9 Days Danakil, Omo Valley & Lalibela Tours

Day 01 Arrival and Addis Ababa City Tour

you will meet our staff upon arrival international flight and  you will begin sightseeing of Addis with our first stop to Entoto Maryam Church; it’s one of the oldest Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Churches on the Entoto Hills. It was built in 1877 by Emperor Menelik II characterized by octagonal domes. Several royal artifacts of the emperor and empress also found in this church  including some traditional costumes of the crowns, their royal bed, jewels owned by the royal family, and a mirror presented by Queen Victoria to Empress Taytu. Our second stop Entoto Hills for a panoramic view of Addis with an altitude of 2900 MASL. Our third stop drive to Ethnological Museum houses anthropological, musicological and cultural objects. The Ethnological Museum is the first university museum in Ethiopia. The Museum is located in the main Campus of Addis Ababa University which houses the Institute of Ethiopian Studies and it was the former palace of Emperor Haile Selassie. Our Fourth stop Descend down and drive to National museum, it contains many precious local archaeological finds such as the fossilized remains of early hominids, the most famous of which is “Lucy,” the partial skeleton of a specimen of Australopithecus Afarensis. Recently added to the basement gallery is a display on Selam, found between 2000 and 2004. This archaic fossil is estimated to date to 3.3 million years ago. Our fifth stop drive to Merkato, established by the Italian around 1937 it’s a large open-air marketplace in Africa, Covering several square miles and employing an estimated 13,000 people in 7,100 business entities.

Overnight Aya Addis Hotel Addis Ababa/ Similar

Day 02 Fly Addis Ababa to Semera & drive to Ahmed Ella

After breakfast you will take to airport your flight to Semera. You will meet upon arrival and drive to Ahmed Ella visiting beautiful landscape of solidified lava, rock, sand and occasional palm lined oasis after you pass several small hamlets start visiting Ahmad Ella village total population of more than 500 people to see the life style of the local Afar people. Finally, precede to Salt Lake Asale a huge salty lake where you will swim in a natural pool while enjoying sunset reflections of the salty ground.

Overnight camping at Ahmed Ella

Day 03 Visit Dallol Then Drive to Erta Ale

Morning tour Drive to Ragad (Asebo), the place where the localities are mining salt. Look the activity of breaking the salt from the ground, cutting in to rectangular pieces and loading on camels. You drive ahead to Dallol and visit the difference landscape formed by volcanic activity (125 meter below sea level, one of the lowest and hottest places in the world) colorful salts mining and different terrestrial places formed by volcanic activity like bubbling oily lake creates a different experience of your trip. Then we back to Ahmad Ella for lunch then proceed to Erta Ale. We spend the night watching the dramatic action of the boiling lava. Erta Ale ranks one of the most alluring and physically challenging natural attractions anywhere in Ethiopia. It is a shield volcano with a base diameter of 30 km and 1km square caldera at its summit. Erta Ale contains the world’s only permanent lava lake. Erta Ale is 613 meters, with a lava lake, one of only five in the world, at the summit. It is notable for being the longest existing lava lake, present since the early years of the twentieth century.

Overnight camping at Erta Ale

Day 04 Drive Erta Ale – Lake Afdera – Semera and Fly to Addis

After Breakfast we will drive to Afdera it is used for salt extraction. It is named after the saline Lake Afdera, located in the southern part of the Afar Depression. It is a major source of salt extraction in Ethiopia, where the Lake water is pumped to saltpans for solar evaporation. After lunch we will continue the trip to Semera airport your flight to Addis Ababa.

Overnight Aya Addis Hotel Addis Ababa/ Similar

Day 05 Fly Addis Ababa to Arba Minch

After breakfast at the Hotel you will take to airport your flight to Arba Minch. You will meet upon arrival and drive to southwards to Konso village.one of the UNESCO site in Ethiopia know by their terracing in order to protect against soil erosion from the sporadic and often heavy rainfall in the region. The villages are encircled by one to six concentric rings of stone walls, mainly consisting of basalt boulders. One of the best types of coffee for the country is also from this village. Later drive to Turmi Hamer village. The Hamer they are known for their unique custom of “bull jumping,” which initiates a boy into manhood, practice of body adornment and wearing a multitude of colorful beads. The men of the tribe will often style their hair with clay, creating a sculpture of sorts that is styled with various pigments, mostly red and white, and in smoothing the clay they create very small protruding tube in which they house ostrich feathers from their hunts.

Overnight Paradise Lodge in Turmi

Day 06 Drive Turmi – Karo – Jinka

This day you will drive to Murulle where you can find the Karo people. Karo People is very famous for their splendid body decoration, which they paint their bodies and faces with white chalk to prepare for a ceremony. The women scar their chest believing it makes them beautiful. The men’s scars represent an enemy or dangerous animal killed. Visit and proceed to Nyangatom people, 17 km away from the Murulle area. To adore their long and lean bodies, the Nyangatom women wear numerous necklaces and long Skirts from goatskins that are richly decorated. Then back to turmi for lunch and proceed to Ari people, the largest population in the lower omo valley. The women wear skirts from the banana like tree, called Enset are expert in pottery, blacksmith and distillation of traditional Liquor.

Overnight Eco Omo Lodge Jinka

Day 07 Drive Jinka –Mago –Jinka and Fly to Addis Ababa

After breakfast at the hotel Take a day excursion to Mago National Park to visit the Mursi village (70 km). We devote half day to the study of the Mursi culture. The Mursi women, like their Surma cousins, live on the other bank of the Omo River, are famous for their large round (and not only) lip plates worn by women. There are several theories of the wearing of lip plates: disfiguring to prevent enslavement by Arabs in antiquity; protection against the penetration of evil spirits into the body through the mouth; determination of social status, showing the amount of cattle that the groom must pay as a dowry for the bride owning the plate. Mursi are unsurpassed masters of scarification. The scars on their bodies symbolize social status and past merits. The scars are created by using a razor blade and camel thorn. To achieve a bulge, an ash or a fly larva is planted in the wound, which, among other things, eliminates all possible infections. Later drive back to Jinka airport your flight to Addis Ababa.

Overnight Aya Addis Hotel Addis Ababa/ Similar

Day 08 Fly Addis Ababa to Lalibela

After breakfast you will take to airport your flight to Lalibela. You will meet upon arrival and take to your Hotel. After lunch you will Visit the first group of seven churches lie in rock cradles one behind the other: Bet Golgotha, Bet Mika’el, Bet Maryam, Bet Meskel, Bet Danagl and Bet Medhane Alem. Bet Medhane Alem, the largest one, is built like a Greek Temple and its stone floor is so polished by the countless numbers of visitors that it reflects shafts of light from apertures in the walls high above. In a corner are three empty graves symbolically dug for biblical patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Later you will visit of the other groups of Rock churches of Lalibela Bet Giyorgis, possibly the most elegant of all the Lalibela churches which lies somewhat isolated in the southwest part of the village on a sloping rock terrace.

Overnight Maribela Hotel Lalibela

Day 09 Fly Lalibela to Addis Ababa

In the morning after breakfast you will visit the remaining churches of Lalibela like Bete Gabriel, Bete Marqorios, Bete Emmanuel, and Bete Aba Libanos. Later drive to airport your flight to Addis Ababa. In the evening, you’ll attend a folkloric dinner where you will have a chance to taste several national dishes and watch dances of the various ethnic groups of Ethiopia. The traditional coffee ceremony will also be served. Finally you will take to airport for your Flight to home.