Yemen & Socotra 2009: 24 October - Al Hudeidah to Taizz

After a nice breakfast with (at last) strong coffee we left Al Hudeidah at seven o’clock and drove southwards along the coast. We did several stops before we reached Khowkha. A lovely place with a small hotel facing the sea. It was low tide and shorebirds just tripping in front of the hotel. Adult Crab Plovers and begging juveniles 30 metres away from us. Greater and Lesser Sandplover everywhere. A single Pacific Golden Plover. White-eyed and Sooty Gulls were passing by as well as Saunder’s, Swift and Lesser Crested Terns. A delicious lunch of tasty and spicy fish and rice was served. And then we had coffee and tea in the garden. We spent five hours at this site and then continued to Al Mukha, the famous port from where the excellent Yemeni coffee once upon a time was exported to Europe. Now, the city was more or less in ruins. Sadly. As the wind was hard with sand we headed straight to Taizz instead. On our way we saw lots of raptors such as Egyptian Vulture (25), Booted Eagle (2), Steppe Eagle (11), Buzzard (20) and a single Kestrel. Four Chesnut-bellied Sandgrouses not to be forgotten.

At 16:45, an hour before sunset, we reached Taizz and its huge garbage dump. Immediately we spotted about ten Abdim’s Storks on a roof! An unhealthy smoke from the dump filled the air. Imagine the peoples faces when drove through the smoke into the dump and disappeared. On the other side we found a hill and fresh air. Perfect for our activities. The air was filled with Black Kites and mixed up with White Storks and Steppe Eagles. A Hobby passing by as well as a flock of 100 Glossy Ibis. When we left the dump in the dusk we found about 50 Abdim’s Storks roosting in two big trees.

Tomorrow we’ll get up very early.

Cheers from an exhausted, but happy birders in Yemen.