Private Ethiopia Safari

Upon arrival you will be greeted by your local guide, who will transfer you to your hotel in Addis Ababa.

Once you have rested a bit your guide will collect you for a half day exploration of the City. No visit to Addis Ababa is complete without a trip to the National Museum of Ethiopia, which ranks among the most important museums in sub-Saharan Africa and is famous for its paleontological and pre-historic exhibitions. Here you will get to view the famous 3.5 million-year-old bones of Lucy.
Another interesting excursion will be to the Ethnographic Museum of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies.

Time permitting you may drive by the famous open-air market in Africa, Mercato, covering several square miles and employing an estimated 13,000 people in 7,100 business entities.

This morning, after an early breakfast, you will be transferred to the airport, where you will board your flight to Lalibela (1 hour).

After checking in to your hotel, you will have lunch at Ben Abeba restaurant, which offers traditional Ethiopian & western food, in comfortable surroundings, with a spectacular view.

This afternoon you will begin your tour of the first group of six churches in town. The first group of churches lie in rock cradles, one behind the other: Bet Golgotha, Bet Mikael, Bet Mariam, Bet Meskel, Bet Danaghel and Bet Medhane Alem. Bet Medhane Alem, the largest, is built like a Greek temple. In a corner are three empty graves symbolically dug for biblical patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The group of four, south of the Jordan River, comprise Bet Emanuel, Bet Mercuiros, Bet Abba Libanos and Bet Gabriel-Rufa'el Bet Emanuel's elaborate exterior is much praised by art historians.

Once you have had breakfast you will get to explore the second group of the rock churches. The south-east cluster of churches is more irregular in design than the north-western cluster. Several of the individual churches in this cluster are thought to have been secular in origin, and some predate the reign of King Lalibela by five centuries. The churches in the south-east cluster include Bet Gebriel-Rafael, Bet Abba Libanos, Bet Lehem, Bet Emanuel, and Bet Mercurios.

Bet Giyorgis, probably the most elegant and majestic of all the Lalibela churches, lies somewhat isolated in the southwest part of the village on a sloping rock terrace. It can only be reached via a tunnel.

Later this afternoon you will experience authentic Ethiopian hospitality during a traditional coffee ceremony.

Today, after breakfast, you will be transferred to the airport for your flight to Gondar (1 hour), from where you will set off on a scenic drive to the breath-taking Simien Mountains National Park (approx. 2 hrs).

If there is time in the afternoon you can visit the village and school, which are situated about 20-minute walk from the lodge. You can also see how traditional injera is prepared.

After breakfast you will set out on a mountain excursion to Chenek. Your drive will take approx. 3 hours. You will have the opportunity to explore on foot and enjoy the phenomenal vistas. You will also get to see the Walia Ibex before settling down for a delicious picnic lunch.

Early this morning you will take a 2-hour drive back down to Gondar, where you will board your flight, to Axum. The flight is an 1h40 min and has a stop in Lalibela.

After checking into your hotel, you will have some lunch before embarking on an exploration of Axum, renowned for its cathedral of St. Mary Zion, where, as legend has it, the original Ark of the Covenant is housed.

After breakfast you will drive to Gheralta. With its unique chain of mountains, the Gheralta area is the home of the rock churches famous for their architecture, ancient paintings, and manuscripts.

Enjoy a delicious lunch looking out over the crags of the Gheralta Mountains – a scene of spectacular rugged beauty, then spend the afternoon at leisure.

Today after breakfast you will continue your exploration of fascinating Gheralta, with a visit to Abune Yemata, a rock-hewn church carved into the cliff-face of one of the mountains of Guh.

Return to the Lodge after a full day of exploring.

This morning, after breakfast, you will drive approx. 245km to Hamed Ela, where your campsite awaits you. On route you will visit Wukro Chirkos – a rock-hewn church, excavated into a cliff.

In the late afternoon you will get to experience a dramatic sunset over the Salt Lake, with camel caravans returning home after a busy day of salt mining, ending off with a camp side dinner.

After an early breakfast you will drive from Hamed Ela to Dallol Depression, which straddles the Eritrean border to the east of the Tigraian Highlands. On route you will stop at Ragad (Asebo), where salt is mined. See how salt is cut into rectangular pieces and broken away from the ground, before being loaded onto camels.

Much of this vast and practically unpopulated region lies below sea level, dipping to a frazzled nadir of -116m at Dallol, near Lake Asale, the lowest spot of land on the African continent and one of the driest and most tectonically active areas on the entire planet.

Here you will visit the Sulphur Pools and Lake Asale before returning to your campsite at Hamed Ela, where you will camp for the night.

You will set off early (around 06:30) on a drive to Dodom – a town located at the base of Erta Ale.

After you pass several small hamlets you will reach Dodom, which is about 17km from Erta Ale.

After an early dinner you will trek up Erta Ale, reaching the top around 8pm. Camels transport all the camping materials to the rim of the volcano, where we spend the night watching the dramatic action of the boiling lava.

This morning after breakfast you will set off for Mekelle, where you will have lunch and enjoy some leisure time before boarding the afternoon flight back to Addis Ababa.

On arrival in Addis you will be transferred to your hotel.

After a leisurely breakfast you will be transferred to the airport for your flight to the Bale Mountains.

In the afternoon there will be time for a walk around to see some of the endemic mammals: for example Menelik's Bushbuck or Mountain Nyala Dinsho. If time permits you may explore the Geysay Valley, observing a wealth of bird species: Blue-winged goose, Spot-breasted lapwing, Abyssinian long claw, Wattled ibis, Black-headed siskin and Rouget’s rail.

Today you will explore the National Park and surrounds.

Explore the fascinating Sanetti plateau, observe, amongst others, the endemic Ethiopian Wolf and the Giant Molerat. Walk about the plateau enjoying the awe-inspiring landscape.

After spending the morning on the plateau, you’ll drive back to the lodge and visit the Harenna Escarpment where there are some remarkable views, followed by afternoon in which to descend of the Escarpment. For bird lovers endemic birds may be seen, such as white-backed Black Tit, Abyssinian catbird, Black-winged Lovebird, Golden-backed wood pecker and Black-headed Siskin.

This morning you will have some leisure time before being transferred to the airport for your flight to Addis.

On arrival at the Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, you will be transferred to your hotel to freshen up and rest, before being collected for an unforgettable farewell dinner at one of Addis Ababa’s cultural restaurants.

Later tonight you will be transferred to the Bole International Airport at the required time, for your international departure flight out of Ethiopia.