Day 1: Arrival to Addis Ababa

• Arrival to Addis Ababa Bole International Airport, meet and greet. Transfer to the reserved hotel for a check-in.
• Depending on your arrival time, there will be a possibility of visiting the National museum, the Holy Trinity church, and Mercato ( which is the biggest open air market in Africa ).
• Overnight in Addis Ababa.

Day 2: Addis Ababa to Debre Birhan

• Drive northwest to the town of Debre Birhan, seeing our first birds from our vehicles as Yellow-billed Kites and Hooded Vultures patrol the skies. We’ll cross relatively high-altitude habitat where roadside fields and pools may have our first endemics: Blue-winged Goose, Wattled Ibis, and Erlanger’s Lark. As we stop by the Gamasa valley and have a fantastic view over the escarpment that exposes the edge of the Rift Valley, we will see the Gelada Baboon feeding on the edge of dramatic cliffs, the endemic Ankober Serin, a rather plain bird discovered in 1976 and apparently restricted to the very edge of the Rift Valley escarpment.
• Overnight in Debre Birhan.

Day 3: Debre Birhan

• We will leave very early this morning to visit the impressive Jemma Gorge. After driving across relatively flat farmland, we aim to reach the gorge just after dawn, as daybreak is when the endemic Harwood’s Francolin is most vocal. This species is restricted to the valleys of the Blue Nile tributaries and shares its home with the more numerous Erckel’s Francolin. More endemics to look for in this rocky habitat are the White-billed Starling, Abyssinian Black Wheatear, Rüppells Black Chat, and White-winged Cliff Chat.
• Descending to the valley floor, we’ll drive through crops that are the nesting ground for the striking Black-winged Red Bishop and Speckle-fronted Weaver. We’ll stop at a small side stream to look for a number of more western species on the edge of their range such as Ankober Serin, Vinaceous Dove, Green-backed Eremomela, Copper Sunbird, Black- faced Firefinch, and Yellow-fronted Canary. Other birds to spot around the valley and the river are the Common and Crimson-rumped Waxbills, Red-billed Pytilia, White-throated Seedeater, Bush Petronias, Fox Kestrel and the Senegal Thick-knees.
• Overnight in Debre Birhan.

Day 4: Debre Birhan to Awash NP

• Early morning drive to Awash National Park passing via Ankober (the ancient royal town of the Shoa kings situated on the very edge of the Rift Valley). As we drove by descending to the Rift Valley and vegetation changes dramatically, we are soon among hot, dry acacia—a distinct change from the cool uplands we’ve left behind to better spot the Yellow-throated Seedeater, Eastern Grey Plantain-eater and Chestnut-crowned Sparrow Weaver.
• Then we checked in to the lodge located within the national park and take an opportunity to spot the late afternoon and evening birds such as Madagascar (Olive)
• Bee-eaters, Eastern Paradise Whydah’s, Somali Fiscals, Woodchat, Turkestan, Southern Grey Shrikes, Buff-crested Bustards, Kori Bustard, Northern Carmine Bee-eater, Secretarybird, and hoping for a sighting of the rare and little-known Star-spotted Nightjar.
• Overnight in Awash National Park.

Day 5: Awash NP

• Early morning drive to the Ali'deghe Plains. This vast open expanse of grassland is an excellent place to see one of the special birds of the region, Arabian Bustard, Somali Ostrich, Grasshopper Buzzard, Montagu’s Harrier, Black-headed Plover, Yellow-throated and Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse, and Chestnut-backed Sparrow-Lark. Then proceed to the scattered acacia scrub, home to the distinctive Afar tribe, in search of Yellow-breasted Barbet, Ethiopian Swallow, Black Scrub Robin, Northern Crombec, and Nile Valley Sunbird.
• Overnight in Awash National Park.

Day 6: Awash NP to Lake Langano

• We’ll make another early start to be out just before first light in order to catch all the activity. In the open grasslands we should find Red-winged and Singing Bush Larks and Desert and Ashy Cisticolas. In the denser areas of scrub we’ll look for the little-known Gillet’s Lark, along with Rosy-patched Bush-shrike, Red-fronted Warbler, Green- winged Pytilia, Grey Wren Warbler, and raptors ranging from the tiny Pygmy Falcon to the massive Lappet-faced Vulture.
• Leaving Awash, drive south via Fantale mountain, Lake Zwiay and the Rift Valley plains, spotting the Chestnut- headed Sparrow-Lark, Blackstart, Bristle-crowned Starlings, Shining Sunbird, Striolated Bunting,Mouse-colored Penduline Tit, Sombre Chat, Great White Pelicans,
• Hamerkops, Grey-headed Gulls, White-winged Black Terns, Yellow-billed Storks, Squacco Herons, African Fish Eagles, African Darters, African Jacanas, African Pygmy Geese, White-faced Whistling Ducks, and Jewelled Malachite Kingfishers.
• Overnight at a Lodge in Lake Langano.

Day 7: Lake Langano to Goba

• Walking by the shore of the lake for more optional bird sitings like the Mocking Cliff Chats and the African Pygmy Kingfisher. After having a breakfast, we’ll travel the short distance to another Rift Valley lake, Abiyatta, located in the Abiyatta-Shalla National Park, to spot both the Greater and Lesser Flamingos, Kittlitz’s Plover, Temminck’s Stint, Isabelline Wheatears, Black-billed Woodhoopoe and Black Scimitarbill.
• Proceed to the Bale mountains and Goba town, on a drive that will take us through a spectacular scenery. To begin, we’ll cross extensive areas of wheat fields where we’ll stop to look for Red- chested Swallow as well as groups of migrant Lesser Kestrels and European Bee-eaters. Also birds like, White-collared Pigeons, Wattled Ibis, Dusky Turtle Doves, Abyssinian Owl, the hulking Cape Eagle Owl, and perhaps some roosting African Wood Owls or Montane Nightjars.
• Overnight in Goba.

Day 8: Goba

• We’ll have a whole day to spend on the Sanetti Plateau, an exotic and enticing Afro- alpine habitat of pools and small lakes, dense, low flowering bushes, beds of tiny alpine flowers, and towering spikes of Giant Lobelias. Rouget’s Rails are remarkably tame up here, and we’ll have seen dozens by the end of the day. We’re bound to see Chestnut- naped and Moorland Francolins, Blue-winged Goose, Black-headed Siskins, Augur Buzzards and Lanner Falcons perch on top of the Giant Lobelia flower spikes, and a sighting of a Ruddy Shelduck or a flock of Red-billed Chough.
• Leaving the high moorland behind, we’ll drop down into a forested area and wander slowly downhill searching for White-cheeked Turaco, Abyssinian Woodpecker, Mountain Thrush, Abyssinian Catbird, Abyssinian Slaty Flycatcher, skulking Cinnamon Bracken Warbler, Brown Woodland Warbler, White-backed Black Tit, Slender-billed Starlings, Brown- rumped Seedeaters, Yellow-bellied Waxbill, and among many others, the local Bale race of Brown Parisoma, considered by some to be a full species.
• Overnight in Goba.

Day 9: Goba to Hawassa

• Drive to Hawassa, reaching mid-afternoon. Spend the afternoon, by the shore of Lake Hawassa to spot the Black Crake, dashing Malachite Kingfishers, the drab Lesser Swamp Warbler, and Thick-billed Weavers. Small pools along the shoreline are good places to find wintering waders such as Marsh Sandpiper, while papyrus beds can hold migrants such as European Reed, Great Reed and even Basra Reed Warblers. Elsewhere in this pleasant setting we should find Blue-headed Coucal, Red-throated and Eurasian Wrynecks, Red-fronted Tinkerbird, Double-toothed Barbet, White-rumped Babbler, the dapper Spotted Creeper, Black-headed Batis, and Brown-throated Wattle-eye.
• Overnight in Hawassa.

Day 10: Hawassa to Addis Ababa

• There will be time in the morning to look for any species that we may have missed before we set out to join the main Rift Valley road once more and drive north to Addis Ababa. We’ll stop at another lodge on the western shore of Lake Langano to search for day-roosting Slender-tailed Nightjars and Greyish Eagle Owl, and we should also have time to make a return visit to Lake Zwiay. Later we’ll reach Addis and have a farewell dinner held at a cultural restaurant before proceeding to the airport, as it marks the end of the Birdwatching Tour.
• Departure.