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Email Janos | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Fantastic place
I have travelled a lot, seen many countries, so it is not easy to surprize me. well, Ethiopia did it in the positive sense of the word. Knowledgeable, well edicated guide, fantastic scenery, huge variety of ethnics. Food was good, not outstanding, except their local one, the injera, that's tasty and interesting. From wildlife point of view you do not have the big fives, not big cats, but you have many indigenous species, ethiopian wolf, mountain nyala, gian ratmole, rock hyrax and it is a paradise for birdwatching. Accomodations are ok, you should not expect more in a country just opening for tourism. Often issues with electricity and internet, still fine accomodations.
CA
Email .sl. | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
You go to Ethiopia for people and culture. And what there's to see it's just amazing !
The quality of the guides in Ethiopia is really good. I did two tours with Magma Tours at Mekele at the Danakil Depression and Tigray mountains and they guides were really good. The same in Harar. The scenery at Danakil Depression is unique. There's landscapes you see in very rare places : salt desert, volcanoes, fumeroles, ...but you also go to Ethiopia for the people and the culture : the churches of Labibela craft in stone, the ones in Tigray at the top of mountains, the culture of Harar, the folk and jazz music, ....
DE
Email Gerrud | 65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Ethiopia is awesome and allurung. The contry offers a varity on scenery and remarkable churches.
Our guides showed us their country from its best. I really enjoyed my trip to Ethiopia. The people were very frindly and did their best to show us the highlights of their contry. The trip was well organized and the guides gave us ample time to photograph the world famous churches of Lalibela and others and scenery. Some accomodations were better than other ,but that is normal on circle tours. Weather can not be influenced, but all in all the weather was not a disturbing factor.
ES
Email Jorge | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Unique safari in an unique country
Safaris in Ethiopia are different to what to might expect: that is why you will probably end positively surprised. Parks are wilder, less crowded, more genuine. Landscapes in Ethiopia are superb, difficult to fully capture by even the best of cameras. If you add this to an exciting congregation of animals which make you feel they are freer -and happier- than other safaris you've been to, you get an authentic safari. Perhaps not as confortable, or even as safe, as others. But you will never forget this one.
Email robelmazd3 | under20 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Not really a safari destination
There are a lot of cool endemic animals and the scenery is just mind blowing.the weather is great all year round but the accommodation is not good even for an African country.the food is not a typical African food it's truly different and a vegans heaven.transportation and tour guide is ok.and Ethiopia has its own unique calendar with 13 month and clock system were the daytime cycle begins at dawn 12:00 (6:00:00 AM EAT)
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Email Phil Roberts | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
A country with incredible unique wildlife and birdlife that as a avid birder was simply amazing
We arranged a private tour which used a Toyota Land Cruiser 4WD and our driver guide was excellent providing great insights into the local countryside, people and culture. The duration of the tour was 8 days which meant we were unable to visit some places such as the Simien Mountains. The 4WD helped access areas that mini-buses etc were unable to access. Local specialist guides were engaged in the specific areas we visited, who added a lot of value in finding and seeing the unique wildlife and bird life. The highlights were the endemic wildlife such as Ethiopian Wolf, Mountain Nyala and Menelik's Bushbuck and the endemic bird species such as Abyssinian Longclaw, White-collared Pigeon, Ethiopian Siskin, Wattled Ibis and Abyssinian Oriole. We also saw many bird species while driving between locations including Black-crowned Crane, Thick-billed Raven and three species of critically endangered vulture, in the same flock, feeding on a carcass: White Headed, Hooded and Ruppell's. Other wildlife highlights included Beisa Oryx, Salt's Dik Dik and Golden Jackal in Awash Falls National Park.
In general the accommodations were good and the food provided by them was also good and very plentiful. The staff in all locations were very friendly and could not have been more helpful. The costs of extras, where applicable, such as alcoholic drinks was also reasonable. Due to arriving in Addis Ababa in the early hours of the morning we stayed the first night there. The hotel was from an international chain, and the good thing we found was that all the hotels run a 24 hour shuttle service to and from the hotel. A couple of things we learned were to take care in checking accommodation prior to departure as some of the local hotels have problems with water etc. Also we found internet coverage was hit and miss. More importantly we found it was important to check and double check regarding allergies as one hotel in particular did not have a good process in place to address this issue.
Overall we thoroughly enjoyed our visit and would recommend Ethiopia as both a unique and fascinating destination with charming people. We hope to return to visit the places we missed on our first visit.
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Email Shrinidhi | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Lalibela, Aksum, Harar - must see architectural and religious centers in Ethiopia
My trip was mostly to see religious and cultural places in Ethiopia. Lalibela Aksum & Harar are most recommended places to see the ancient architecture and kingdoms of Ethiopia. Range of professionally managed accommodations are available at all destinations. The locals are the best mannered and most places are safe to travel alone. Ethiopia is a unique place in Africa, so take the plunge...
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Email Shrinidhi | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Lalibela, Aksum, Harar - must see architectural and religious centers in Ethiopia
My trip was mostly to see religious and cultural places in Ethiopia. Lalibela Aksum & Harar are most recommended places to see the ancient architecture and kingdoms of Ethiopia. Range of professionally managed accommodations are available at all destinations. The locals are the best mannered and most places are safe to travel alone. Ethiopia is a unique place in Africa, so take the plunge...
Email Ninga´s | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Amazing place but....
First of all, we didn’t do any safari. My partner and I have been travelling the last 7 months and we spent 6 weeks in the country.
Ethiopia is full of amazing places, very unique landscapes and lovely people that in some places made your stay a wonderful experience. The highlights for us were the Simien Mountains where we did a eight days trek and we had the chance to see Gelada monkeys a couple of Waila Ibexes and many birds and the landscape was just beautiful. The Danakil Depression, the lowest place on earth (100mt below sea level), although it requires lots of driving at the end it worth all the journey because it is such a unique environment with lots of things to do from the right moment you arrive in the desert until you climb the top of a volcano, the heat sometimes can be challenging. After that we went to the Tigray area where you can hike and climb some of the amazing rock hills to visit a medioeval church, again a very unique experience. And the Abuna Josef mountain was the last trek in the country where we were lucky to see three Ethiopian wolfs many monkeys and an amazing view of the mountains around also we had the chance to spend a couple of days with a local family.
At the end we did lot more and we visited many places but these were our favourites, it is a big country with too many people, interestingly diverse from north to south and with plenty of activities that can make the experience unforgettable but for us that we were backpacking sometimes moving from one place to another was difficult and challenging because the lack of official and reliable information especially for prices.
It is an amazing place that can be enjoyed easily with an organised tour operator but at higher cost but for backpacking style it can be a very challenging and expensive experience but it worth it.
Thanks
CA
Email Stephane | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
The scenery in Ethiopia is just amazing !
The quality of guides in Ethiopia is amazing. I had very good experiences with most of my tours. The scenery of the north is just amazing : Tigray region, Danakil Depression. At Danakil, you will see landscapes you only on rare locations : salt desert, volcanoes, fumaroles,...You also go to Ethiopia for the people and the culture : the churches of Tigray on the high plateaux, the ones at Lalibela carved in rock, the people of Harar, the folk music and the jazz...
