Ethiopia September - October 2012 - Negele Borena

Negele Borena (not Arsi Negele, so make sure you always say the full name of the city you want to visit) is the only site in the world were the ultra-rare and critically endangered Liben Lark can be found. Since this village is now connected to the public transport system, the lark was our major target of the trip to Ethiopia. To get here by bus you need to take the 6:00 Shashemene - Negele Borena bus. Make sure to be there at 4:00 to get good seats (in the front) in the bus. The bus takes approximately ten hours to reach the village.

We arrived at Negele Borena in the dark and the next day we headed out to find the lark. Prince Ruspoli's Turaco is also possible here, but the lark was our main target and therefore we wanted to make sure we got to the Lark Plains first and as soon as possible.

We hired a horse cart to take us to the Diida Liben (Liben plains in the local language) but he dropped us at the Liben Hospital a couple of blocks further and demand the full amount of money. In the end we hired two motor cycles to take us out of town to continue on one motor bike. (there are many police checkpoints around the town and three people are forbidden to ride the same motor bike) This rigmarole caused much disstress for both motor cycles headed in different directions and I thought I would not see my girlfriend again. Luckily everything went fine and around 8:30 we were on the Liben Plains.

Unfortunately these were awfully quiet. (the birds are supposed to sing between 6:30 and 9:30 in their display flight) So we opted for plan B: zigzagging across the entire plains several times untill we found a bird on the ground. We did this for the next five hours which resulted only in frustration. We did find a White-tailed Swallow, a very good bird here, which proves this bird does not only occur around Yabello (see next post). Two Kori Bustards, several Common Buttonquails, many Black-winged Lapwings, some White-crowned Starlings and a load of Plain-backed Pipits, but not a single lark species was noted.

Birding the Liben Plains in the scorching sun (picture taken by Anna van der Kaaden)

The problem was that the preferred habitat of Liben Lark is long dry grassland without bushes, but the entire plains seemed grassless and burned by the local people. The parts that were not smoking were covered with bushes like Whistling Thorns (much appreciated by some Shelley's Sparrows) and therefore the entire plains seemed unsuitable for the lark... The only suitable area of grassland was around the military barracks, but we were adviced not to go near them. We did anyway, resulting in some more flushed Common Buttonquails and some soldiers who asked us kindly but seriously to leave their property.

In the end we headed back, depressed and aith the idea that it was indeed to late to save this species from extinction. By the time we hitched a ride back with a Somali truck driver totally stoned on chat I suffered from a mild heat exhaustion. This made me unwilling to try again the next day and sadly therefore we also had not seen the Prince Ruspoli's Turaco.

I severely hope I'm wrong but I'm convinced that this species will be (if it is not already) extinct within the next five years, simply because there is barely any habitat left and the military is also keeping cattle on the plains so I don't think the grassland around the barracks will remain for much longer. A sad, sad story...