Ethiopia Experiences

After breakfast, your guide will collect you from the hotel. Head out by speedboat on the deep Lake Tana, for the densly-wooded Zeghie (Zege) Peninsula to see some of its famed monasteries. While on board your private boat, keep an eye out for a variety of birds as well as the traditional reef 'tankwa' boats crossing the lake. After a short hike through local villages and coffee plots, you...

Africa's second largest waterfalls can be visited either as part of the road journey between Bahir Dar and Gondar, or, as an afternoon excursion if you arrive in Bahir Dar off a morning flight. Your guide and driver will take you from your hotel to the Blue Nile Falls, which, when in full flood, can be impressive with a width of 400 m and a height of 45m. The excursion to the falls entails an...

Visiting the town of Gonar is a must. Your guide and driver will take you to explore the incredible Royal Enclosure and its buildings. The fortress, which is surrounded by a 300-foot-long wall, is one of Ethiopia's many UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The oldest and most impressive structure in the Imperial Compound is the two-story palace of Emperor Fasilidas, which was constructed using solid b...

If you have a full day in the Simien Mountains National Park, we recommend a visit to Chennek, where it is possible to explore the Afro-alpine habitat. Your guide and driver will collect you from the lodge after breakfast. You can either drive quite deep into the national park for a shorter excursion, or, if you are keen on hiking, head out on a day trail with a picnic lunch. People come to Chenne...

Your guide and your driver will collect you from the hotel just after lunch. You will be taken to visit the 'first group' or cluster of the remarkable monolithic or semi-monolithic churches which represent the 'earthly Jerusalem'. This group includes Bete Medhanialem, Bete Maryam, Bete Denagel, Bete Meskel, Debre Sina, and Bete Golgotha. Standing 38 feet tall and with seventy-two pillars, Bete Med...

Your guide and driver will collect you from your hotel after breakfast. You will be taken to visit the second group or cluster of the churches, which represent the 'heavenly Jerusalem'. In this group are the Bete Gabriel & Bete Raphael; Bete Merquorios; Bete Emmanuel (God with us), and Bete Abba Libanos. Those who wish, can take a 40 meter walk through a very dark tunnel between two of th...

On arrival at the airport, your guide and driver will meet you and take you on a city tour of Axum that includes the Archaeological museum of Axum and the Cathedral of St. Mary of Zion. The original church was built by Emperor Fasiladas, founder of Gonder, in 1665. It’s thought that this church is built on the original foundations of a temple build by King Ezana or King Kaleb in the 4th or 6...

Your guide and driver will meet you after breakfast at Bale Mountain Lodge. Travel in your private, air-conditioned 4-wheel drive vehicle from Harenna Forest up the escarpment to the Sanetti Plateau, passing through the altitudinally varying vegetation bands as you ascend. Once up on the plateau, you will drive slowly along the road on mostly flat terrain, examining the fragile Afro-alpine moorlan...

When you arrive at the Bale Mountains National Park Headquarters near Dinsho, stop to take a walk in the Juniper and Hagenia woods in this area. Terrain is easy, with grass and herbage between the stands of trees and shrubs. People come here to seek two endemic antelopes, the large Mountain nyala - which is very approachable and present in fair numbers - and the smaller, darker Menelik's bushbuck,...

While based at Bale Mountain Lodge, you should definitely spend at least one day exploring parts of this expansive and very beautiful evergreen forest. There is a well mapped system of trails, some starting from the lodge. Those keen on scenery can visit sites like the Rira Falls, while birders may want to focus on exploring the forest itself. Around the lodge, birding is rewarding, with regularly...