Ethiopia is one of Africa’s most beautiful countries and its landscapes are epic in both scale and beauty. Here is a place where you can trek more than 3000m above sea level (the Simien and Bale mountains) or visit the lowest place on the African continent, the Danakil Depression. In between, there are lush highlands and stirring deserts, vertiginous canyons and sweeping savannah, vast lakes and high plateaus. If you look hard enough, you’ll also find landmarks of great significance, from the source of the Blue Nile to the mesmerizingly desolate Danakil Depression, peppered with an astonishing 25% of Africa’s active volcanoes.
Ethiopia, the only African country to have escaped European colonialism, has retained much of its cultural identity. It all begins with Lucy, one of our most celebrated ancient ancestors, moves effortlessly into the realm of ancient Aksum with its oblelisks and echoes of the Queen of Sheba, and then takes on power and passion as Christianity, with mysterious echoes of Ancient Israel, takes centre stage. And unlike so many other places in Africa, the ancients here left behind some extraordinary monuments to faith and power which serve as focal points for so many wonderful journeys.
When it comes to human cultures, Ethiopia has an embarrassment of riches. There are the Surmi, Afar, Mursi, Karo, Hamer, Nuer and Anuak, whose ancient customs and traditions have remained almost entirely intact. A highlight of any trip here is witnessing one of the many festivals that are an integral part of the traditional culture, from age-old ceremonies marking rites of passage to Christian celebrations of singular passion, the impact upon those who witness such events can provide travel memories to last a lifetime.
Day 1: Arrive at Addis
Arrive at the Bole International airport in Addis Ababa, Pick up by our driver & transfer to the hotel. Overnight in Addis City Hotel.
Day 2: Axum / St. Mary’s Church
Transfer to the airport for the flight to Axum, Ethiopia’s most ancient city and once capital of the great Aksumite Empire. Take a city tour here today visiting the city’s stelae park and St. Mary’s Church. The Axum Museum, the Queen of Sheba’s palace ruins, and King Kaleb’s tomb are all also found here. Explore the church and more of the city this afternoon before returning to your hotel this evening.
Overnight in Axum
Day 3 : Lalibela /Rock-Hewn Churches
This morning you drive to the airport for a short flight to Lalibela, the crown jewel of Ethiopia often referred to as ‘Africa’s Petra’. Here you find the most well-known and preserved churches in the country and the site for many religious ceremonies throughout the year. Visit the magnificent rock-hewn churches which were built by hand between 800 and 1200 AD and are still active worship places.
Overnight in lalibela.
Day 4 : Genete Mariam
Today take a full-day excursion to Genete Mariam, one of the most interesting churches in the Lalibela area near the source of the Tekaze River. The large monolith was carved into a rocky hilltop and is supported by pillars. This site was first excavated during the reign of Yakuno Amlak in the early 13th century and contains some of the earliest discovered wall paintings in Ethiopia.
Overnight in lalibela.
Day 5: Addis Ababa
This morning transfers back to the Lalibela Airport for your flight to Addis Ababa. Settle in to your hotel and set out with your guide to visit the Red Terror Martyrs Memorial Museum, designed as a testament to the victims of a recent dark period in Ethiopia’s history under the Derg Regime. The museum displays a number of graphic exhibits, including skeletal remains, photos, and models of how victims were tortured and is not recommended for young children. From here, continue on to the Muya Abyssinia craft and see how the weavings and other handicrafts are used to create home furnishings, decor, and accessories.
Overnight in Addis Ababa
Day 6 Addis Ababa Day Tour
Spend today sightseeing with a guide around Addis Ababa. Start your tour with a drive up north to Mount Entoto. Next visit the Ethnographic museum which contains a large collection of Ethiopian handicrafts and historic artefacts. Visit also the National Museum of Ethiopia, which houses the famous fossil of ‘Lucy’. Enjoy lunch at a nearby cafe before visiting the Trinity Cathedral this evening. This is the largest and most revered of all modern churches. Finish up your tour with a drive through the largest open-air market in all of Africa. Rest up in your hotel room one last time before your transfer back to the airport for your flight home this evening.
Day 1: Arrive at Addis
Arrive at the Bole International airport in Addis Ababa, Pick up by our driver & transfer to the hotel. Overnight in Addis City Hotel.
Day 2: Bahir Dar /Lake Tana Islands
This morning transfers back to the airport for your flight to Bahir Dar.
Bahir Dar is situated on the southern side of Lake Tana and near the Blue Nile River. Settle in to your hotel room, freshen up. Later afternoon, take a boat cruise to some of the islands on Lake Tana, home to some of the oldest churches and monasteries in the world. Visit the 14th-century monastery Ura Kidane Mihret, most famously known for its painted maqdas and collection of crosses and crowns.
Later drive to the village of Tis Isat and see the Blue Nile Falls, a scenic waterfall created by a dam along the river a short drive outside of town.
Overnight in Bahir Dal
Day 3: Gondar
Today set out for a drive to Gondar, once the royal capital of Ethiopia. The landscape here is beautiful and the area is dotted with castles and churches built by Emperor Fassiladas and his descendants. Visit the Debre Birhan Sealssie church with ornately decorated walls and ceilings depicting stories from the Bible and medieval history.
Overnight in Gondar
Day 4 : Simien Mountains
Drive to Sanqaber in the Simien Mountains today for a full day of hiking and exploring the breathtaking scenery, some of the wildest in all of Ethiopia. Known as the ‘rooftop of Africa’, the Simien Mountains are one of the largest mountain ranges in all of Africa. Enjoy your afternoon to soak up the scenery and have a picnic lunch before you head back to Gondar.
Overnight in Gondar
Day 5: Axum / St. Mary’s Church
Transfer to the airport for the flight to Axum, Ethiopia’s most ancient city and once capital of the great Aksumite Empire. Take a city tour here today visiting the city’s stelae park and St. Mary’s Church. The Axum Museum, the Queen of Sheba’s palace ruins, and King Kaleb’s tomb are all also found here. Explore the church and more of the city this afternoon before returning to your hotel this evening.
Overnight in Axum
Day 6: Lalibela /Rock-Hewn Churches
This morning you drive to the airport for a short flight to Lalibela, the crown jewel of Ethiopia often referred to as ‘Africa’s Petra’. Here you find the most well-known and preserved churches in the country and the site for many religious ceremonies throughout the year. Visit the magnificent rock-hewn churches which were built by hand between 800 and 1200 AD and are still active worship places.
Overnight in lalibela.
Day 7: Genete Mariam
Today take a full-day excursion to Genete Mariam, one of the most interesting churches in the Lalibela area near the source of the Tekaze River. The large monolith was carved into a rocky hilltop and is supported by pillars. This site was first excavated during the reign of Yakuno Amlak in the early 13th century and contains some of the earliest discovered wall paintings in Ethiopia.
Overnight in lalibela.
Day 8: Addis Ababa
This morning transfers back to the Lalibela Airport for your flight to Addis Ababa. Settle in to your hotel and set out with your guide to visit the Red Terror Martyrs Memorial Museum, designed as a testament to the victims of a recent dark period in Ethiopia’s history under the Derg Regime. The museum displays a number of graphic exhibits, including skeletal remains, photos, and models of how victims were tortured and is not recommended for young children. From here, continue on to the Muya Abyssinia craft and see how the weavings and other handicrafts are used to create home furnishings, decor, and accessories.
Overnight in Addis Ababa
Day 9: Addis Ababa Day Tour
Spend today sightseeing with a guide around Addis Ababa. Start your tour with a drive up north to Mount Entoto. Next visit the Ethnographic museum which contains a large collection of Ethiopian handicrafts and historic artefacts. Visit also the National Museum of Ethiopia, which houses the famous fossil of ‘Lucy’. Enjoy lunch at a nearby cafe before visiting the Trinity Cathedral this evening. This is the largest and most revered of all modern churches. Finish up your tour with a drive through the largest open-air market in all of Africa. Rest up in your hotel room one last time before your transfer back to the airport for your flight home this evening.
Day 1: Arrive at Addis
Arrive at the Bole International airport in Addis Ababa, Pick up by our driver & transfer to the hotel. Overnight in Addis City Hotel.
Day 2: Day trip to Debre Libanos and Portuguese bridge
After Breakfast, Pick up by our driver & Guide, Drive north to Debre Libanos, approximately two hours’ drive.
Debre Libanos is an important monastic center for Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, the monastery there was founded by the renowned 13th century mystic, Saint Teclehaimanot and there is a small cave near the church where he is said to have stood for seven years on one leg.
On this tour visitor can combine history and culture with some good bird watching, as we pass through the Sululta Plain we can visit the Oromo people round house to experience the local life. Also, you will visit the local farmer house and farm land this will show you the local Ethiopian everyday life….
On arrival at Debre Libanos, we will first stop at the Jemma gorge.
walk for half an hour to visit the Portuguese Bridge which was built in the 16th Century AD. Walk around to see also one of Ethiopia’s endemic mammals – the Gelada baboon. take another trail enjoying the breath-taking scenery of the Jemma River Gorge. The Jemma River is one of the tributaries of the Blue Nile River.
Leaving the Gorge, we proceed towards church within 10 minutes’ drive. Here you will visit the church built by Emperor Haile Sillassie which has beautiful window glass works and mosaics, and then visit the monastery’s museum to see ancient historical artifacts, manuscripts, icons, crowns, crosses, etc After the church visitors can make the climb to the cave of St Teklehaimanot.
Thereafter drive back to Addis Ababa. Overnight in Addis Ababa
Day 3: Adadi Mariam – Tiya
Pick up after breakfast, Drive down toward south on the Butajira Road, is the rock hewn church of Adadi Mariam, contemporaneous with those of Lalibela – in fact local tradition ascribes it to King Lalibela who is said to have had it built on his visit to Mount Zuqwala in 1106. Damaged during the wars with Ahmed Gragn in the 16th century, it fell into disuse and was only reopened in the time of Menelik II. It is today in regular use.
Later proceed towards Tiya, classified by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, where we can see the northernmost example of a peculiar type of engraved, standing stellae which stretch across parts of southern Ethiopia. These stellae are believed to have been erected between the 12th and 14th centuries and are almost certainly grave markers – recent excavations at Tiya have revealed the remains of young people of both sexes, aged between 18, – 30 and buried in foetal positions.
later drive to Langano for overnight stay.
Day 4: Langano -Ziway + Addis Ababa
You will spend the morning relaxing at Langano, afterward drive to Lake Ziway to visit the beautiful birdlife on the shores of the lake. you will have boat trip on Lake Ziway to see hippo population and visit the Tullo Gudo Island,
afterward drive back to Addis Ababa for overnight stay.
Day 5: Addis Ababa
After morning Breakfast, set out with your guide to visit the Red Terror Martyrs Memorial Museum, designed as a testament to the victims of a recent dark period in Ethiopia’s history under the Derg Regime. The museum displays a number of graphic exhibits, including skeletal remains, photos, and models of how victims were tortured and is not recommended for young children. From here, continue on to the Muya Abyssinia craft and see how the weavings and other handicrafts are used to create home furnishings, decor, and accessories.
Overnight in Addis Ababa
Day 6: Addis Ababa Day Tour
Spend today sightseeing with a guide around Addis Ababa. Start your tour with a drive up north to Mount Entoto. Next visit the Ethnographic museum which contains a large collection of Ethiopian handicrafts and historic artefacts. Visit also the National Museum of Ethiopia, which houses the famous fossil of ‘Lucy’. Enjoy lunch at a nearby cafe before visiting the Trinity Cathedral this evening. This is the largest and most revered of all modern churches. Finish up your tour with a drive through the largest open-air market in all of Africa. Rest up in your hotel room one last time before your transfer back to the airport for your flight home this evening.
