Photos from Ethiopia taken by Dr. Phil Wittman of http://canopyquest.com:

You can view more of Dr. Wittman’s collection of incredible photography from other expeditions here:
http://www.photoshelter.com/c/stock/gallery/Phillip-Wittman-Collection/G0000OKniyIvKNWw/

Neville Winchester provides us with a sample picture of one Berlese trap extraction taken from a Church Forest in Ethiopia (click for a larger image):

Ethiopia church forest Berlese trap extraction (Credit: Dr. Neville Winchester)

Photos from Ethiopia taken by Phil Harpootlian:

One of scientist Neville Winchester’s samples, illustrating the biodiversity of Ethiopian church forests (click for a larger image):

Ground Sample from Site 1 (Credit: Dr. Neville Winchester)

Along with some great moments, came some bad.

Here are some of the “worst” things about our Ethiopia expedition:

1. Car trouble
2. Hornbill-hitting-windscreen (will send from laptop)
3. Eating ONLY with the right hand (because the left is used for something else)
4. Watching where you step….. the church forest ground abounds with dung-beetle habitat
5. Eucalpyt plantings that ultimately suck down the water table, and displace native trees
6. Student housing for clergy disciples

As I muse about our last 3 weeks in Ethiopia, and count my blessings for toasted cheese sandwiches, sidewalks, books, and cotton sheets on my bed in America, I think about the incredible experiences of working in Ethiopia.

The best moments:

1. Our amazing team of scientists and citizens
2. the church leadership, with their vision to conserve their forests
3. the kids of Ethiopia, who shared our love for the small creatures of our planet
4. The sobering lessons learned from watching women and families in Ethiopia, and how important it is to empower moms and children in emerging countries

Here are a few of the critters we were surveying — got 135 birds, but all but about 11 were outside the church forests.

We got over 3000 insects as mentioned earlier, with a large portion Diptera and also Coleoptera. Of note many of the Coleoptera tend to be dung beetles (exact counts to follow) which may indicate the lack of modern hygiene within the church forests for ablutions. We are advocating for a toilet block at Zhara, since 120 live within this gorgeous green site, but there are no established toilet blocks. This patterns may shift the biodiversity of the insect fauna, as well as have other marked impacts on human health. We plan to return in the dry season to more carefully student the herbivores in the canopy, during flowering seasons.

We are in our final phases of the Ethiopia expedition, with over 3000 insects logged by various field methods, over 1000-person hours of field time, and several thousand hours of field work yet to process back in our labs and libraries at home institutions. The project was overwhelming and inspirational. We are humbled by the children’s enthusiasm for learning their natural history, and awestruck by the general lack of any knowledge about the local natural history. But we are heartened by the fact that local clergy have initiated a stone fence around the Zhara church forest, and hope to figure out creative solutions for funding labor, stone transport, and gates in the near future — for many church forests, not just for one.

On our last day, we drove to Lalibela to view the most unique church of all Ethiopia. Forged from one massive rock formation, Lalibela defeats all conceivable means of both architectural and construction technologies. How did Ethiopians in the 1200s carve hard rock into 13 churches? And how did they cart tools and food and shelter up an amazing mountain to execute this project? And what were the tools of the trade? And how do you design down from the soil surface into bedrock, and design amazing cathedral structures? It was overwhelming.

Church of Saint George, Lalibela facts (Source: Wikipedia):

• Built in the early thirteenth century
• Most well known and last built of the eleven churches in the Lalibela area
• Has been referred to as the “Eighth Wonder of the World”
• The dimensions of the complex are 25 meters by 25 meters by 30 meters

Some various photos from our activities in the field here in Ethiopia:

Short pictorial guide to our first “base camp”, Hotel Ghion, in the town of Bahir Dar in Ethiopia: