PHOTOGRAPHY TOURS TO ETHIOPIA

We will take the morning flight to Gondar, a 17th century royal city of Ethiopia. Afterwards, we will head for the World Heritage Site of Simien Mountains National Park. The drive between Gondar and Debark is very scenic. In the afternoon, we’ll walk from our lodge and start our photographic exploration of the extraordinary Simien Mountains. Gelada Baboons will be easily seen around Simien Lodge.

The Simien Mountains is the refuge for the endangered endemic Ethiopian wolf, the extraordinary gelada baboon and the endangered walia ibex, a wild goat unique to Ethiopia. It is also home to endemic birds such as the thick-billed raven and wattled ibis. We will explore the scenic Simien escarpment in order to find the endemic gelada baboons. Nicknamed ‘bleeding heart baboon’ and ‘lion-monkey’ for reasons that will soon be obvious to all, gelada baboons are peculiar to Ethiopia and Eritrea, still being numerous in the Simien Mountains.

We also have a high chance of spotting wildlife such as Ethiopian klipspringer, Menelik’s bushbuck, bush duiker and raptors including the huge steppe eagle, tawny eagle and the magnificent bearded vulture or lammergeier.

Morning after breakfast, spend some time in the park for morning photography then we will drive back to Gondar for our evening flight to Addis. On arrival to Addis transfer to your Hotel for overnight. 

In the morning after an early breakfast set off to the high mountains to Explore the UNESCO world Heritage Bale Mountains National Park. , so we will head up into the Bale Mountains for three nights stay at Bale Mountain Lodge. This afternoon, we will enjoy our first Safari in these beautiful mountains. While the handsome Mountain nyala is regularly seen on the moorlands, the landscape is open and approaching them closely on foot is often unsuccessful. For far better opportunities, we will head for the Bale Mountains National Park headquarters at Dinsho. Here, some of the nyalas have become unafraid of humans and will allow a close approach, as will Menelik’s bushbuck and especially the ultra-tame common warthogs, which one can get to within a couple of meters! Dinsho is also a good place for bird photography, often including African wood owls, the huge Verreaux’s eagle-owl and the uncommon endemic Abyssinian owl.

We will be spending much of our time exploring the wild and spectacular Afroalpine moorlands of the high Sanetti Plateau, one of the best places in the Bale Mountains to find the Ethiopian wolf. The handsome Ethiopian wolf has had a difficult time in recent decades, suffering from distemper epidemics introduced by domestic dogs. This is now the world’s rarest canid. The wolves tend to go around singly or in small groups and during the course of our visit we should have repeated encounters with them, watching them patrol their territories, greet each other, relax or hunt rodents and other prey. While we should be able to see them catch rodents, you can consider yourself lucky if you witness a close-up ‘kill’.

The great majority on the moorlands  consist of three Ethiopian endemics: Blick’s grass rat, black-clawed brush-furred rat and the extraordinary, endangered giant mole rat. The latter, a huge blind rodent with very goofy teeth, is constantly enlarging its burrows to reach new food supplies. We will have some fun trying to sneak up on them to take some photos. They have good hearing and also detect vibrations, so in spite of their blindness, a close approach is not easy!

Today we will drive to Harenna Forest crossing over the Sanetti Plateau. Harenna Forest is the second largest tropical rainforest in the country. On arrival to the forest our main target is looking for the Endemic Bale Monkey in the Bamboo part of the forest, Mammals such as Colobus monkey, Olive baboon and Giant Forest hogs can be also seen in the area. Return back to our property for the night.

In the morning after breakfast take a flight back to Addis Ababa. Transfer to the airport for your international departure.