Were these difficult to find? I am thinking of spending an hour or so in Abiatta-Shalla next week, to look for these, the rest of the NP I am not interested in, but these would be a lifer...
On the day we were there, you could have seen them if you had 10 minutes - they were very close inside the entrance from the Mojo-Hawassa road and we parked up almost immediately and didn't bother going further in. I think they must be there pretty regularly; it was planned into the trip as a fairly quick stop to see the gazelles. We also saw warthogs and Somali Ostrich, plus quite a few smaller birds.
I had the same experience as Maguari in 2013, they were very easy to see just a few minutes drive in from the entrance.
You're probably aware already but there are hot springs in the park where boiling water bubbles out of the ground, and as well as the Somali Ostrich and lots of other birds, you can also see Lesser Flamingos on the lakes.
@LaughingDove, somali ostrich and lesser flamingo I see regularly in my field sites in Kenya & Ethiopia, so that doesn't interest me too much and when I hear your stories about how degraded the place is, then I do not really need to visit....
