Presentation
Stages: ADDIS ABABA – ARBA MINCH – YIRGALEM – GOBA – BAHAR DAR – GONDAR – LALIBELA – ADDIS ABABA
Description: Nature and Culture Tour for a duration of 15 days / 14 nights from €2135.
Day 1: PARIS / ADDIS ABABAFlight from Paris to Addis Ababa on Ethiopian Airlines. Night on board.
Day 2: ADDIS ABABA / ARBA MINCH
Morning arrival in Addis Ababa, transfer and breakfast in town.
Crossing the historic districts of the capital, climb Mount Entoto, from where you overlook the entire city at an altitude of 3,200 m. It is from there, it is said, that Emperor Menelik decided to create Addis Ababa “the New Flower” in Amharic.
Visit the Archaeological Museum, a sumptuous panorama of the history of Ethiopia, from the first works of Aksumite art to the reign of Menelik. Here is also the skeleton of the famous Lucy. Then, transfer to the airport and flight to Arba Minch.
Road to the town of Arba Minch, this very pleasant town is built on the side of a hill, it offers an extraordinary panoramic view of 2 lakes of the Rift Valley, Lakes Abaya and Chamo.
Check into the hotel from where you have an exceptional view of the lakes.
Dinner and night at the Paradise Lodge 4* hotel
Day 3: ARBA MINCH / KONSO / ARBA MINCH
Road to Konso country. In a relatively arid environment, the Konsos have developed terraced agriculture which has led UNESCO to classify the landscapes shaped by the Konsos as a World Heritage Site. The Konsos live in fortified villages which attest to their traditional conflictual relationships with their Borana neighbors. We will visit one of these villages. Konso society is very structured, made up of 9 clans and lineages and obeying a complex generational class system. Despite the massive conversion to Protestantism, the Konso people are still attached to the traditional cult of the unique god Waqq and to the funerary cult materialized by the “Waqa” steles of carved wood.
visit the interesting Museum, created in partnership with the Musée des Arts Premiers du Quai Branly.
Return to Arba Minch, en route stop on the shores of Lake Chamo and boat trip on the lake to discover the thousands of birds that populate it, crocodiles and hippos.
Dinner and night at the Paradise Lodge 4* hotel
Day 4: ARBA MINCH / CHENCHA / YIRGALEM
Road to Chencha (market day on Saturday), and the village of Dorzé, perched on the shoulder of the valley at almost 3000 m above sea level. The Dorzés speak an Omotic language, a group of languages common much further south.
Visit the village made up of curious traditional huts, up to 12 meters high. The Dorzé ethnic group is also a people of weavers. You will see from spinning to weaving all the stages of manufacturing colorful fabrics. You will also see the production of “kotcho” made from the pulp of the false banana tree, “enset” which is the staple food of all southern Ethiopia.
Crossing from west to east across the entire Rift Valley towards Shashemane.
Passage through Shashemene, where the Jamaican “Rasta” community settled in the 1960s, on land donated by Emperor Haile Selassie.
Road towards the south and the Sidamo country, on the eastern shoulder of the great Rift Valley, with tropical vegetation, where pineapples, mangoes, papayas and especially coffee are grown. Visit to a Sidama village.
Stop at the superb Aregash Ecolodge built in the middle of a tropical garden.
Dinner and night at the Aregash Lodge 3* hotel
Day 5: YIRGALEM / GOBA
Road to the Balé Mountains and the park. The Balé massif is the largest Afro-alpine area in all of Africa, is home to the second peak of Ethiopia, Tulu Dimtu at an altitude of 4,370 m, one of the largest primary forests in Ethiopia and numerous endemic plant and animal species. It is also the refuge of rare species, such as the famous Abyssinian wolf, Ménélik’s Bushbuck, Niyala, colobus monkeys, servals etc… Passage through the spectacular “Dragons Pass” before reaching Dinsho, a small village at the gates from the park, first walk along the Gaysay river or in the park. Then road to Goba.
Dinner and night at the Wabe Shebele 3* hotel
Day 6: GOBA / BASEL MOUNTAINS / GOBA
Leaving Goba, the road rises towards the Sanneti plateau and its giant lobelia, at more than 4,000 m, crosses a forest of junipers and cedars, skirts the foothills of Mount Tulu Dentu, before opening onto the superb landscapes of the south of the massif and the Harenna forest. Many stops…and good chances of seeing the famous Abyssinian wolf…
Return to Goba.
Dinner and night at the Wabe Shebele 3* hotel
Day 7: GOBA / LANGANO
Road to the shores of Lake Langano where we will stop in the morning. At an altitude of 1600 m, in the heart of the Rift Valley, bordered by the Arsi Mountains, Lake Langano is a popular vacation spot where it is possible to swim. Its copper-colored fresh water, its sandy beaches and small isolated coves, its bird colonies, its banks lined with forests make it a pleasant stopover. Bishangari Lodge on the eastern shore of the lake, the wildest with its preserved primary forests, offers horseback riding or cycling.
In the evening, visit the Abyata – Shalla park where you can see ostriches, antelopes, and a colony of pink flamingos.
Dinner and night at the Sabana Lodge 4* hotel
Day 8: LANGANO / ZIWAY / ADDIS / BAHAR DAR
Road to Lake Ziway, where you can see many pelicans and marabouts and visit the wine estate planted by the French company Castel and tasting…
Passage through Tiya, listed as a UNESCO world heritage site. Around forty steles, erected in the 13th or 14th century AD, bear engraved swords and mysterious symbols, probably funerary monuments in homage to warriors. Others wear feminine symbols
Continue to Addis.
Transfer to the airport and flight to Bahar Dar late in the afternoon.
Transfer and installation at the hotel.
Dinner and night at the Abay Minch 4* hotel
Day 9: BAHAR DAR
Near Bahar Dar, road (30 km) for the impressive Abay or Blue Nile Falls called “Tis Issat”, “the water that smokes”, walk (45 minutes) passing by the stone bridge of 16th century and return by boat crossing the Blue Nile.
Return to town for a fish lunch at the “Desset” restaurant on the banks of the lake.
Private boat trip on Lake Tana (1,860 m), Blue Nile reservoir. With an area of 3,600 km2, it has around forty islets where a dozen churches and monasteries are hidden. Visit the lush Zeghé peninsula, where coffee is grown in the shade of trees and where there are two churches from the Gondorian era; Uhra Kidane Mehret, round church which presents a very beautiful painted decoration from the 18th century, as well as a treasure of royal crowns and Betra Maryam. Return by boat to Bahar Dar.
Dinner and night at the Abay Minch 4* hotel
Day 10: BAHAR DAR / GONDAR
Road to the north shore of the lake and detour to Guzara Castle built in the 16th century on a hill overlooking Lake Tana and perhaps used as a model for the castles of Gondar. Then, drive to Gondar. Gondar (2,200 m) was founded by the great king Fasiladas (1632/1667) who made it the first imperial capital of Ethiopia.
In the afternoon, visit the imperial enclosure where the royal castles (fasil Gebbi) are grouped together, which stand out with their strange European-looking silhouettes in the middle of the city. A dozen buildings, castles, library, menagerie, reception room, were erected between the 17th and 18th centuries.
Visits to the Fasiladas baths, a vast pool, surrounded by sycamore trees and dominated by an elegant pavilion, a place of relaxation for the kings of Gondar.
Finally, visit the church of Debra Berhan Selassie from the 18th century. where there is a very complete pictorial cycle of Ethiopian iconography and an extraordinary ceiling populated with cherubs.
Dinner and night at the Goha 3* hotel
Day 11: GONDAR / SIMIEN PARK / KOSSOYE Good road and track, through one of the most spectacular regions of Ethiopia, towards the Simien mountain range “the roof of Ethiopia”. 3-hour walk without any particular difficulty in the park to discover the breathtaking landscapes of Simien and the astonishing gelada monkeys. Picnic lunch in the park.
Then, return to Gondar (30 km from the city) and stop at the Kosoye eco-lodge, made up of “tukul” (traditionally shaped huts) surrounded by nature. Spectacular view of the Simien, short walk around the lodge. Coffee ceremony, a purely Ethiopian tradition. The coffee is roasted in front of you, pounded and prepared in long-necked potteries, amidst the smoke of incense…Dinner and night at the Kosoye Lodge 3* hotel.
Day 12: KOSSOYE / LALIBELA
Beautiful day drive through the majestic mountainous landscapes of Lasta and traditional Amhara villages.
Dinner and night at the Panoramic 4* or Tukul Village 3* or Top Twelve 3* hotel
Day 13: LALIBELThe ancient capital of King Lalibela is a major UNESCO World Heritage site and a holy city for Orthodox Christians in Ethiopia.
King Lalibela, at the beginning of the 13th century, ordered the construction of churches, carved from the mass of tuff. These churches, some of which are entirely monolithic, were built from the roof down, unlike classical constructions. The builders of these exceptional buildings, all different from each other, introduced architectural elements from Eastern churches and perpetrated those of Aksumite architecture.
The spiritual capital of King Lalibela who became a saint shortly after his death (1225) was transformed into “New Jerusalem”, and a popular place of pilgrimage to this day.
Visit the churches of Lalibela divided into two groups separated by a deep ditch symbolizing the Jordan. The first, the royal district, accessible by a maze of corridors cut into the rock, has 6 churches: Medhane Alem, or Church of the Savior surrounded by a portico is the most imposing, Beta Maryam where paintings and bas-reliefs remain, Beta Masqal or the Church of the Cross, which was undoubtedly a martyrium before being a church, the funerary churches of Beta Danagel, Beta Golgota, Beta Debra Sina and a chapel dedicated to the Trinity.
Lunch at the restaurant.
Visit of the second group, the ecclesiastical district, made up of 4 churches (Beta Emmanuel, Beta Merkurios, Beta Guebrel Rufael and Abba Libanos) built around an underground rotunda, resembles a stronghold. Away from the village, the famous church of Beta Giorgis is a cruciform monolith carved into the bottom of a deep ditch. Dinner and night at the Panoramic 4* or Tukul Village 3* or Top Twelve 3* hotel.
Day 14: LALIBELA / ADDIS / PARIS
Transfer to the airport and flight Lalibela / Addis in the morning.
Stroll through the Mercato, the largest market in the capital and in the Piazza district for the latest purchases.
Traditional dinner show and transfer to the airport and Ethiopian Airlines night flight to Paris.
Day 15: ARRIVAL IN PARIS
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