Lalibela and Mekelle Tours

🗓️ Itinerary

• Day 1 Arrival and Addis Ababa City Tour
  Visit Trinity Cathedral, resting place of Emperor Haile Selassie. Tour the Museum, a great introduction to ethiopian culture and history. Make a short drive to Entoto hills for a view of the city and visit Maryam church. En-route, stop at Sheromeda Traditional cloth market. Visit the mercato or the sholla market, two of addis ababa’s main markets.
  Overnight hotel in Addis Ababa
• Day 2:Addis Ababa – Lalibela
  Fly to lalibela on ethiopian airlines. Tour the magnificent rock-hewn churches, a UNESCO world heritage site. This group of eleven monolithic churches were carved directly into the stone mountainside at least 800 years ago. This complex boasts the largest monolithic church in the world, a maze of passageways and tunnels, intricately carved reliefs, and fabulous examples of icon paintings. In the late afternoon, enjoy a traditional coffee ceremony and learn the process for baking injera (a staple food for much of Ethiopia.)
  Overnight Hotel
• Day 3: Lalibela to Addis
  For the morning we see remains church of lalibela and transfer airport for overnight.
  Overnight Hotel
• Day 4: Addis -Axum
  Fly to Aksum in the morning and make a city tour. The tour begins by the stelea park. These famed granite obelisks are relics of this time and have gained UNESCO World Heritage site status. The tallest , the Great stelea, has fallen and broken in to six massive pieces , but when standing was 33 meters (108 feet) tall and weighed about five hundred twenty tones and other remarkable pre –Christian monuments . Afternoon, we continue to see visiting the swimming pool of Queen of Sheba , Ezana Inscription , tomb of King Kaleb and his son King Gebremeskel . Finally, the stop to see the St. Mary Zion church where the Ark of Covenant housed.
  Overnight Hotel
• Day 5: Axum – Hawzen
  TStart your day trip from Axum with a scenic drive through the historic Adwa Mountains, heading to Yeha Temple, one of the oldest standing structures in Ethiopia, dating back to the 8th century BC. Take time to explore the temple and its surroundings, delving into the country’s pre-Axumite history. Then ,we continue our drive to see the oldest monastery of Ethiopia Debre Damo . After that we a head to Adigrat for lunch ,finally to hawzen town .Spend the night in Hotel
  Overnight Hotel
• Day 6: Gheralta -Mekelle – Addis
  Today, we will go and try to hike to Abune Yemata Church but If it seems difficult we’ll explore the scenic Gheralta Mountains and capture some stunning photographs. Afterward, we’ll drive towards Mekelle, with a stop to view the Al Nejashi Mosque , which is currently under restoration but still a remarkable sight from the outside. Finally, we’ll head to Mekelle Airport for an afternoon departure to Addis Ababa.
  Overnight Hotel
• Day 7: Addis Ababa – Semera– Afdera – Volcano
  On this day, the driver picks you up from Semera airport, then drives to Danakil depression. We start an early drive to lake Afdera(a salt lake that is located in the heart of Danakil Depressions. You will see the natural hot springs, and swimming is also possible if you are interested. We will take you to Dodom (at the base of Erta Ale). Leave after lunch, possibly at 13:30. We pass several small hamlets scatteredinthe desert. Dodom is about 9.5km from Ertaale and takes about an hour of trekking. We will have an early dinner, around 17:00. Using the Camel’s back; we transport all the camping materials like food, a sleeping mattress and a mat to the volcano’s rim, where we spend the night watching the dramatic action of the boiling lava. Danak il Depression (dallol and Erta Ale) ranks as one of Ethiopia’s most alluring and physically challenging natural attractions. It is a shield volcano with a base diameter of 30 km by a km square caldera at its summit. Ertaale contains the world’s only permanent lava lake. Ertaale 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.
• Day 8: ErtaAle – HamadEla – Dallol
  This day after an early breakfast, we will drive to HamadEla. You will see lots of camel caravans, and you will have the sunset look from the very shallow salt lake Assale. Morning tour Drive to Ragad (Asebo), the place where the localities are mining salt; 1,200 km2 (460 sq mi), the Afar Depression is covered by salt, and you will look at the activity of breaking the salt from the ground, local people are cutting into rectangular pieces and loading on camels. You drive ahead to Dallol and visit the different landscapes formed by volcanic activity; Dallol + Lake Assale + salt canon, camel caravans, follow up camel caravans, follow up camel caravans and drives to HamadEla.
  Overnight Camping
• Day 9: HamadEla – Semera – Addis Ababa – Departure
  On this day, you may have another chance to see the beauty of sunrise, and then after breakfast, we will drive to the town of Semera and fly to Addis Ababa.
  Overnight Hotel
• Day 10: Fly addis Ababa to Jinka
  The driver waiting you at the airport then drive to Jinka for lunch after lunch. Turmi on the way we stop to sea Dimeka market and Hammar village. The Hammar people who are the beautiful tribe in omo valley the tribe principally pastoralist breeding cattle goat and sheep. They have a similar veneration for cattle as their close karo jinka we will drive to Kara tribe lives from the omo River.They are closely related to Hammer tribe, but do have their own culture and language.They are famous for their body painting . After Kara tribe we will drive back to Turmi for then we will keep drive to Jinka on the way we stop to visit different villages Benna and the Keyafar market is the best colorful market in omo valley the drive to jinka.
  Overnight Hotel
• Day 11: Jinka – Mursi
  In the morning after breakfast will peak you from the hotel and we will drive mursi Village though Mago national Park. The Mursi women wear circular clay plate on their lower lip as well ear lobes the men are known for the stick fighting.After Mursi village back to Addis Abeba.