Day 1 – Arrival in Addis Ababa - Capital of Ethiopia
Welcome to Ethiopia! You’ll be stepping off the plane into Africa’s fourth largest city and diplomatic capital, Addis Ababa. Your Yared Tour & Travel guide will be there to meet you at Bole International Airport and drive you to your hotel.
The direct translation of Addis Ababa is ‘new’ ‘flower’ and you are likely to find this rapidly growing city a fascinating place full of contrasts between traditional and modern Ethiopia, making it a great starting point for your tour.
Day 2 - City tour Addis Abeba
Today begins with a drive to Entoto Mountain where we visit the historical site of Emperor Menelik’s Palace and Maryam church, the oldest in Addis Ababa. From here we drive through Shiro Meda which hosts the city’s largest market for traditional clothing, continuing to the campus of Addis Ababa University, home to one of Africa’s best Ethnological museums and the former palace of Emperor Haile Selassie. You visit the Ethnological or Ethiopia's National Museum with ‘Lucy’, the world-famous fossilized hominid. The museum also showcases ancient artefacts from Axum and Gondar, and an exhibition of Ethiopian art. Then visit the Holy Trinity Cathedral (built in 1933), the largest Orthodox church in Ethiopia and the final resting place of Haile Selassie. To conclude, you will visit the busy life of traders in Mercato - Africa’s biggest outdoor market.
Day 3 – Via Tiya & the Rift Valley to Arba Minch
Today you’re heading to the south! It’s a 6-7 hour drive to Arba Minch and we’ll be stopping off along the way to visit Tiya – one of Ethiopia’s most important, and least understood World Heritage stelae fields containing 41 obelisks engraved with interesting symbols thought to be around 600 years old. We arrive in Arba Minch region, meaning ‘forty’ ‘springs’, in the afternoon. The southern city, situated in the Gamo Gofa region is rich in natural resources including two Rift Valley lakes – Chamo and Abaya – home to large populations of hippos and crocodiles, innumerable little springs, Nech Sar (‘white’ ‘grass’) National Park and huge irrigated fruit farms which provide an important source of fruit farms.
Day 4 – Nech Sar & Dorze tribe
During today’s action-packed excursion, we visit the nearby scenic Nech Sar National Park. From the park’s edge, we take a motorboat on the lake to see hundreds of huge Nile crocodiles bathing in the sun and hippos bobbing in and out of the water. There are also many pelicans and other birds around the lake.
In the afternoon, we drive into the Gamo highlands outside of Arba Minch, to visit an extraordinary mountain community called Dorze. The traditional way of life of the Dorze people is fascinating. The friendly local community invite you into their beautiful villages to view their huts artfully woven from bamboo and thatched with leaves, which look like huge beehives or upturned baskets, followed by visits to the weaving, pottery and tanning cooperatives. You will also enjoy the breath-taking views of the lakes in the valley.
Day 5 - Jinka via Key Afar market
Our next stop is Jinka, a fast-developing market town set in a cradle of green hills above Mago National Park which gives the area a cooler climate compared to the rest of the Lower Omo Valley. We pass through Key Afar, the main town of the Banna tribe. We’ll catch one of the biggest traditional tribal markets which takes place on Thursdays. Groups of Ari, Benna, Tsemay and Hamar people are the main attendees, walking long distances to buy and sell local commodities at the Key Afar market, like tabacco (‘tampo’), coffee husks (‘bunno’) and sorghum (‘asine’). At the catle market men trade cows and goats. As the day progresses, you will also see the popular drink ‘parsee’ – a beloved traditional beer made from fermented sorghum being passed around groups of people in large calabash gourds.
Day 6 - To Turmi - Hamar Region
Today you will travel from Jinka to Turmi. You’ll witness the landscape dramatically change to wild, dry, acacia tree savannah and feel the warmth and humidity rise. You’ll also notice colourful wraps change to animal skins, shoes to rubber sandals, and the diverse fashions of passers-by wearing brightly coloured adornments and fantastic hairstyles. Turmi village lies in the heart of the Hamar tribe region. From here you will explore different tribes in the Lower Omo Valley.
You can best visit the Hamar tribe in the evening, after the work has been done. Therefore, we will take you here just before sunset. You will spend time in the Hamar community with a trained guide and a local family, enjoying the traditional food, drink, delving deeper into rural tribal culture.
Day 6 (more) - Hamar Tribe
Ancient traditions still form the backbone of daily life in Hamar. Most live in rural settlements and practise traditional livelihoods through subsistence agro-pastoralism. Daily life revolves around taking care of livestock, domestic duties and farming of maize and sorghum. Hamar men are semi-nomadic and travel with large herds of goats and cattle between grazing areas, whereas Hamar women take care of the children, cooking, water and firewood collection. Ceremonies and rituals are an integral part of traditional Hamar life. The most well-known is a rite of passage for men into adulthood and marriage called ‘ukili bula’ or bull-jump. During the ceremony, a young Hamar man leaps naked over several of his family’s bulls. It’s a highlight to witness if there’s one taking place whilst you’re here.
Day 7 - Meet the Dassenech or...
To the south on the borders of Kenya lives a distinct tribe known as the Dassanech. The Dassanech people still live, predominantly, a traditional way of life revolving around cultural responsibilities, rituals, subsistence farming and livestock. They are living next to the mighty Omo River between Omorate and Lake Turkana. Therefore, the Dassanech people have adopted fishing, first with spears but today with nets, and fish is an important part of their diet and livelihood. The drive from Turmi to Dassanech, takes less than 2 hours and the elevation drops a further 500m so temperatures can easily climb above 40 degrees, making Omorate the hottest town in the Lower Omo Valley. You will visit a traditional Dassanech village, crossing the Omo river by boat and observe how the Dassanech people have adapted to survive the heat.
Day 7 – ...or meet the Karo tribe
The Kara tribe are one of the smallest ethnic groups in the Omo Valley, linguistically and culturally, they share characteristics with Hamar but they also have their own unique traditions. The Kara can be reached on a narrow dirt road which takes 2 hours to reach northwest from Turmi. You can visit them in the morning or stay overnight camping.
The group are well-known for their beautiful body painting skills. They use a white-coloured clay to decorate patterns over their bodies for rituals and ceremonies. The Kara live on the banks of the Omo river further upstream than the Dassenech, they also fish and irrigate crops during the annual flood.
Day 8 - Drive to Unesco Konso
Visiting the Omo Valley, you always pass Konso twice. This is the first place in Ethiopia recognised as a ‘cultural landscape’ by UNESCO. The Konso are a resourceful, efficient, charming, careful, and hard-working people. They have always fiercely defended their territory. This is evident in the fact that each village is walled. They are famous for their wooden anthropomorph statuettes, erected in honor of important - deceased - people. In the Konso language these statuettes are called Waga. You’ll have a chance to walk around the fortress like villages (‘kantas’) with their uniquely designed stone-walled walkways, thatched huts and terraced farms. Konso is also known for its natural phenomenon "New York" - interesting pinnacles of red earth, reminiscent of city skyscrapers with a legendary tale.
Day 9 - Drive to Yabelo
You leave the Omo Valley via Konso and Yabelo. It is a beautiful drive to Yabelo. Here live a number of tribes that differ from the others, such as the Aribore tribe. You will also become acquainted with the Borana tribe who travel with their cattle in search of water and green pastures. The members of this tribe sing in the wells when they fetch water for their livestock. You will visit the “singing well” here and see their way of salt extraction. Overnight in Konso and Yabelo.
Day 10 - Rift Valley & Yirgalem Coffee
Through the Rift Valley you drive to Hawassa via Yirgalem in the Sidama region, one of the important coffee regions in Ethiopia. During your drive up to Yirgalem you will notice the first few coffee plantations. When you arrive in Yirgalem you will visit one of those fairtrade coffee plantations, so that you can experience first-hand how the Yirgechefe and the Sidama coffee is being made. Furthermore, Ethiopia is well-known about its high quality arabica coffee beans. Here you can see how coffee is being made in a fair way.
Day 11 - Visit Hawassa
Hawassa, a friendly and lively city on the shores of Lake Hawassa. Hawassa is a large university city with plenty of hotels, restaurants and cosy cafes to enjoy. s. From Hawassa is a wonderful place to stop for relaxation in southern Ethiopia with lots of nearby daytrips to forests, lakes and coffee farms. It is interesting for nature and wildlife lovers; you can take a boat trip tospot hippos and many bird species on the lake andvisit a local fish market and sample the fresh catch of the day. Visit the Abijatta-shalla National Park or Senkele Wildelife Sanctuary and enjoy the astonishing nature around Awassa!
Day 12 - Drive to Bale Mountains
Travelling onwards through more remote countryside, we enter Oromo’s unique Bale Mountains. The rugged mountain range offers unparalleled trekking opportunities, by foot or horseback amid endemic wildlife species including Ethiopian wolves with the chance to exchange with local villagers living there along the way. The park’s fairy-tale scenery is stunning and divided into three very different ecologies – grasslands, afro-alpine and tropical forest. We can organise day hikes and multiple day trekking’s in tents to explore the different parts of Bale mountains.
Day 13 & 14 - Visit the Bale Mountains National Park
These two days, we can arrange a day trek which covers the main park landscapes with great wildlife spotting. We walk to Sof Omar which is the longest cave in Ethiopia (15.1 km). The cave was named after an Islamic saint who lived in the area and is sacred to both Muslims and local Oromo people. If you’d prefer not to walk, we will drive on the highest all-weather road in Africa. The route takes us through the park and up over the Sanetti Plateau where you see abundant wildlife, including the Ethiopian wolf - almost guaranteed if we set-off early enough. In total seventy-eight different mammal species inhabit Bale Mountains National Park including bushbacks, mountain nyala, reedbucks, duikers, hyenas, warthogs and giant molerats.
Day 15 - Relax in Addis Abeba & back home
Today we head back to Addis Ababa by plane. You could shop or make a single final visit in the capital in the afternoon. Or you take a rest in your dayroom in Addis Ababa. On the final day you will enjoy a farewell meal and celebration in one of the city’s cultural restaurants. Enjoy the authentic Ethiopian cuisine for the last time, whilst enjoying traditional dance and music.