The Rift Valley Lakes: A Birding and Waterlife Guide

The Great Rift Valley runs like a zip through Ethiopia, stepping from the Red Sea to the lakes of the south. Between Addis Ababa and the Kenyan border, its floor holds a necklace of lakes — crater lakes, soda flats and shy freshwater shores — that are among the best birding in the country.

Lake Langano, an hour and a half from the capital, is the easiest Rift lake to reach — safe to swim in and ringed by acacia and hot springs. The Wenchi crater lake, two hours further out, sits in a forest-ringed bowl that gathers storks and herons. Both make perfect first-day escapes and soft landings before highland altitude.

The shallow soda lakes farther south — Abijata, Shala and Awasa — can host thousands of lesser flamingos when conditions are right, alongside pelicans, fish eagles and cormorants. Conditions swing year to year, so a good guide reads the water before promising the pink.

The Rift lakes are also the natural corridor to the Omo Valley and the Bale Mountains. Most of our southern routes take the lakes as a gentle, bird-rich opening before the drama. Our three-day Rift Valley and birdlife tour does the lakes proper justice on its own.