wintering waders. Furthermore, the wadi is surrounded by almost 
pristine Acacia steppe in an area known to have previously supported 
Arabian Bustards. If the proposed boundary could be extended to 
include a significant part of the steppe, the reserve could asume 
international importance. 
There is a growing concern for the protection of the environment in 
Djibouti; but there is also a greater increase in the desire to exploit the 
country's wildlife. Although all wildlife in Djibouti is protected, a walk 
along the tourist street market this spring showed an abundance of 
wildhfe products on sale; from Ostrich eggs to Leopard skins, turtle 
carapaces to Cheetah cubs. Most, if not all, of these items would have 
originated in Ethiopia and Somalia, but are sold in Djibouti. There is 
even talk of removing the hunting laws, and it seems inevitable that the 
situation will get worse before it gets better. 
Our research has revealed much about this little-known country, but 
it is not complete. Together with Alain Laurent, we are currently 
working on a distributional atlas of Djibouti's birds. The reserve idea 
is still being pursued and, most excitingly, as part of Sheraton Hotel's 
Going Green initiative, we are working on a sites inventory of Impor- 
tant Bird Areas in Djibouti. 
Geoff and Hilary Welch, 21a East Delph, Whittlesey, Peterborough 
PE71HK UK 
Hotamis - are the wetlands still 
there? 
Guy Kirwan 
According to Grimmett et al (1989), the Hotamis area still contains a 
large wetland complex, harbouring a number of species of birds which 
are scarce on both a national and an international scale. A fuller and 
distinctly less optimistic overview has been published recently (Grim- 
mett and Jones 1989). 
Formerly, the area was regularly visited; it was well known as the only 
breeding site within Turkey for White-tailed Plover Chettusia leucra. 
However, two inter-related factors have combined to remove Hotamis 
from the birding map, and few birdwatchers now seem to incorporate 
it into their itineraries. This is despite the fact noted by Brace and Webb 
(unpub.) that the site has long been known to be subject to the vagaries 
of drought and local irrigation schemes and thus could still be worth 
exploring. Nevertheless, the fact that few observers have even man- 
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