Dinsho is the tiny gateway town to the Bale Mountains National Park and is now quite easy to reach, even with pukblic transport, since the Shashemene - Robe road has been upgraded in 2010 or 2011. The Headquarters of the National Park are situated a bit out of the village and are surrounded by lovely montane forest that hosts several good endemics. It is possible to stay at the headquarters for 140 Birr for a double. Among the endemics possible are Chestnut-naped Francolin (easy), Wattled Ibis (dead easy), Abyssinian Slaty Flycatcher (easy), Abyssinian Catbird (this is probably the best place in the world to see this species), White-backed Black Tit (fairly easy), Ethiopian Siskin (fairly easy) and Abyssinian Woodpecker (which we did not find).
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| Chestnut-naped Francolin (Pternistis castaneicollis) |
Besides the endemics, Dinsho is also known to be one of the best sites for Abyssinian Owl. Ask the staff if they want to show the bird at its roost to you for a reasonable (see previous entry) price. They might also be able to show Montane Nightjar and African Wood Owl to you, but we didn't for the guy didn't show up and he still ows us money. Therefore I advice you to pay after you have completed your search. Some interesting non-endemic birds we have seen included: Abyssinian Ground Trush, Moorland Chat, Malachite Sunbird, Brown Woodland Warbler and Montane White-eye. On top of the avian specialities of this site, some really stunning (endemic and non-endemic) mammals can be seen here at very close range. The star is the endemic Mountain Nyala, but Bush Buck, Bush Duiker and Common Warthog also occur here.
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| Mountain Nyala (Tragelaphus buxtoni) |
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| Bush Buck (Tragelaphus scriptus menelikii) |
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| Common Warthog (Phacochoerus africanus) |
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