Wildlife and Indigenous Cultures of Ethiopia

Arrive in Addis Ababa. Meet and greet by an airport representative. Our private guide and driver will take us to the Golden Tulip hotel for check in. A city tour after settling in the hotel that includes: A visit to National Museum, Ethnographic Museum, Cathedral Churches, Merkato. Unity park and Evening Jazz at Fendeka. (All based on guests Addis arrival time)

Early flight to Lalibela. It is a 40-minute drive from the Lalibela Airport to Mezena Lodge. The lodge is situated in a remarkable forested area compounded with luxuriant trees and savannah grasses, on this day we will be visiting the first and the second cluster of Rock churches.

After breakfast, we explore the third cluster in Lalibela and drive out to the cave church (Yemrehana Cristos). It is an hour drive out of town to access the cave church and takes a further 20 minutes to walk up to church. It is the most ornately decorated church in Lalibela and well worth the journey.

Early flight to Gondar, on arrival, we will be transferred to the city (20 min transfer). Sightseeing in Gondar. Lunch is at Four Sister’s hotel and then we continue the journey to the Simien Mountains National Park. This takes a further two hours as we climb to higher altitudes and the distant escarpment. We will arrive at the lodge in the late afternoon.

Breakfast and Drive into the Park, here we spend time with Geladas (early morning is best as they warm up on the cliff edges) and Ibex (quite a long drive to get to the Ibex, but well worth it for photographic opportunities). Today will be a full day exploring the Park with a packed lunch from the lodge. On return to Simien Lodge we indulge in evening drinks with amazing views. The temperatures in the Park and especially at the lodge, in the evenings and early mornings will be cool at this altitude, so a warm fleece is recommended.

We will leave SMNP at 06.00 to drive back to Gondar. Here we catch a commercial flight to Addis and connect to you another regional flight to Jinka. Arrival in Jinka t lunchtime where we’ll be met by our driver and guide. We drive to Lale’s camp for approximately 4hrs. Lale’s camp is a beautiful, tented camp with en-suite tents, situated on the banks of the Omo River under a grove of Mahogany and Fig trees. The afternoon will be spent with the Kara tribe during a body painting ceremony. Body painting is typical of a social occasion for the Kara people.

Today we enjoy a morning walk in the village of Dus. After breakfast at Lale’s, the camp boat will transfer is upriver to Mago National Park and to join the Mursi villagers for a nights camping.

The boat ride will take approximately 3 hours to one of the more remote places in Ethiopia. The Mursi villagers walk down to the river from their villages in the distant hills, here on the river’s edge they will trade for coffee and millet. The Mursi are renowned for their body scarification and lip plates. An evening spent with them in the remote African bush is something to be treasured.

Travelling about half an hour upstream from our overnight camp, we find some grassy plains to do a morning wildlife walk in the Mago National Park, with the possibility of seeing some wildlife. Afterwards we return to Lale’s Camp for lunch. Early afternoon drive takes us to the nearby Hamar villages, here we spend the early afternoon with the Hamar and witness how their pastoralist lifestyles differ from the Kara and the Mursi tribes. After this interaction we will drive back to Lale’s Camp to freshen up for the evening activity: we will be invited to watch the Kara dance in the village of Dus.

Breakfast and early morning Game driving and searching for wildlife in the Omo National park before driving back to Lale’s Camp for lunch. An afternoon boat cruise and stop on the West bank to visit a Nyangatom village. Another night at Lale’s camp and evening spent at the camp around the campfire and drinks.

We leave camp after an early breakfast. Drive back to Jinka airport to catch our flight back to Addis.