Addis Ababa

Arrival to Addis Ababa. Meeting with company’s representative at the airport. Transfer to city center hotel after which you will have time to relax.

Addis Ababa

On the first full day in Addis Ababa, we’ll bring you on a city tour so that you can get a quick overview of the cities highlights. Places of interest that we will visit include: National Museum of Ethiopia, the Ethnological Museum, Holy Trinity and St. Georges Cathedrals and Entoto Mountain. In the evening, we can go to a traditional Ethiopian restaurant to enjoy local food and Ethiopia’s unique form of dancing.

National Museum of Ethiopia

The main draw of visiting the National Museum of Addis Ababa, is to see the remain of ‘Lucy’. ‘Lucy’ is a collection of fossilised bones that once made up the skeleton of a hominid from the Australopithecus afarensis species. She lived in Ethiopia 3.2 million years ago.

Ethnological Museum

Set within Haile Selassie’s former palace and surrounded by the beautiful gardens and fountains of Addis Ababa University’s main campus is the enthralling Ethnological Museum. Even if you’re not normally a museum fan, this one is worth a bit of your time – it’s easily one of the finest museums in Africa.

Holy Trinity Cathedral

Holy Trinity Cathedral, known in Amharic as Kidist Selassie, is the highest ranking Orthodox cathedral in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It was built to commemorate Ethiopia’s liberation from Italian occupation and is the second most important place of worship in Ethiopia, after the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in Axum. St George’s Orthodox Cathedral was built by Italian prisoners of war defeated at Adwa in 1896. It was named after St. George, after the Tabot (Ark) of the church was carried to the Battle of Adwa against the Italians during which the Ethiopians secured victory.

Mount Entoto

Entoto Mountain is where in 1881 King Menelik tried to build a capital city. Some of the most interesting places to see at Entoto are a church museum near the church of St. Mary and the old house of King Menelik.

Arba Minch

After breakfast, we’ll depart Addis Ababa and head south in the direction of Arba Minch. On the way, stop to visit the Tiya Stele Field. Lunch in the town of Sodo Arrival in Arba Minch late in the afternoon.

Tiya World Heritage Site

Tiya is among the most important of the roughly 160 archaeological sites discovered so far in the Soddo region, south of Addis Ababa. The site contains 36 monuments, including 32 carved stelae covered with symbols, most of which are difficult to decipher. They are the remains of an ancient Ethiopian culture whose age has not yet been precisely determined.

Dorze Village

In the morning, take a boat ride on Lake Chamo which is part of the Nech Sar Park. Here you can observe huge crocodiles and hippos in the wild, as well as lots of water birds. Lunch in Arba Minch, after which we’ll go on an excursion to Chencha, village of Dorze people. The highlight of this excursion is a visit to a traditional Dorze house where you can observe how bread is made from false banana and drink locally made alcohol. Return to Arba Minch in the evening.

Turmi

On day 5, we’ll leave Arba Minch and head towards Turmi. On route, there will be stop offs at Karat Konso, Weito, and Erbore. The stop at Erbore will allow you to take photos of the Erbore people. Once we arrival in Turmi, and if you are lucky, we may get a chance to attend a bull-jumping ceremony in a Hamer village near Turmi. Rest at the lodge in the evening.

Key Afer

Today we’ll drive from Turmi to Jinka. On the way, we make a stop-over at Key Afar, where every Thursday there is a local market. This market attracts Hamer, Benna, Konso, Ari, and many other people of the South Omo. Arrive at Jinka late in the afternoon and rest at the hotel.

Konso Cultural Centre

n the morning, excursion to the Mago Park. In this park, live the Mursi tribe. It is probably best known in the South Omo Valley, because women of this tribe slit their lower lip and insert a clay or wooden plate, and men fight donga (a stick fight which determines the most eligible bachelors ready to get married). Return to Jinka at lunch time, then drive to Karat Konso.

Drive from Karat Konso to Langano early in the morning. Langano, one of the lakes of the Rift Valley, offers you the chance to take a dip. This area is very popular with people looking to get out of Addis for a few days rest and relaxation.

Addis Ababa

In the afternoon, drive to Addis Ababa. Once we arrive in Addis Ababa, the program will finish.