Albania in Early Spring

Mid March 2026

Albania is a fascinating country to visit and explore. I was in Albania with students from College Year in Athens - CYA (where my wife and friends teach). This was an exploratory trip with 25 undergrads.  I thank my friends at CYA, professors Aggeliki Dimitriadi (Political Science) and Aimee Placas (Anthropology) and especially Vassilis Karavassilis who supported the trip. The tour guide at Butrint, Blue Eye and Gyrokaster was Victor; with good humour.

Ours was a four-day trip. We flew into Tirana and left from Ioannina Airport. One night Tirana (Molaj Hotel, very central, clean, great location near Tirana's Grand Park and Skanderbey Square); Two nights at Saranda (Toer Hotel, 15 storey-high mega-beast, clean, new, good view from roof-restaurant). Ours was not a birding trip but we did do a lot of nature study. We had one scope was carried, rarely used; 2 binoculars, sometimes used by students.  

I share some snapshots here. 

Tirana - a city in change; some nice parks, some opportunities for biodiversity upgrades in the parks, the river...

And Tirana's Grand Park, a lovely oasis, a true-blue wonderful birding hotspot in the center of the City.

And a wonderful talk with the honorable Enkelejd Musabelliu, Deputy Minister of Economy, Culture, and Innovation at the Prime Minister's Office Building. Definately one of the trip's highlights. 

And the Bechisti Bridge below Tepelene on the Vjosa River.

Butrint National Park, the archaeological site is spectacular and a walk down a road from the nearby parking look-out was wanderful - and full of birds!

Saranda, probably the ugliest sea-side resort city. But in early morning, the sea has its charm. Ksamil, a beach resort a few kilometers south is little better than a total tourist trap but with amazing beach colours. 

The Blue Eye, karstic spring of the Bistritsa River near Saranda. 

And Gyrokastra, the old city and Castle are spectacular. Not too touristy yet. 

And finally, some dances from improptu groups practicing on a drizly afternoon at Tirana Grand Park. 

I had the opportunity again to track the 4-day tour, using eBird, contributing 11 checklists. Of course with even a medium-sized student group its difficult to do a good job at bird listing, but it worked well for us. 

 

Our man in Lake Baringo: Joseph Aengwo

 Focus on Ecoguides: Joseph Aengwo

February 2026 - Kenya (our third Fam tour visit)

I’ve always wanted to talk more about the eco-guides — about the people who quietly dedicate their lives to it.

We often celebrate destinations. We photograph landscapes. Tick species off our lists. But we rarely pause to acknowledge the individuals whose deep knowledge, lived experience and interpretation abilities make wildlife tourism and nature promotion possible.

This is one of those stories.

On a recent FAM trip to Lake Baringo in Kenya, I had the privilege of meeting someone who embodies what true "eco-guiding-with-a-local" is all about: Joseph Aengwo, one of the famous bird guides who began at Baringo but has developed a company, now guiding nearly everywhere in East Africa.

Joseph is a prominent and highly experienced ornithological guide from Lake Baringo. And when I say experienced, I don’t just mean he knows bird names. I mean he understands birds really deeply and their environment too— how the Rift Valley breathes, how the seasons shift, how bird calls change with the light.

Born and raised on the shores of Lake Baringo — a true birding haven in the heart of the Rift Valley — this landscape is not just his workplace. It’s his boyhood wonderland, memory, culture, heritage.

This was one of our top birding targets at Baringo, the Northern Carmine Bee-Eater. Tick at the Baringo Lake causeway to the Tumbili Cliffs! 

Professionally, Joseph is formally trained in tourism and wildlife management from Moi University. He is also a bronze badge member of the Kenya Professional Safari Guides Association — a credential that reflects both skill and commitment to guiding standards in Kenya. But what truly sets him apart isn’t the certification. It’s the way he guides.

There’s a quiet confidence in how he organizes guiding. A patience in how he adjusts to the clients/guests. A generosity in how he shares stories — not just about species, but about conservation, community, and the life-forces that keeps Lake Baringo thriving. 

Joe also has been active in conservation and he knows the situation of the lake ecosystems very well. Also, he has a great sense of humour...our man in Baringo!  

He told us there are now about 20 boys (and a one or two girls) involved locally in nature conservation actions, and some of them are active in in ecoguiding as well;  most of them beginners. We met two of them who had staked-out owls and other cryptic birds for Joe. Joe is still associated with the Lake Baringo Biodiversity Conservation Group (LBBCG) formed in 2008, a non-profit local environmental group that plays a role striving to protect this place. The group aims to promote community awareness on environmental conservation and protection of key species sites and habitats, also encouraging community participation. Its all very low-key, very informal. We saw very few tourists. 

Now all these pics may bring to mind a wonderful beautifully managed and manocured National Park. But this is not to be in Baringo!  The situation here is not protected, its not a fortress park or any such park. And there are problems. Things are rapidly changing and there are also issues of serious poverty. The lake waters have risen substantially in the last few years, displacing people, flooding wildlife habitat and ruining agricultural areas, drowning villages. Between before 2009 and late 2020, Lake Baringo’s water level rose by approximately 9.5 meters (from about 972 m to around 981.5 m above sea level) — a dramatic rise over roughly a decade.

This situation is unusual, but it is also seen in Lake's Bogoria and Naivasha, also to a lesser extent at Lake Nakuru. 

The main hypothesized causes based on current understanding point to:

🌧️ Chagnes in Rainfall patterns (more intense rain) and catchment changes (vegetation change; increased run-off). These are currently the most strongly supported explanations for the main driver of  the recent water level rise.

🌍 Geological forces - unknown. The lake’s tectonic context matters for its hydrology, but there is no definitive evidence that plate movement is the main cause of the contemporary lake level rise.

🧠 Some discussions about underground fault-seepage changes exist, but they remain hypotheses rather than confirmed causes.

Also, despite this serious and unresolved problem of the lake waters, the area has a strong wildlife - human population conflict too. Large mammals are scarce. Poaching is rampant and displaced peoples have settled in difficult conditons. Overgrazing is also a serious problem. 

So, in this case, organized ecotourism may support and promote solutions to these big problems, big landscape scale measures are needed for conservation. Of course, since we work in science of this sort, we also would promote science-led initiatives to deal with such serious issues. This place is too important to neglect!

Rhinos and Giraffes and other mega-mammals once roamed below these hills onthe shores of the lake, now there is nothing like that. Poaching is a problem. This beautiful and huge landscape is not protected and there are serious problems. 

Joe with one of the best Birders in Bulgaria, my good friend Tihomir Stefanov. This is the causeway to the Tumbili Cliffs- amazing place for birding and fish-watching.

The endemic Baringo Tilapia - Oreochromis (niloticus) baringoensis. 

This amazing semi-desert, arid land beauty. And full of birds.

Verreaux's eagle (Aquila verreauxii), used be known simply as Black Eagle when I was a kid. Rare bird indeed.

One of the most captivating places for birds are the famous Baringo cliffs. 

Looking accros the lake to the islands; a short rain-shower blessing the landscapes. 

Rising waters of Lake Baringo, looking north, from the causeway near Tumbili Cliff Lodge. 

The lake as viewed from Tumbili Cliff.

The location of Lake Baringo in the East African Rift Valley. A critical problem is the water level rise. Maps from: Herrnegger M et al. Paleohydrology repeating? Regional hydrological change may lead to an overflow and cross-mixing of an alkaline and a freshwater lake in East Africa. Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies. 2024 Oct 1;55:101951.

Joseph Aengwo

Have a look at Joe's website at: https://kenya-birding.com/

Cell Phone: +254 727 856 048
email: joe.aengwo@gmail.com

Also, we thank our good friend DERRICK MURIUKI GICHIMU who rents out the best cars for any Safari. Derrick is one of our best friends in Nairobi and he knows Kenya. Find Derrick at: muriukidgichimu@gmail.com or at: Kompact safaris Kenya car hire | budget friendly Kenya car hire/ self drive 4x4 Nairobi

Another time in the Pindos Mountains

Who Are the Natives of Our Land?

A picture may say 1000 words or more.

From another era in Northern Greece: an armed “group” of Vlachs from Avdella, Grevena, on an outing together with Turkish soldiers who are guarding them from “klephts.” In Avdella, near the Manakia fountain. Photograph by the Manakia brothers, 1903.

Του Τούρκου ο γιος με τα κιάλια.

Ρωμαίικα και βλάχικα μιλάει.
Βιβλία μαζεύει. Τα πουλιά κοιτάει και τα ζωγραφίζει.

(a bit of fiction on my part...about the boy with the field glasses).

Army field glasses, binoculars from the late 1800s. Did you know they were this good and no-one was birding with them? These binoculars where assumably military issued; I found various makes on the net, both German and French, these are French. 

The original. 

Electrofishing the large rivers of Western Greece - the Ionian Freshwater Ecoregion

I’m posting a handful of snapshots boat electrofishing in the rivers that spill into the Ionian Sea. Western Greece is often described with postcard words—gorges, plane-tree galleries, turquoise springs—but for a freshwater biologist the real poetry is in the fish.

These river and lake basins sit in an ecoregion of unusually high endemism. In plain terms: many of the species we net here exist nowhere else on Earth, restricted to a single basin or to a tight cluster of neighbouring basins. Each river is its own little evolutionary archive, shaped by histroical isolation, ancient geographical barriers, limestone karst and local ecological dynamics. You can feel that history in the bucket: a familiar “Mediterranean” fish assemblage, yes—but also odd local forms, subtle variations, and those small, secretive fishes that only make sense once you’ve seen the ecosystems that produced them.

Boat electrofishing looks dramatic (and, inevitably, people ask if it’s “fishing”....). It isn’t sport; it’s scientific sampling—carefully standardised, short pulses, tight safety protocols, capture technique and quick handling so fish can recover and swim away. The routine is half choreography: the skiff sliding along a run, the anode poles probing the margins, dip-nets ready, data sheets getting damp, GPS logging each transect. Meanwhile, we’re also reading the river: flow, substrate, cover, riparian conditiosn, the scars of water abstraction, the shadow of barriers, the die-back of the platanus trees due to an alien fungus invasion; the occasional surprise of an alien species where it shouldn’t be.

And still—despite multiple pressures and degradation—these Ionian rivers can feel astonishingly alive and wild. Every survey reminds me that conservation here isn’t an abstract idea. It’s local, basin by basin, decision by decision. Protect the habitat, and you protect an entire, irreplaceable lineage.

 

Fish Pictured here include (in order of appearance): Economidichthys pygmaeus - Goby, Knipowitschia sp. - Goby; Squalius peloponensis - Chub; Luciobarbus graecus (with D. Kommatas) - Barbel; Dicentrarchus labrax - Sea Bass; Luciobarbus albanicus - Barbel; Knipowitschia sp. - Goby; Liza (Chelon) ramada (in net) - Mullet; Salaria fluviatilis (juv.) - Freshwater Blenny; Alosa fallax - Twaite Shad. 

My colleagues: Alexandros Ntakis, Dimitris Kommatas, Vassilis Pappas, Anthi Economou and Petros Chronopoulos. Some pics taken by Vassiliki Vlami who was also on one of the trips. And again my thanks to HCMR, we are so grateful to work there...

You are also welcome to download one of our recent papers on the fish assemblages within this Ecoregion: 

Fish_assemblage_taxonomy_highlights_spatial_patterns_of_b-diversity_within_a_freshwater_ecoregion

And a map by my good colleague Theocharis Vavalidis from the above paper. The major river basins where HCMR does electrofishing using a boat are numbered as so: 1) Kalamas, 2) Acheron, 3) Louros, 4) Arachthos, 5) Acheloos, 6) Evinos, 7) Mornos, 8) Pineios, 9) Alpheios, 10) Pamissos, 11) Evrotas.