cokesmith

Hi everyone,

Just back from a 24 day trip to Ethiopia and here is our trip report. Hope you enjoy it! There is truly no place like Ethiopia when it comes to endemics and sheer diversity of very hi quality wildlife experiences. In all our travels, this place ranks near #1!

Enjoy!

http://www.cokesmithphototravel.com/..._Ethiopia.html

Femi

This is the first trip report that has made me really consider Ethiopia as a vacation destination.

cokesmith

Hi Femi - yes Ethiopia is a stellar vacation destination! Cannot recommend enough!

sundowner

You saw so much! Great trip report, too, and love the images!

I couldn't figure out how much walking you did. Was most of the game viewing from the vehicle? or walking? Most places I've been if you are walking the animals run the other way. But it doesn't look like the zebra or baboons ran away from you.

Was most of the game viewing at high altitude?

I'm with Femi - I went to the Omo Valley in Ethiopia last year to see the different tribes but never considered the wildlife.

Thanks for posting!

cokesmith

Thanks Sundowner! I would say that the game viewing was evenly split between walking and from vehicle. I prefer the walking vantage point but you are correct that it can scare the critters away....And the only high altitude locales were Bale and Simien Mtns. The rest were low and in the rift valley lake system...

Most travelers to Ethiopia are there for its amazing culture, which is really cool too, but few realize that it is actually one of Africa's wildlife hotspots. Having traveled to dozens of African countries over the years, I would rank Ethiopia #1 for the diversity of wildlife.

Femi

"<i>I would rank Ethiopia #1 for the diversity of wildlife...</i>" That's really saying something. Uganda is the most diverse location I've been that comes to mind right now, with Botswana a close second and South Africa after that. Ethiopia surpasses these? Wow.

I haven't studied it in detail, but I didn't realise Ethiopia had a landscape that is varied enough to support such diversity. I'm guessing it is similar to Eritrea?

Elephants are a big favorite of mine and these aren't on your list, nor are there a lot of cats. Lots of different antelope though.

cokesmith

Yes, Femi. I hear what you area saying. I think for sheer numbers of Mammals in a three-week period, I have never been anywhere that can compare to Ethiopia, with the possible exception of Madagascar. Having spent quite a bit of time in Southern AFrica - Botswana, RSA, etc., there is a stratum of difference. South Africa is very diverse for sure and may actually have more mammal species, but no where near the number of endemics as Ethiopia and it may be difficult to see some of the species.

We spent nearly 6 weeks there once and we still had less species overall. And we are pretty intense when it comes to spotting critters...(thankfully we're all pretty fanatical so we get along...;-))

We could have easily added another 10++ species to the Ethiopia lists if we had tried for the lower rift valley species, and we would have added elephants and perhaps a couple cat species, but we did not put any effort for those species...The Ethiopian endemics and rarities were on our list and we hit 100%.

Femi

Ah, gotcha. Ethiopa just got bumped up another couple of notches on my list, most especially for the hamadryas and gelada baboons.

cokesmith

Yes and those wolves are amazing too!

Femi

Definitely the wolves!

atravelynn

Now I can account for 34 of your 42 days.

Ethiopia #1 for diversity? Wow, that's a statement. Looking forward to your report. I recall Sundowner's beautiful cultural photos for Ethiopia.

cokesmith

I just noticed your post atravelynn. Not sure if you caught the link at the top of the page. The report is loaded there.

live42day

Bringing this back up. WOW. Your photos are amazing. Ethiopia is on our radar for 2016. Just starting my research so happy to find your pictures. I may need to invest in a better camera .

alaskaconnie

Because of your report we're off to Ethiopia Jan 20,16

Thanks

europe2011

Great report. We are planning a trip to Ethiopia and this was helpful! Thanks!

Patrissimo

Ethiopia looks fantastic! Has anyone seen the tribes of the omo valley? Is it very commercial or worth seeing?
Thank you

live42day

we were going to go in Feb, 2017, but it looks like that area is hit very hard by the current famine, we are postponing our trip to Ethiopia for a bit.

cokesmith

Just noticed all the new comments. Thanks for checking out our report!