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Atravelynn

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SafariChick

@Game Warden I hate the Injera too!  To me it's the spongy texture I don't like, not the taste exactly. I knew I didn't like it from having eaten at an Ethiopian restaurant in the U.S. so I managed to avoid even trying it when I was in Ethiopia in February!

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Atravelynn
15 hours ago, xelas said:

Ahhh, finally, was bothering the gentlemen for quite some time now :ph34r:. Tell me, Lynn, that hour-by-hour itinerary, was it done in advance?! 

I would be EQ's most anal client ever if I had requested such a detailed outline of activities in advance.  I just kept track of what happened when.  There are a couple of instances where we deviated from the original itinerary.

20 hours ago, Kitsafari said:

my neck grew so loooong, looking out for this and finally it arrived - Yay. and then I read of the wolves in Guassa and I grew so jealous. But I knew that you guys would see the wolves in Guassa and am glad (with face still green with envy) that you did, and more!

 

 

Wolves within 15 minutes was very lucky.  We asked Abiy how many days it would take in Guassa to have a good chance at wolves and the response was 5.

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Atravelynn

medium.595b1295722d4_AndreasandGeladas.j

                                                                     Candid of Andreas

His light colored hat served him well.  The geladas have come to associate white hats with the researchers who obviously do them no harm, and we were told that a white hat can gain you proximity.

 

Geladas also recognize skin color and associate that with behavior.  The local farmers surrounding Guassa, who chase the crop-stealing geladas from their fields, have dark skin.  Most of the tourists who come to view the geladas have lighter skin.  The geladas retreat from people with dark skin, meaning Abiye, Bega, and our local guide would stay back at least 50 meters when we had reached the geladas so as not to scare them away.  What really caught the attention of the geladas and sent them packing was a local guy leading a couple of donkeys through the meadow.

 

Interestingly, when the geladas approached our lodge midday, they were unconcerned with any of us milling about, regardless of hats or skin color.  Such intelligent creatures knew where they were unwanted and where they could forage in peace.

 

large.5959b84247694_aroundthegroundsGuas

 

Here is a different perspective of the serval encounter.  The rest of us remained on a hill while Michael descended in pursuit of the serval.  It was Abiy's specific goal to find a cat this trip and we did so on Day 2.

 

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The serval is in the green grass behind the white vegetation.  Michael in the foreground.

 

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Serval viewed/photographed from the hill.

Edited by Atravelynn
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Atravelynn
7 hours ago, SafariChick said:

LOL at @Atravelynn eating with the Geladas - that is so Lynn!  Lynn, you perhaps should have let down your hair to blend in further ;)

 

We need a wow button in addition to a like because I wanted to say Wow! about the serval - so cool!!

 

I was method acting of course and ingested no actual grass.  You're right, I should have let my locks fly, gelada-style.

 

 

9 hours ago, SafariChick said:

Yay, been waiting excitedly to see this report!  Fantastic start - the maps are awesome and beautiful wolves! You saw 12 in one day? Wow!!!  And so great you got to see them at Guassa also! Looking forward to more.

 

Just saw the newest installments - the jumping wolves, wow, amazing @michael-ibk!

Yes, 12 in one day.  Some were far away, though.  I see I need to revise my total wolf #s, though.

Guassa was indeed 3.

But I included the Guassa 3 in the Bale count.  The accurate Bale count is  2, 12, 2, 6 for a total of 22 during 4 outings in Bale and a trip total of 25 wolves.

 

9 hours ago, TonyQ said:

@Atravelynn and @michael-ibk

What a wonderful start to your trip - especially the wolves.

It is great to have the detail of the maps, and I am enjoying the writing and the photos.

The 3 of you must have got on very well together in India, and it sounds like you have planned an amzing trip in Ethiopia.

Yes, we did get along swimmingly.  That was important when traveling in this vehicle--3 in the back.  You had to be comfortable saying, "Pardon me," then sprawling over the lap of your seatmate for a shot.  Sometimes we did load up a window with lenses, documented in this lens and wolf combination.

 

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Our vehicle, shown in Bale, while we were looking for Giant Mole Rats.                                        Sharing the back seat and window.

 

 

7 hours ago, PCNW said:

Major LOL at Lynn monkeying around.  What I'd give to photograph the Geladas.  

I was invited back for lunch the next day!  You don't have to "give" as much to visit Ethiopia as some of the other safari spots.  Even the flights are reasonable on Ethiopian Airlines.

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madaboutcheetah

What an awesome report - 

 

The Geladas, the Ethiopian wolf and the landscapes look stunning!!!

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Atravelynn
4 hours ago, SafariChick said:

@Game Warden I hate the Injera too!  To me it's the spongy texture I don't like, not the taste exactly. I knew I didn't like it from having eaten at an Ethiopian restaurant in the U.S. so I managed to avoid even trying it when I was in Ethiopia in February!

I liked it in the US, but that's probably because it was not authentic.  The injera was a little too sour and the many colorful goodies placed on the injera were a little too spicy for my tastes.  But it takes a very pretty picture.  This one is from Jupiter Hotel.

medium.595b17ea0e169_IMG_8076traditional

 

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Atravelynn
8 hours ago, Game Warden said:

This is fantastic. Thanks @Atravelynn, @michael-ibk and @AndMic Njera, how can you not like that? With a spicy lamb stew? I dream about having a good plate of it to share with Lizzy. And some of those Gelada images remind me of myself, looking in the mirror :) Looking forward to more updates.

 

And I just wanted to reinforce what I've said recently, it really does fill me with pride and a sense of personal satisfaction that ST has brought people together in this manner. Thanks for making my Safaritalk dream come true.  The pleasure is ours!  Thank YOU.

 

Matt

 

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COSMIC RHINO

interesting trip, great photos 

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i think I have to stop reading your TR. it just makes me so depressed about how we did not see the wolves or serval in the 3 days we were there. :ph34r: 

 

but wow love those jumping wolves. and Lynn, love how you blended in so well with the geladas. wasn't it just the best moments as they surrounded you with their calm and peaceful presence, and treated like you were one of them? 

 

also forgot to say wow those red hearts on the geladas really popped in your photos!

 

i see that raven still reigned supreme on the top of the lodge!

 

chsCNfwzrEWN9amBXkWM4qp_ufhiR_HazTP3KzE_

Edited by Kitsafari
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Thank you for sharing... an excellent start to your adventure. You now have me thinking about adding in some time in Ethiopia on my next trip.

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Peter Connan

Really loving this report so far, thank you!

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michael-ibk

Thanks, @Botswanadreams, @Kitsafari, @Zim Girl, @janzin, @PCNW, @SafariChick, @TonyQ, @wilddog, @offshorebirder, @Game Warden, @madaboutcheetah, @COSMIC RHINO, @Tusker and @Peter Connan !

 

The 3 of you must have got on very well together in India

 

Tony, I don´t know why Lynn puts up with us - but strangely enough we will be on a third trip together this year. Our pleasure, her burden. :)

 

wasn't it just the best moments as they surrounded you with their calm and peaceful presence, and treated like you were one of them? 

 

Absolutely Kit, one of my top experiences ever!

 

And I just wanted to reinforce what I've said recently, it really does fill me with pride and a sense of personal satisfaction that ST has brought people together in this manner. Thanks for making my Safaritalk dream come true.

 

No Matt, really, thank YOU, this site has created such a wonderful community and I´m really grateful for all the great people I could get to know because of your hard work here. We all owe you big time!

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Atravelynn
8 hours ago, Kitsafari said:

i think I have to stop reading your TR. it just makes me so depressed about how we did not see the wolves or serval in the 3 days we were there. :ph34r: 

 

but wow love those jumping wolves. and Lynn, love how you blended in so well with the geladas. wasn't it just the best moments as they surrounded you with their calm and peaceful presence, and treated like you were one of them? Like an honored guest!

 

also forgot to say wow those red hearts on the geladas really popped in your photos!

 

i see that raven still reigned supreme on the top of the lodge!

 

chsCNfwzrEWN9amBXkWM4qp_ufhiR_HazTP3KzE_

Did the raven bring his wife?  We had a pair of them flying around in the air and hopping all over the ground.  Funny I should mention "husband and wife" ravens, as your photo stamp date is my anniversary and the time is almost exactly when we said our I do's way back when.  I'm sure you'll get to Ethiopia again with all the travel you do and find those wolves.  Let's hope that there are even more of them to find when you go back. 

 

The jealousy trades places when I look at your Zakouma report.

medium.5959b7ba0c153_IMG_5368thickbilled 

 

medium.5959b784ec751_IMG_5366thickbilled

Here's that Ethiopian endemic again, the Thick-billed Raven.  In the second photo it has a tiny seed in the bill.

 

 

Edited by Atravelynn
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Atravelynn
18 minutes ago, michael-ibk said:

No Matt, really, thank YOU, this site has created such a wonderful community and I´m really grateful for all the great people I could get to know because of your hard work here. We all owe you big time!

Fulfilled your safari dream?  Think how many people you have helped through this site to fulfull their dreams.  Not only does it fulfill their dreams, it brings money to areas to sustain habitat and support wildlife.

Edited by Atravelynn
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michael-ibk

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We climbed down from the plateau looking for a different mammal Abiy suggested we could probably find. Quite an exhausting descent (and much more so back up) but the views alone were totally worth it.

 

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Our target was on the rock in the middle - so which animal could live there?

 

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Hyrax of course. For a time the animal here was treated as its own (sub)species, Abyssinian Hyrax, but nowadays scientists have apparently agreed there´s just Rock Hyrax all over Africa. But I don´t care - it´s much more interesting to say we have found the uniqe Abyssinian Hyrax, especially after that descent, so this IS the super-special Abyssinian Hyrax and not just plain old Rock Hyrax you see everywhere, believe me!

 

Because I definitely would not have climbed up the rock in a not totally safe maneuver with my telelens if this would just have been a Rock Hyrax.

 

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There you see, it looks totally different, absolutely Abyssinian, not rockhyraxy at all, no?

 

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Lynn was not equally convinced about the awesomeness of this sighting and preferred to watch from farther up.

 

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michael-ibk

We wanted to meet the Gelada researcher @Kitsafari and @Sangeeta had encountered but their camp was empty - obviously they were out there on the job.

 

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No problem, because at least in this area we saw Giant Lobelia - always beautiful, I love these.

 

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Even though Guassa is a huge success story it´s not without problems. People need to get from A to B up here, many villages around, and apparently they have found the road to be no longer sufficent - so they are in the process of expanding. Which will mean more and faster traffic - never a good thing (for the animals). For the moment, the Geladas did not mind at all.

 

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And with views like this we soon forgot about this glaring wound in the landscape.

 

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And after a while trekking through lonely valleys, totally soaking in the wonderful solitude of Guassa, that perfect silence ...

 

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... we met Kaylee, the young researcher, with "her" Geladas.

 

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We accompanied her for quite a while, always on the move following the Geladas which don´t stay put in one place for very long. Kaylee has been here for almost a year now, and is always on her legs studying her troop. An exhausting work with little comfort to be enjoyed in the basic researcher´s camp, but it was obvious she was loving what she was doing. And so she told us about the different character traits she had found in her entrustees, patient Leia, angry Arya, noble Oberyn and Cersei who is nothing but trouble. Yes, she´s naming them all, and she´s "a bit" into SciFi. B)

 

The valley we were traversing with her until we parted again was wonderfully tranquil - one of my favourite places in Guassa.

 

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These were the only locals we met during our treks.

 

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To cap the Guassa section off (on my part) a few more Geladas.

 

Admit it - sometimes all of you take shots just for the "Show us your bums" thread.

 

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Really no need to venture out far to see the Geladas - they are coming right to you!

 

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As mentioned the Geladas generally were very peaceful ...

 

 

... but just a couple of times, some of them got into squabbles:

 

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But soon everything was forgiven and forgotten and everybody was going for food again.

 

 

Final Geladas - awesome animals indeed, and Guassa is a fantastic place to see them, I could easily have spent another day with them.

 

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Edited by michael-ibk
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Game Warden

Here I am dieting and those INjera photos are making me hungry. Shame on you....

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offshorebirder

Wow - getting accepted by the Gelada troop - what an honor!   Researcher conditioning or not, you all did well - acted properly and were rewarded with an awesome experience and great photos.  

 

That's what it's all about - having wild animals recognize you're no threat and carry on acting normally, giving you a great experience in the process.

 

By the way - that high altitude grassland scenery is gorgeous!

 

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Atravelynn

medium.5959b59069463_IMG_5650abyssinianh  medium.595c533f2054b_MichaelandAbyssinia

Hyrax from the hill                                                                                                     Michael photographing the hyrax before the descent

While Michael and Andreas descended for a closer look at the hyrax, I remained on the hillside with Abiy.  We heard loud noises and shouting coming from across the valley and through our binocs could see the farmers chasing geladas from the terraced fields.

large.5959b57d94de8_IMG_7784guassascener                                             

    A few sheep are visible in bottom left -  terraced farming which the geladas sometimes invaded

Edited by Atravelynn
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Atravelynn
5 hours ago, Game Warden said:

Here I am dieting and those INjera photos are making me hungry. Shame on you....

I am sure there must be an injera diet out there somewhere.

48 minutes ago, offshorebirder said:

Wow - getting accepted by the Gelada troop - what an honor!   Researcher conditioning or not, you all did well - acted properly and were rewarded with an awesome experience and great photos.  

 

That's what it's all about - having wild animals recognize you're no threat and carry on acting normally, giving you a great experience in the process.

 

By the way - that high altitude grassland scenery is gorgeous!  It is perfect conditions for the grass, but did not always agree with me.  In fact for 2 of the 3 days at Guassa, I ate very little...speaking of dieting.  But I made up for the 3 days when we descended and had lunch at Roadrunner Restaurant in Addis.

 

 

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Atravelynn
On 7/3/2017 at 2:16 PM, michael-ibk said:

But of course the main attraction was the incredibly fascinating plant life

 

Kidding!

 

Kidding aside, here is the botany part of the report.

large.5959b8007e7e0_GUASSAFLORA.jpg.7451

 

When the wind blew, the grass and the long hair of the geladas weaved a fluid tapestry.

   medium.59597d8dc8e89_IMG_4570lookingtoth       medium.59597d625a67d_IMG_4448grassandhai

 

medium.5959a8670cf56_IMG_4641gettinggroo    medium.59597d32f0793_IMG_4299windblown.j

 

Edited by Atravelynn
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Geladas ... who needs gorillas! That serval run must have taken away a kilo or two, @michael-ibk ?

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Peter Connan

I can see that (and why) you enjoyed your time with the Geladas so much!

 

They are very interesting, in that they have traits supposedly associated with predators (binocular vision and very impressive canines), yet they are not. I wonder if they have retained those because they turned to vegetariuanism relatively recently, or because they have not had a reason to (for example if they have few natural predators in their environment)?

 

Lovely clear water up there! I can imagine that you were badly affected by the altitude. I remember feeling quite ill and weak in Lesotho, which is much lower than this!

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Atravelynn
14 hours ago, xelas said:

Geladas ... who needs gorillas! That serval run must have taken away a kilo or two, @michael-ibk ?

Between the serval run and injera not being agreeable, it was probably a slimming safari for @michael-ibk.

8 hours ago, Peter Connan said:

I can see that (and why) you enjoyed your time with the Geladas so much!

 

They are very interesting, in that they have traits supposedly associated with predators (binocular vision and very impressive canines), yet they are not. I wonder if they have retained those because they turned to vegetariuanism relatively recently, or because they have not had a reason to (for example if they have few natural predators in their environment)?  Good question.  An occasional display to each other revealed teeth, but they were not aggressive animals.  We were told that males were rarely displaced from power through violence.

 

large.5959b7f844231_onlyaltercationgelad

This is an incident where a son was protecting his mother from an aggressor.  Kaylee the researcher knew the family roles.

 

Lovely clear water up there! I can imagine that you were badly affected by the altitude. I remember feeling quite ill and weak in Lesotho, which is much lower than this! My pace was certainly slowed when inclining!  No serval runs for me.

 

Edited by Atravelynn
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