Nechisar National Park - Wildlife

Wildlife

Wildlife in the park include Plains Zebra, Grant's Gazelle, Dik-dik, and the Greater Kudu as well as one of the last three populations of the endangered Swayne's Hartebeest, endemic to Ethiopia. A stretch of the northwest shore of Lake Chamo is known as Crocodile Market, where hundreds of Crocodiles gather to sun themselves. The park also has populations of bushbuck, bushpig, Anubis baboon, vervet monkeys, black-backed jackal and Burchell's zebra. The endangered Painted Hunting Dog, Lycaon pictus once existed in the Park (with last sightings at Fincha), but may now be extirpated due to human population pressures in this region.

Nechisar National Park is considered an important habitat for bird populations particularly those migrating. It has a noted population of kingfishers, storks, pelicans, flamingos and fish eagles.

Other birds include Falco naumanni and Circus macrourus, which are fairly common on passage, while small numbers of Phoenicopterus minor have been reported on Lakes Chamo and Abaya. Species typical of bushland habitats include Phoeniculus somaliensis, Lanius dorsalis and Cisticola bodessa and the open plains support three species that are very unknown elsewhere in Ethiopia: an isolated population of Mirafra albicauda, the endemic Caprimulgus solalaand the rare C. stellatus. The south-western corner of Lake Abaya supports one of only two Ethiopian populations of Myrmecocichla albifrons. Other species of note include Accipiter ovampensis, Aviceda cuculoides, Gypaetus barbatus, Macheiramphus alcinus, Chelictinia riocourii, Francolinus levaillantii, Podica senegalensis, Serinus reichardi, Schoutedenapus myoptilus, and Coracina caesia.