Awash National Park is the oldest and most developed wildlife reserve in Ethiopia. Featuring the 1,800-metre Fantalle Volcano, extensive mineral hot-springs and extraordinary volcanic formations, this natural treasure is bordered to the south by the Awash River and lies 140mi east of the capital, Addis Ababa. The wildlife consists mainly of East African plains animals, but we were told that there are now no giraffe or buffalo. We saw plenty of Oryx, a few bat-eared fox, Soemmerings Gazelle, the tiny Salts Dik-Dik. Less frequent are the furry waterbuck, which tend to appear near the river in the late afternoon, Cheetahs, Leopards, Lions, Caracal, Aardvark, Colobus and green monkeys, Anubis and Hamadryas baboons, klipspringer, Bushbuck, and Hippopotamus. We suspected that not having a fence around the 450 square mile park boundary and keeping full-time guard to prevent illegal hunting within the park may have contributed to the reduced number of wild life in the park. However, over four hundred species of birds are recorded for the park. They range from the great ostrich, which we didn’t see, and the less common Secretary Bird and Abyssinian Ground Hornbill, to the flashes of brilliant pink which are the Carmine Bee-eaters, and the Abyssinian Roller with turquoise and purple wings