$2,145 pp (USD)
2 travelers on Start dateArrival
Arrival
Day 1
City tour included;- National museum, Mercato and Trinity cathedral
City tour included;- National museum, Mercato and Trinity cathedral
Guide will meet you at the airport and escort you to our hotel. You will have some free time to rest up from jet-lag after checking in. This afternoon, enjoy a city sightseeing tour. First stop is at the magnificent Trinity Cathedral. Continue to the National Museum, close to the University of Addis Ababa Graduate School, which houses numerous antiquarian relics and archaeological artifacts showing the history of Ethiopia from prehistoric times to the modern day. Its most famous exhibit is a replica of the 3.5-million-year-old skeleton of 'Lucy', then drive to merkato to see the biggest open air market in east Africa.
- Main Destination:
- Addis Ababa (City)
- Accommodation:
- Swiss Inn Nexus Hotel
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 2
Wildlife and scenic
Wildlife and scenic
After breakfast drive to Bale Mountains National Park. Ethiopia’s second-highest mountain range contains one of the richest habitats in the country's alpine heights. It is the best place for viewing a broad cross-section of Ethiopia's unique wildlife, including Ethiopian wolf, rare mountain nyala, giant forest hog. The park is home to more than 282 bird species, Bale was one of the last regions of Africa to attract serious scientific exploration, and it remains sufficiently out of the way even today that few travelers make it here in comparison with the Simien Mountains. The park’s main attractions are its wild alpine scenery, particularly on the Sanetti Plateau that rises more than 13,000 feet above sea level. Keep an eye out for our first glimpse of Ethiopian wolf en route to the lodge, as they are often seen from the road.
- Main Destination:
- Bale Mountains National Park
- Accommodation:
- Wabe Shebelle Hotel Goba
Wildlife in Bale Mountains NP
Bushbuck Occasional
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 3
Ethiopian Wolf
Ethiopian Wolf
Spend the full days exploring the wild wonders of the Sanetti Plateau and Harenna Forest. This vast highland region is the world’s largest expanse of Afro-alpine moorland, a montane habitat with an average elevation above 13,000 feet. The plateau is renowned for supporting the largest remaining population of Ethiopian wolf, which we hope to spot on wildlife drives in 4x4 vehicles. A walk atop the plateau reveals exhilarating views all the way to the Harenna Forest, one of the most extensive natural forests remaining in Ethiopia. At the southern end of the plateau, the Harenna escarpment affords an astounding view over the forest well over a mile below us—deeper than the Grand Canyon. This forest, far denser and more varied than the juniper woodland around Dinsho, has a similar appearance and composition to the forests found in other East African mountain landscapes. Though we're unlikely to see them, lions live in this densely wooded region.
- Main Destination:
- Bale Mountains National Park
- Accommodation:
- Wabe Shebelle Hotel Goba
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 4
Birding Watching
Birding Watching
Just south of Addis Ababa the road leads down to the bottom of the Great rift valley where a row of interesting lakes are found, the rift valley lake harbor a great natural diversity but are also very important for the local economy, the area is particularly interesting for bird watchers, en route visit lake koka and lake ziway, after lunch drive to Abijata-Shalla national park, a pleasant walk round the headquarter for some abundant wildlife.
- Main Destination:
- Lake Langano
- Accommodation:
- Hara Langano Eco Lodge
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 5
The Royal enclosure of Gonder
The Royal enclosure of Gonder
This city in northern Ethiopia is famed for its 17th-century stone castles and fortresses that evoke the feel of an African Camelot. Founded in 1636 by the great Emperor Fassilidas, this UNESCO World Heritage Site that was once the royal capital of Ethiopia enjoys a striking setting atop tree-studded hills. We visit various castles and churches built by Fassilidas and his descendants, including the emperor’s own palace.. Inside the stone walls and arched doors, the space is filled with biblical scenes, afternoon As we drive on to Simien Mountains National Park, the road winds through highland pastures and fields of grain, eventually reaching the top of a vast plateau. This wild high country known as the “Roof of Africa” holds some of the continent’s most dramatic scenery. The Simien Mountains, among the highest ranges in Africa, include Ras Dashen, Ethiopia’s tallest peak at 15,157 feet.
- Main Destination:
- Gondar (City)
- Accommodation:
-
Goha Hotel
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 6-7
Dramatic Landscape
Dramatic Landscape
This morning we take a walk to see geladas, a gregarious species of Old World monkey found only in the Ethiopian Highlands. Geladas are the only primates that are exclusively grazers, living on the grasses of the central plateau. Large and robust, males weigh up to 60 pounds, with a heavy cape of dark hair down their back. Little known and little studied, geladas live in huge troops of several hundred individuals. They are highly social, often rambunctious, and comfortable allowing us to approach at close range. At night, they sleep on cliff ledges out of range of nocturnal predators like hyena, leopard and jackal. Drink in the vast scale of the highland landscape, with magnificent views for miles, and keep an eye out for possible sightings of walia ibex, klipspringer, jackal and fox.
- Main Destination:
- Simien Mountains National Park
- Accommodation:
- Simien Lodge
Wildlife in Simien Mountains NP
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 8
Lalibela
Lalibela
Today we will depart from semien lodge very early to catch our flight to laliblela, Ethiopia’s cultural crown jewel. A cradle of Ethiopian Christianity, Lalibela is renowned for its magnificent ancient churches and is the scene of many major religious ceremonies. Christianity in Ethiopia dates to the 1st century A.D., the only pre-colonial Christian presence in sub-Saharan Africa and one of the oldest Christian communities in the world. Today, about 60 percent of Ethiopia’s people are Christian, with most part of the Orthodox tradition.
late afternoon, cup for you to enjoy. Coffee has long been a hallmark of Ethiopian culture, and the coffee plant originated in Ethiopia. Ethiopia today is Africa's top coffee consumer and producer, and coffee exports currently constitute about 10 percent of GDP and 60 percent of Ethiopia's foreign income.
- Main Destination:
- Lalibela (Town)
- Accommodation:
- Sora Lodge Lalibela
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 9
Explorer Lalibela
Explorer Lalibela
Lalibela’s mystical rock-hewn churches evoke a profound sense of awe and admiration. Churches below ground level are carved straight from the rock, ringed by trenches and subterranean courtyards and connected by a maze of stone tunnels and passages. Of these, Bete Giyorgis is most famous and most photographed, as it is unobscured by any shelters erected over the site. The churches above ground are equally wondrous feats of engineering, built out of a single hunk of rock using no blocks, bricks, joints, seams or mortar. While individual churches are often built in the shape of a cross, multiple churches together also form a larger cross. We'll spend several hours walking among the churches this afternoon, with Bete Amanuel a highlight. This 36-foot-high monolith is considered by architectural historians to exhibit the finest and most precise workmanship in Lalibela.
- Main Destination:
- Lalibela (Town)
- Accommodation:
- Sora Lodge Lalibela
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 10
Shopping
Shopping
Fly back to Addis. On arrival in Addis, before checking in to day rooms at our hotel leisure afternoon and shopping, offering a chance to refresh and relax before evening transfers to the airport, in the evening fare well dinner then drop off at the airport for departure!
- Main Destination:
- Addis Ababa (City)
- Accommodation:
- No accommodation (End of tour)
- Meals & Drinks:
