PureLoveEthiopia

Healing Nature Tour through Ethiopia’s Rift Valley and Highlands

Discover and enjoy with us Ethiopia’s jewelleries of wildlife and nature. Follow with us the trail of ancient volcanic activity and hot spring waters through the Ethiopian Rift Valley and highlands, relax and heal in oases of hospitality and simple luxury and go with us on an adventure of overwhelming, amazing and unique nature, landscape and wildlife experiences.

Day 1

We pick you from the airport and bring you to one of the best breakfast places of Addis Ababa. After you enjoyed some typical Ethiopian or international breakfast, we drop your luggage at your hotel and spa, wait until you freshened up and then we will dive together into Addis Ababa big-city life. We discover some of its historic parts, like Bahita Mariam Church, with its underground museum, visit our all ancestor and mother Lucy at the National Museum, experience a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony and enjoy lunch at a unique permaculture garden and museum. Afterwards we drive to Mount Entoto, where we encounter the beginnings of Ethiopia’s capital, with the palace of its founders King Menelik and Queen Taitu and enjoy later on the beautiful sunset over the skyline of Addis Ababa. Once it is dark we will visit one of the famous traditional clubs, to enjoy more traditional food and watch a performance of some of Ethiopia’s traditional dances. Finally we come back to your hotel, where you can rest and recover.

Day 2

You can enjoy the early morning at your hotel, have a relaxed breakfast and a swim in the hotel pool. We will depart from the city around 9 am and drive down into Ethiopia’s Rift Valley. We take a boat trip on lake Ziway, where we see the wide variety of birdlife and also some hippos. Afterwards we taste a traditional fish meal in one of Ziway’s famous fish restaurants. Then we continue driving to the small National Park of the lakes Abijata and Shalla. Here, in a landscape characterised by savannah and hot springs we meet different antilopes, gazelles, monkeys and other animals unique for Ethiopia. The park is also home to 300 different bird species and on the shores of the lakes you will see huge pink flocks of flamingos. Over night you will stay in a lodge at the shores of romantic lake Langano.

Day 3

If you want, you can take again a swim, this time in the healing waters of Lake Langano. Then, after breakfast we continue our journey to the South. After around 100 km we arrive to the paradise of Wondo Genet, a place appreciated and named as heaven place by the last emperor Haile Selassi. We will visit the jungle and pure nature and do a birding tour to see the unique variety of birds of this region. Thereafter we will relax and you will get a healing sand bath and shower in the hot springs of Wondo Genet. We will have lunch at Hawassa and explore the city and the nearby lake during the afternoon, if you are not too tempted to swim and do some sports at your Resort Hotel in Hawassa

Day 4

After experiencing these days of hot weather, we now continue to the East to visit Bale Mountains with its moderate temperatures and unique nature, landscapes and wildlife. We depart early in the morning and drive around 350 km to the East, where we finally arrive to the gates of Bale Mountains National Park, one of the largest National Parks in Ethiopia. This place is one of the most unique and magical places you will find in Ethiopia and here your tour will become a bit more adventurous. We will take a first short tour around the grasslands and mountain forests of Dinsho and present our greetings to rare species like the antelopes Mountain Nyala, Menelik's Bushbuck and Bush Duiker as well as the cute little fellow Bale two-horned chameleon. We stay overnight either at a safe and hospital camping site, surrounded by the magical forest or, if you prefer beds, in a hotel in a town nearby. If you opt for the camping site, we will take a cook with us that will provide us with meals according to your wishes and preferences.

*Day 5 *

The next day, early in the morning we will drive into park, at this time of the morning we can see the rare Ethiopian wolf and hear the amazing sounds of the early morning birds. We go up until we reach the Senetti plateau, the highest area in the Park with Tulu Dimtu, with its 4377 m, the second highest mountain in Ethiopia. Here we can see the Giant mole rat, that lives underground and that you can only find at Bale mountains. It is the prey of the Ethiopian wolf, and, if you are lucky, we can see him hunting for it. We depart to Harenna Forest, the largest mountain forest in Ethiopia, that covers the slope of the Bale Mountains with native bamboo forest and cloud forests dominated by the East African Hagenia tree. In this dense forest one can find carnivores, like caracals and lions, rare monkeys, like the bamboo eating Bale monkey and the Colobo monkey, but also anteaters. All over the park you will find rare birds. This is why Bale Mountains is rated as one of THE African birding sites, among 300 other bird species, you will find here the blue winged goose, the yellow-fronted parrot, the Abyssinian longclaw or the Abyssinian catbird, but also owls or sunbirds that enjoy the nectar of the giant lobelia flowers. Long talk short, take you camera with us, otherwise you will regret it … From Harenna forest we go into native coffee forest and finally come Delo Mena, where you can buy some original Ethiopian coffee directly from the farmers together with delicious native honey and organic fruits. We will do camping again at one of the camping sites within the Park.

Day 6

Today we leave again early in the morning, on the way we cherry pick some nice sites for taking pictures and finally reach Bale airport, where we depart direction Addis Ababa. Back to the city, we will visit some traditional pottery, weaving and basketery places. Here you can also provide yourself with some souvenirs. Then we will have a last dinner together before we drop you at the international airport.

Package Includes

• 3 nights accommodation at deluxe Hotel, Resort or Lodge
• 2 nights accomodation in a tent at camping sites inside Bale Mountains National Park
• Latest Model 4x4 Car for driving outside Addis Ababa
• Fuel, Driver, Car
• Meals and non-alcoholic drinks
• 1 domestic flight
• Entrance fees,
• Boat trips,
• Guiding,
• Guards and cook during the stay at Bale Mountains National Park

Package Policies

• Cancellations with more than 14 days’ notice before trip departure: You will be refunded 100% of the total tour price.
• Cancellations with less than 14 days’ notice before trip departure: You will be refunded 50% of your total tour price. 50% is non-refundable, as this represents our direct cost of cancelling any arrangements made for your tour.
• Cancellations with less than 48-hours’ notice before trip departure: No refund will be given if tours are cancelled with less than 48 hours’ notice, as PureLoveEthiopia will be charged for all costs such as guides, transport etc.

Destinations

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Ethiopia, Africa