ETHIOPIA HISTORIC ROUTE 10days/9 Nights
08OCT18 – 17OCT18
Itinerary
DAY 1: Arrival
Up on arrival in Addis Ababa, meet by Village Ethiopia’s Representative and then, gets transferred in to your hotel.
Overnight: Sheraton Addis Hotel www.sheratonsddishotel.com
DAY 2: City tour of Addis Ababa
After taking breakfast, you will be taken on a full day city tour of Addis Ababa; your visit will includes Entoto Mountain, the site from which Menelik the founder of Addis Ababa descended down to the plains. Two churches built by Menelik are found there. Menelik is crowned in one of them. Nearby, Menelik’s old palace is still intact and open to visitors. This is a small museum featuring royal attire, war items, furniture, books etc. From Entoto Mountains there is a wonderful panoramic view of the city.
Included in your tour is the National museum, which ranks among the most important museums in sub- Sahara Africa. Here the recently discovered skeleton of Selam is on exhibit. Selam was found in December 2000 at Dikika, Afar, in the northern part of Ethiopia. Just like Lucy, Selam is an Australopithecus- aphaeresis. However, there is a major difference between the two since Selam lived over 150,000 years before Lucy!
Then you will have a lunch at Makush Art gallery & restaurant which has an excellent, carefully selected collection of high-quality furniture and paintings created by around 70 emerging and well-known Ethiopian artists.
Finally you will visit Merkato which is the largest open market in East Africa. There you will find items ranging from spices to jewelry, artifacts, etc. There is nothing you cannot find in our vibrant market.
Overnight: Sheraton Addis Hotel www.sheratonsddishotel.com
DAY 3: Fly to Bahir Dar
Today after breakfast transfer to the airport for your flight to Bahir Dar up on arrival meet with our representative and transfer to your hotel, after taking a rest start to explore Bahir Dar, is situated on the shores of Lake Tana. 68 km wide and 73 km long, it was formed at least 20 million years ago, by an ancient lava extrusion that effectively functions as natural dam.
Tana is Ethiopia’s largest lake and is dotted with not less than 30 islands, on many of, which are found churches and monasteries. Today enjoy a boat trip over Lake Tana, is most famous as the home of the monasteries established on some 20 of its 37 islands. Travel by boat to Zeghe Peninsula where you will visit the two churches of Ura Kidane Mihret and Azuwa Mariam which were built in late 13th and 14th century respectively. Ura Kidane Mihret is the most impressive monasteries in Tana; the walls are covered in incredible 16th century murals & Azuwa Mariam, which lies closer to Ura Kidane Mihret, and also boasts several worthwhile old paintings. And visit Narga Selassie and Daga Stifanos (only accessible for men). Daga Stifanos is the most sacred of the monasteries. It holds the tombs of some emperors, as well as 16th century paintings.
Overnight: Kuriftu Resort & Spa www.kuriffturesortspa.com
DAY 4: Bahir Dar
Today After breakfast drive to the Blue Nile fall some 30km from the town followed by a 20 minute walk brings you to the fall, which are at their most spectacular during and after the rainy season (from about June to January).
In the afternoon you will have the city tour of Bahir Dar. The city tour includes visiting the local market and the former palace of Emperor Haile Selassie at Bezawit Hill, with great views of the town and the place where the Blue Nile flows out of the lake.
Overnight: Kuriftu Resort & Spa www.kuriffturesortspa.com
DAY 5: Drive to Gondar, en route visit Awra-Amba community 180km/3hr
After having breakfast drive to Gondar, It is a distant of 138km. en route visit the Awra-Amba community .it was founded in 1985, by a group of 20 people; to demonstrate its members and other Ethiopian’s that the best escaping route from poverty and hunger is not only Religion or prayer, looking for one’s donation, or to complain about the weather and other factors but also Education and planning has a great role along with hard working habit. In addition to this; in Awra-Amba there is no division of labor among its dwellers. Here unlike most Ethiopian country side inhabitants; both sexes share the responsibilities and duties of making a living, raising a child and others.
Then drive to Gondar and Check in to the hotel then you will start to explore the town Emperor Fasilidas founded Gondar as his imperial seat in 1636 and the city was both the capital and a great commercial center from 17th to the mid-19th century. Visit the Royal Enclosure or Fasil Gibbi within the compound and also the castles built by the various emperors of Gondar.
A 2 km drive from the town center you will bring you to the bath of King Fasilides, where, during at Timkat (Ethiopian Epiphany) a nearby river is diverted to fill an area the size of a small swimming pool. Worshippers plunge into the cold water in a re-enactment of the baptism of Christ in the River Jordan.
Overnight: Goha Hotel www.gohahotel.com
DAY 6: Fly to Lalibella
At the end of the 12th and beginning of the 13th centuries King Lalibela of the Zaghwe dynasty built a series of rock hewn churches – the New Jerusalem as he called it – now rightly acknowledged to be one of UNESCO world heritage site.
After checking into your hotel start your tour of the first group of churches .The first group of six churches lie in rock cradles one behind the other: Bet Golgotha, Bet Mikael, Bet one is built like a Greek Temble. In a corner are three empty graves symbolically dug for biblical patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Mariam, Bet Meskel, Bet Danaghel and Bet Medhane Alem. Bet Medhane Alem, the largest tunnel. The group of four, south of the Jordan River, comprise of Bet Emanuel, Bet Mercuiros, Bet Abba Libanos and Bet Gabriel-Rufa’el.
Bet Emanuel’s elaborate exterior is much praised by art historians.
Bet Giyorgis possibly the most elegant 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 throw a rock.
Overnight: Mezena Lodge www.mezenalodge.com
DAY 7: Excursion to Yemrehane Christos
Morning breakfast by road to the cave church of Yemerehane Christos, built by the king of the same name before the reign of King Lalibela. The church is constructed inside a cave, with alternating levels of wood and stone. A 40-km trip from Lalibela followed by a 20-minute hike brings you to this beautiful church, the finest example of its kind in Ethiopia.
Overnight: Mezena Lodge www.mezenalodge.com
DAY 8: Fly to Axum
Today after breakfast transfer to the airport for your flight to Axum, From around 200 BC to 700 AD, Axum was the seat of an Empire which extended across the Red Sea to Arabia, traded with India and China, had its own alphabet and notational system, constructed great engineering works and dams and which was reckoned in the 4th century to be one of the four great powers of the ancient world. Today the visitor can see Stella (the largest single pieces of stone erected anywhere – how they were brought from the quarry and erected is still not fully understood), the tombs and castles of kings, Axum Museum and Mariam Tsion Church, built on the site of Ethiopia’s first church. A chapel within the church compound is believed by Ethiopian Orthodox Christians to house the Ark of the Covenant, or the original tablet of Moses.
Overnight: Sabean Hotel www.sabeanhotel.com
DAY 9: Fly back to Addis Ababa
Today you will fly back to Addis Ababa and transfer to your hotel. In the evening you will have a farewell dinner in one of the traditional Restaurant in Addis with traditional Ethiopian’s food, local beer and cultural dances together with us.
Overnight: Sheraton Addis Hotel www.sheratonsddishotel.com
DAY 10: Departure
Transfer out for your final departure.
END OF THE SERVICES
TOUR RATES
Tour cost ( Per person in US Dollars- Twin sharing):
Based on 10 people = US$ 3,690.00 p.p.
Based on 12 people = US$ 3,560.00 p.p.
Based on 15 people =US$ 3,430.00 p.p.
Single room supplement US$1130.00
Price includes:
• Airport meeting and greeting
• Accommodation at the hotel specified on Twin room full board basis
• Farewell dinner
• All tour and transfer including transfer in and out
• City tour of Addis Ababa , Bahirdar, Gondar, Lalibela & Axum Local guide service for the whole tour
• All entrance fees.
• One tour leader fees.
• Boat Trip over Lake Tana Blue Nile Falls
• Visit of Awra Amba Village
• Excursion to Yemerehane Christos
• Professional English speaking escort guide
• Transportation from Bahir dar to Gonder by our representative
• VAT and local taxes.
Price excludes:
• All personal charges like telephone bill, room service, alcoholic beverages, laundry Service …
• Domestic air ticket
• currently US$600.00 per person if arriving on an international flight Ethiopia on another airline
• If you use Ethiopian Airlines for your international flight, a discounted domestic air fare – US$300.00 per person