September, 2015

↑↑

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11 New Years Day	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25 Eid Al Adha	26
27 Meskel	28	29	30
Moon Phases:    5:     13:     21:     27:         See Details

Meskel or the Festival of the True Cross is Ethiopia’s second largest event on the annual social calendar. The colourful Meskel festivities also coincide with a glorious floral display in the mountains (mostly yellow Meskel daisies), which many rate second only to that of Namaqualand in South Africa.

This year we will be taking a small group to witness the festivities of Meskel and to see other highlights on Ethiopia’s renowned historical route including Bahir Dar, Gondar, Lalibela, Axum the and Simien Mountains.

Itinerary, Sep 18th - 30th 

On this trip you will visit:

• Addis Ababa 19th 
• Bahir Dar & Lake Tana fly in and stay 20th - 21st 
• Lalibela fly in and stay 22nd - 23rd 
• Axum fly in and stay in Axum 24th  
• Gondar and Simyen Mountains 25th drive to and stay till 27th 
• Addis Ababa fly in on the 27th 
• Addis Ababa Tour 
• 
  

Day 1 

18 September 2015

Depart from Washington DC (Ethiopian Airlines) flight to Addis Ababa. (Ethiopian Airlines mostly offers a free hotel in DC to fly a day before from Denver, the International flight DC to Denver is mostly on the morning of 18th Sep).

Day 2 $60

19 September 2015 - Addis Ababa

Guide and driver will meet and transfer you to your hotel to stay overnight, breakfast included.

Accommodation: Jupiter International Hotel or similar (Three star international hotel in Addis).

Day 3 Fly to Bahir Dare A Day into the Monastic Churches

20 September 2014 - Lake Tana/ Bahir Dare flight $ 150.00

Take the first flight 710AM 

Transfer to the airport to fly to Bahir Dar on the shores of Lake Tana. Measuring 68 km wide and 73 km long, this is Ethiopia’s largest lake and is dotted with islands, on many of which churches and monasteries are found. We will stay for two nights at Abayminch Lodge which is set in a former coffee plantation where the bird-watching is fantastic. $60 per person

We take a boat trip to Zeghie Peninsula, known for its 14th century round, grass roofed churches and their wall murals. We visit two churches, Betra Mariam and Ura Kidane Mehret, and whilst walking through dense forest there will be lots of bird life to spot. Overnight in Abayminch Lodge with all meals included.

Accommodation: Abayminch Lodge http://abayminchlodge.com/

          "Steeped in mystery and legend, the old churches of Lake Tana form peaceful retreats for their monastic           residents and visiting tourists alike. The islands and peninsulas of Lake Tana collectively house more than 20 monastic churches, many of which were founded during the 14th-century rule of Amda Tsion, though some are possibly older, and at least two (Narga Selassie and Metseli Fasilidas) date to the Gonderine period. A popular local legend has it that seven of the most important 14th-century monasteries were founded by a loosely allied group of monks known as the Seven Stars. These are Daga Istafanos (founded by Hirute Amlak), Kibran Gebriel (Abuna Yohannis), Ura Kidane Mihret (Abuna Betre Maryam), Bahir Galila Zacharias (Abuna Zacharias), Mandaba Medhane Alem (Ras Asai), Gugubie (Afkrene Egzi) and Debre Maryam (Tadewos Tselalesh). - See more at: http://www.bradtguides.com/destinations/africa/ethiopia/lake-tana.html#sthash.1lB0VxB1.dpuf

Day 4

21 September 2014 - Blue Nile Falls

After breakfast, the tour takes us to visit the spectacular Blue Nile Falls, Africa's second largest waterfalls, and then to the vibrant market of Bahir Dar. A reasonable level of fitness is required to complete the walk to the Falls.

Accommodation: Abayminch Lodge

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Nile

 

Day 5

22 September 2014 - Lalibela

Transfer to the airport for the early morning flight to Lalibela (150.00). At the end of the 12th century and beginning of the 13th century, 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 the wonders of the world. There are 11 churches in the town named after him with others in the surrounding countryside and all are still in use today. Today we will visit the first group of rockhewn churches cut into the rugged mountainsides. Stay 2 nights in Mountain View, all meals included. $200

Day 6

23 September 2014 - Lalibela and Ashetun Mariam

After breakfast we set off on mule or on foot to the church of Ashetun Mariam which is approximately a 4 hour round trip. We will pass small villages and there will be marvellous views of the surrounding countryside from the top of the mountain where the church is located. After lunch we will travel to the cave church of Yemrehane Christos, built by the King of the same name before the reign of King Lalibela. The church is constructed inside a cave in Axumite style, similar to the 7th century monastery at Debre Damo in Tigray. 

Day 7

24 September 2014 - Axum

We will fly $150 to Axum, once the seat of an Empire which extended across the Red Sea to Arabia and which traded with India and China, minted its own coinage, had its own alphabet and notational system, constructed great engineering works and dams and which was reckoned by the 4th century Persian historian Mani to be one of the four great powers of the Ancient World, alongside Persia, China and Rome. We will see the famed stelae / obelisks - the largest single pieces of stone anywhere in the world, the tombs and castles of kings, the Axum Museum and the Mariamtsion Church. We will stay overnight at Sabean Hotel $100, all meals included. 

Day 8

25 September 2014 - Simien Mountains National Park

After breakfast, we’ll drive to Gondar and continue to the Simien Mountains National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since the late 1960s and among Africa’s most dramatic scenery. The ‘chess pieces of the Gods’, as one writer described them, tower over precipitous gorges, river valleys and plains stretching all the way to Eritrea. There are many peaks over 4,000 meters and we will look for the endemic Gelada or bleeding heart baboon, critically endangered Walia Ibex and many endemic birds as well as raptors such as Lammergeyer. The park is also famous for its Afro-Alpine flora, meadows and grasslands punctuated by Giant Lobelia and flowering Red Hot Pokers. We should see displays of yellow Meskel daisies in the highlands.

We will stay overnight in Simien Lodge, the highest-lying hotel in Africa.$100.00

Accommodation: Simien Lodge

http://www.bradtguides.com/destinations/africa/ethiopia/the-simien-mountains.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simien_Mountains_National_Park

Day 9

26 September 2014 - Simien Mountains National Park and Gondor

After breakfast set off on an excursion into the Simien Mountains National Park. The walks around Sankaber Camp are graded as relatively easy and take us to some spectacular viewpoints.

Return to Gondar in the afternoon, formerly the imperial capital from the 17th to mid-19th centuries. The Royal Enclosure or Fasil Gibbi, provides visitors with a powerful idea of what it was like in its heyday. Within the compound are castles of various Gondarene emperors. Although most of Gondar’s churches were destroyed during the Mahdist invasion from Sudan in the 1880s, a fine example is Debre Berhan Selassie which was spared. Its walls and ceiling are completely covered with murals of which the angels’ faces on the ceiling have become a common motif in Ethiopian design.

Overnight stay in the Goha Hotel, all meals included. $100.00

Accommodation: Goha Hotel

More hotel info

Day 10  Addis Ababa Meskel festivities

27th September 

Visit Addis Ababa and see the Meskal festivities. Guided city tour which includes Mount Entoto and the National Archaeological Museum, where visitors can see exhibits ranging from the 3.5 million-year-old bones of Lucy, from Axumite and Gondarene times, through to the period of the monarchs Tewodros and Menelik II.

Day 11

29 September 2014 - Addis Ababa Meskel festivities

Visit Addis Ababa and see the Meskal festivities  shops in Addis Ababa Optional 2 hours horse back riding.

Return Flight to US

30 September 2014

Trransfer to the airport to check in for the Ethiopian Airlines flight to London, departing at
09h00 and arriving London 15h35.