Ethiopian Experiences
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"Visit (Ethiopia) now while you can still see a huge diversity of tribes. See how they build their traditional homes, wear their traditional clothes and create their traditional hairstyles"
Trevor Jenner : Ethiopia, Travellers' Handbook
Tribes, Mountains and Caves
Truly unforgettable experiences
Dramatic vistas, wonderful wildlife, amazing culture in southern Ethiopia
See our Tours schedule page and newsletters for latest news
The ultimate Ethiopian adventure with no great physical challenges and a good level of comfort.
Dramatic mountains and stunning landscapes, with almost certain sightings of the beautiful Ethiopian wolf, are followed by sculpted river caves, before moving to southern Ethiopia to experience the most extraordinary tribal cultures on earth, with a good chance of witnessing the iconic tribal Bull-jumping Ceremony. An amazing trip!
A thrilling tour of unparalleled rare experiences for just
£2680
plus flights and visa
Everything else is included - comfortable accommodation, good food, amazing scenery, all tourist costs, guide fees, and coffee stops throughout the trip.
All tips and all land transportation.
Here are the dates for our next group tour in 2024.
We'd love you to join us.
Departure on an evening flight
Tuesday, 24th June
Return on a late night flight
Saturday 6th July
We would strongly encourage you to join one of our very friendly, small-group accompanied tours.
But if you'd prefer to travel alone, or as a couple, or as a group of friends, we can run this tour for you at any time of the year. You just need to get in touch and let's discuss your requirements.
Use the form at the bottom of this page.
The itinerary
🇪🇹 Day 0:
Evening flight
Heathrow to Addis
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Bale Mountains
🇪🇹 Day 1: After restorative coffees and snacks, we may (depending on schedules) have time to stroll around the fast-developing Bole area before our onward flight to Goba, the airport hub for the Bale Mountains. Toyota Landcruisers meet us in Goba with our excellent, tried-and-tested drivers, your companions throughout the road-trip. The well-appointed and peaceful Wabe Shabele Hotel, on an impressive and spacious government hotel site, is our home for the first three nights and we'll give ourselves good recovery time on arrival.
🇪🇹 Day 2: We have a particularly expert guide with us for two full days here as we first drive high onto the Senetti Plateau, an alpine landscape that will surprise and delight. There will certainly be a chill in the air up here as we search for the prize of Ethiopian wildlife, the rare Ethiopian wolf/Red fox/Simien fox, call it what you will. This beautiful creature will almost certainly be seen, perhaps even at close quarters, amid giant lobelia and other mountain flora. After lunch, we enter the National Park to have close encounters with extraordinary Mountain Nyala, Menelik’s Bushbuck, and ubiquitous warthogs.
" It was a most wonderful trip, and I didn't want to go home at the end of it! "
Sof Omar
🇪🇹 Day 3: We meet our friendly guide once again and descend in an easterly direction, with the very welcome sunshine warming us up ready for our visit to the Sof Omar river caves, an unexpectedly sculptural and magical experience. Vervet monkeys and rock hyrax are in frequent attendance, although we avoid sharing our picnic lunch with them before driving back to Goba for the third night in our hotel and a good final dinner.
Hawassa and Arba Minch
🇪🇹 Day 4: A fairly substantial drive is on the cards today, passing through picturesque mountain scenery with further sightings of wildlife and moving us down towards one of the largest cities south of the capital, Hawassa, an attractive place with wide airy boulevards and one of the most picturesque lakes in the Ethiopian Rift Valley. Our hotel is well-appointed and has an excellent restaurant, but we shall make sure we wander along the lakeside for colourful birdlife and sunset views on our one evening here.
🇪🇹 Day 5: We continue to travel south today towards Arba Minch, a pair of twin towns overlooking Lakes Chamo and Abaya which are the gateway to the tribal south (see our May 2021 newsletter). On the way we have plentiful opportunities for photos and coffee stops, with the changing landscape offering constant interest. Our resting place is the Ezana Hotel, named after the 4th century king who adopted Christianity for his country.
🇪🇹 Day 6: We are pausing here in this attractive small tribal town to appreciate some of the local wildlife. We shall take our own private boat, complete with an experienced boatman, out onto Lake Chamo for visions of some of the largest Nile crocodiles in the world, basking in the sunshine, as well as noble African fish eagles perched high on the tree -tops as sentinels to our experience. Then, after a good lunch in town, we make the first of our many tribal visits, to a Dorze tribe compound up in the hills outside the town, where we shall be shown various life skills of these ingenious people.
THE TRIBES
Bull-jumping
***The itinerary for the next few days is designed flexibly to allow us the best chance of catching a rare Hamer/Banna bull-jumping festival, one of the most extraordinary coming-of-age ceremonies in the world and one that you will remember for ever.
Into the Omo Valley
🇪🇹 Day 7: Today we are going to move straight down to the extreme south of the Omo Valley, a fascinating drive that takes us through Karat-Konso (the centre of the Konso tribe) and on to Key Afer ('Red Earth' - the centre of the colourful Banna tribe to which we shall soon be returning) for lunch and perhaps a tribal market. Reaching Turmi, we check into the comfortable Turmi Lodge on the edge of this small town, our base for two nights.
Hamer and Karo tribes
🇪🇹 Day 8: Turmi is the central town of the wonderful Hamer tribe. In the morning we go with our guide to a Hamer village with very beautiful and welcoming people. ​​​
And then, after lunch back in town, we drive to a Karo tribal village, situated high above a dramatic bend in the Omo river. In each of these extraordinary places, we shall have a chance to witness traditional practices and see the colourful clothes and adornments of these people.
Banna tribe
🇪🇹 Day 9: Our road journey takes us north again to Key Afer for a very welcoming and friendly visit to a Banna village. After lunch we continue to travel up to Jinka and the simple Eyob hotel set in attractive gardens in a secluded spot. We may well have time to visit Jinka's excellent small tribal museum, set up by a German team and giving a very thorough vision of this fascinating area of the country.
" I very much enjoyed our visits to the tribes, all so unique and different. So lucky to have been able to see the Jumping of the Bulls ceremony."
Mursi and Ari tribes
🇪🇹 Day 10: A reasonably prompt start takes us with a local guide into the isolated Mago National Park to meet the Mursi people, yet another of our encounters with extraordinary tribal communities.
Here is an almost unimaginable simplicity of living where we get a respectful but friendly welcome from the tribal chief - the Mursi ladies with their unbelievable lip plates will not be forgotten. We return to Jinka for lunch before going deep into the woodlands outside the town for our last tribal experience, an Ari tribe village before a good dinner and a relaxed evening.
Addis Ababa
🇪🇹 Day 11: After a restful morning enjoying a little more of our village surroundings, we must fly north to the capital city. Once in Addis Ababa, we shall do any further souvenir shopping we wish and visit the wonderful private St George Art Gallery for some superb, if pricey, examples of Ethiopian craft. A final drink in the luxurious Sheraton, followed by a good dinner and relaxation in a comfortable hotel, and our eventful, colourful tour is at an end. Our late-night flight back to the UK (actually early Sunday morning) rounds off an extraordinary Ethiopian Experience.
Note :
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We can never be sure of flight costs in advance but based on our recent experience and increases in international flight prices, the complete package of two international flights and two domestic flights may well come to something around £1100 per person.
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The cost of the tourist visa at the present time is about £65.
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For other general information, see Our tours > All the tours information