The food was very basic, but OK, and I got a chance to start sampling the local beer. With about 10 brews available round the country, I was able to conduct a thorough survey over the next few weeks.

There were virtually no water-birds around, and few waterside birds. However, the large trees in the hotel gardens and the neighbouring area were excellent. Thick-billed Raven were common and tame in the hotel grounds, as were Abyssinian Grivet and Guereza, both of which enjoyed playing on the Landrover.

Monday 6^th December 1999

The following morning I spent a couple of hours wandering around the environs - but rather slowly and gingerly. My ankle had swollen up quite badly, but was not too painful. During this period Black-winged Lovebird were found just outside the grounds - although its call is not anything like the calls of lovebirds on southern Africa. Other species seen were Nubian & Grey Woodpeckers, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Orphean Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, White-breasted White-eye, Northern Puffback Shrike, Splendid Glossy Starling & African Citril.

Leaving Awasa at about 08h00, I was able to reach Shashemene by 09h00, where I found a local garage to fix the brakes. I also used the opportunity to change a large sum of US dollars to Birr, which was supposed to keep me going for a month or so. The brake pipe was fixed after someone brazed the pipe back together again.

Leaving Shashemene with working brakes, we reached Lake Langano about an hour later. On this road, Carmine Bee-eaters were very common. We stayed at the Bekele Mola Hotel on the southern part of the Lake. This was an infinitely more pleasant camp site - and the best I found in Ethiopia. Not only that, it produced some of the best birds of the trip. On reflection, I should have spent more time at Lake Awasa & Lake Langano. However, since it was the first stop on the trip - I assumed things would get better, so continued on.

After relaxing by the lake for a few hours, and having White Wagtail walk along the beach in front of me, with Black-headed Gull and Gull-billed Terns flying nearby, I hobbled around the hotel gardens. I found that the really good spot was behind the hotel, in the bush near the escarpment. This area produced Banded Barbet in the staff area, White-bellied Go-Away Bird, Blue-naped Mousebird, Whinchat, Mountain Rock-Thrush, Buff-bellied Warbler, Northern Crombec, Grey-headed Batis, Black-capped Social-Weaver and Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu. Olive Baboons were to be found near the cliffs.

During this time Deirdre set up her tent, and retreated into it to read a book. She only emerged when I left for Addis, two days later. I really wonder what people who travel for the sake of travelling get out of it - she never wandered around, or looked at the scenery, or even met people to talk to. Weird.

The only other people at the campsite - and the only people who I met camping during the whole time I was in Ethiopia - were Rob and a friend, who had driven down from London, heading for South Africa. We discussed where they had been and the problems, including being harassed in Egypt, and so having to ship their vehicle by sea to Mombasa, before driving back north to Addis Ababa. However, they didn't travel beyond there, and were on their way back to Moyale, and then through Kenya southwards over the next few months. So I still got no more information on travelling in Ethiopia - I was definitely feeling information deprived.

Tuesday 7^th December 1999

This was a truly lazy day, and was a good chance to let my ankle recover. After this it no longer hurt, and swelling was very minor. Started of by returning to the base of the escarpment and found a lot more acacia grassland birds, including Eastern Yellow-billed Hornbill, Red-fronted Barbet, African Thrush, Rüppell's Robin-Chat, Olive-tree Warbler, Nightingale, Ashy & Stout Cisticolas, Mouse-coloured Penduline Tit, Village Indigobird, Three-streaked Tchagra, Slate-coloured Boubou, Speckle-fronted Weaver, Purple Grenadier and Ortolan Bunting. There were quite a number of weavers, and after a lot of effort, I found one male which was still in sufficient breeding plumage to identify it as a Rüppell's Weaver. On returning to the front of the hotel, I decided to have a breakfast there. I was continually distracted by a chat of some sort flitting around the base of the bougainvillea next to the beach. Finally it showed itself properly, and I was delighted to realize it was an Irania.

At about 09:00, I drove the 5 km to return to the main road, and drove across to the Abiata - Shala NP. I took a guide simply because there were no maps, and he might be of some use. While he didn’t speak any English, he did know which was the passable track, and the areas where tourists were able to travel.

As with almost all National Parks in Ethiopia, there were many people living there with their goats and cattle. The internal roads were a bit dusty but otherwise quite driveable. Lake Shala was a disappointment with no water-birds visible at all, so I continued straight on to Lake Abiata. Again there were no waterfowl (except a few Northern Shovelers), but the waders made up for this. There were a few "southern African" waders, but also Redshank, Temminck's Stint, and several Lesser Golden Plover. At another point on the shoreline were a few Flamingos and pelicans, but also Lesser Black-backed and Greater Black-headed Gulls, and some Fire-crowned Bishops.

In the adjacent acacia bush were the usual species, as well as Red-winged Bush-Lark, Northern & Isabelline Wheatears, White-winged Black Tit, Woodchat Shrike, Rüppell's Long-tailed Starling and Speke's Weaver. However, what really stood out was the incredible numbers of Yellow and Grey Wagtails. They were literally in flocks like locusts, probably numbering in the tens or even hundreds of thousands. Although I tried to identify as many sub-species as possible, the individual variations in colours amongst the three sub-species identified was quite remarkable.

By early afternoon, I returned to the campsite, but stopped on the main tarred road to watch an Imperial Eagle scavenging a carcass on the road. I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing. Deirdre didn’t emerge from her tent.

Wednesday 8^th December 1999

We left the campsite quite early (at around 07h00) to drive north to Lake Ziway in order to get there at a reasonable hour. Although easy to reach the fishing jetty on the lake, it proved to be another disappointment in terms of waterfowl - although Pygmy Goose and Spur-winged Gooose were present - with some Yellow-billed Ducks. Spent some time searching the adjacent wetland areas, but found nothing further of interest.

On continuing north from Ziway, the tar road continued to deteriorate further, but this was partly due to the road construction crews who were working from the north rebuilding the road. Much of the road-works were centred around the Koka Dam area, with extensive wetlands on either side of the road as it crosses the Awash river. Regular stops (not easy with all the road-works) failed to produce any new palaearctic waterfowl, although a Little Ringed Plover was found right next to the road. One curiosity on entering a small village was to be met by approximately 300 camels which were being herded into town, by just a few young boys. Considering the value this must have represented, it seemed surprising that no adults appeared to be supervising.

From just north of Koka, the new road is open, and the excellent tar continues all the way to Addis Ababa, with just one minor diversion around an incomplete bridge near Nazret. On reaching the outskirts of Addis Ababa, there were some delays where major road-works were being carried out. Surprisingly, navigation proved surprising easy within Addis Ababa, the maps provided in Philip Briggs' book being more than adequate.

I managed to arrive at the Department of Immigration at the first attempt at 12h15, only to discover that Ethiopian lunch-break is from 12h00 to 13h00. However, the office re-opened promptly at 13h00, whereupon I suffered a major setback. While the Ethiopian embassy staff in Pretoria had said they couldn’t provide me with a multiple re-entry visa there, I had got the impression that I would be able to obtain one in Addis Ababa. This was to prove wrong - unless a permanent resident, it is not possible to get a visa without first leaving the country. This seemed to rule out any chance of getting to Djibouti. However, I must say that the officials were very friendly in explaining this situation - an attitude I was to find over and over again, even when we were not able to communicate properly because I didn’t speak Amharic.

After that disappointment, I continued to find the Sanford English School (first attempt again - but mainly by luck this time), and there met Steve Spawls. I had been given Steve's name through the African Bird Club contacts database, and he made me very welcome. I was able to camp at the school for three nights while I sorted myself out for the rest of the trip.. The first thing I discovered was that it was winter - there was no way I could sleep under a light duvet in Addis Ababa - the sleeping bag was required.

Thursday 9^th December 1999

I spent the whole day getting the Landrover fixed up, checking the shackle attachment, welding other potential trouble spots and replacing all the rear U-bolts which were damaged. We had problems getting the vehicle level (partly because the shackle mount may have been re-welded a few millimetres out of place), so we changed the old shackle to a longer forward-control one on left side. This left the vehicle in good shape, and ready to continue with the trip. Although I as unable to get any bird-watching done, I was still able to find Brown-rumped Seed-eaters - in Addis Ababa they replace the House Sparrow in the urban niche.

Friday 10^th December 1999

After a latish start, I spent much of the morning trying to find another set of forward-control shackles, before visiting a couple of the local birding spots. First, I headed out east on the Nekempte road, where after about 20 km I reached the Gafersa Reservoir. There were plenty of Egyptian Geese and Yellow-billed Duck. After some searching I found a pair of Blue Geese, and then at the eastern end of the reservoir a flock of about 50 Green-winged Teal. Fawn-breasted Waxbill were common here.

Continuing eastwards for a further 5 km or so, I turned south on a road to the forestry college and the Menagesha-Suba National Forest. On the drive south, Wattled Ibis, White-collared Pigeon and large numbers of Black-winged Plover were easily seen, and Red-breasted Wheatears were in abundance. The National Forest would have been a pleasant place to camp, although there were no facilities other than one tap. I believe the forest has a good avifauna, with roosting Yellow-fronted Parrots regularly seen in the late evenings. However, since I arrived late (at around 14h00, and needed to return to Addis Ababa early, I failed to find anything of note.

From the forest, I continued south to the Jimma route and then back to Addis Ababa. Although the roads weren't good, the suspension and other repairs held up well, so I was feeling much happier about the rest of the trip. Moreover, Mourning Wheatear, White-fronted Black-Chat and White-billed Buffalo-Weaver were seen. That evening we had an excellent Italian meal at the Blue Tops restaurants.