12 Days South Omo Tribes & Chebera Churchura Ethiopia

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Day 1 Arrival and Addis Ababa City Tour

This Authentic Ethiopia Safari starts in Addis Ababa, the vibrant capital of Ethiopia. When you arrive at the Addis Ababa Bole International Airport, your guide is there to meet and greet you. From the airport, our crew transfers you to your comfortable hotel in Ethiopia's relatively cosmopolitan capital.

You'll relax at your hotel or begin your journey through ancient Ethiopia, one of the oldest inhabited places on earth, by exploring the cultural, historical, and modern facets of Addis Ababa. Addis Ababa, known as the "new flower", was founded by Emperor Menelik II in 1886 and today functions as the diplomatic hub of Africa. Do some sightseeing in this city of contrasts, where old colonial buildings, churches, and monuments stand side-by-side with dusty shacks and high-rise buildings. Attractions include the national and ethnological museums of Ethiopia, Trinity Cathedral, and Merkato, one of Africa's largest open-air markets.

Accommodation: Best Western Plus Pearl Addis

Meals & Drinks: Lunch & dinner

Day 2 Drive to Chebera-Churchura National Park

After breakfast on day two, you'll travel southwest to Chebera Churchura National Park in the highlands. Your drive takes you via the university town of Jimma, the capital of the former Kaffa Province, the birthplace of coffee, after which it is named.

In the late afternoon, you'll arrive at Chebera Churchura National Park and embark on the first game drive of our Ethiopia Safari. This beautiful, untouched wilderness area is home to elephants, buffalo, hippos, and other mammals, along with over 235 bird species.

Accommodation: Luxury Lodges inside park

Meals & Drinks: All meals included

Day 3 Visit Chebera-Churchura National Park

You'll spend the whole of day 3 exploring the untouched Chebera-Churchura National Park. Your exploration takes you through the various habitats of Chebera Churchura, from wooded grasslands to riverine forests.

This is a relatively new national park, declared in 2005, primarily to create habitat for declining elephant populations. Today, the park is known for its large elephant population, serving as a stronghold for Ethiopian elephants, as well as hosting impressive numbers of buffalo. Chebera-Churchura is also home to lions, hyenas, hippos, leopards, and other large mammals, so keep your eyes peeled on our game drives. The park features numerous streams, rivers, and small lakes supporting healthy populations of animals and birds year-round. Endemic bird species include white-winged cliff chat, banded-barbet, wattled ibis, black-headed forest oriole, and thick-billed raven.

Accommodation: Luxury Lodges inside park

Meals & Drinks: All meals included

Day 4 Drive to Maze National Park

Day four of our Ethiopia Safari kicks off with an early morning game drive in Chebera Churchura Park —an ideal time to spot mammals and birds in the African bush. After your final game drive in the crowd-free Chebera Churchura, you'll head southeast to Maze National Park.

Maze National Park is one of only three protected areas that still host good populations of the critically endangered Swayne's Hartebeest, endemic to Ethiopia. This 210 km² national park is home to about 39 mammal species and 196 bird species, encompassing savannah grasslands dotted with broad-leaved deciduous trees and riverine bush along the rivers. Other wild animals found in Maze include leopards, wild cats, baboons, monkeys and various antelope species such as oribi, kudu and waterbuck.

Accommodation: Luxury Lodges inside park

Meals & Drinks: All meals included

Day 5 Drive to Turmi

Early in the morning, you'll head out on a morning game drive in Maze National Park. After spotting Swayne's Hartebeest and other wildlife and birds in Maze Park. Maze National Park is known to host 39 large and medium-sized mammals as well as almost 200 species of birds. It is particularly a good location to see the endemic Swayne’s Hartebeest, being one of three protected areas where the species resides. Other mammals in the park include oribi, bohor redbuck, kudu, leopard, lions, wild cats, waterbuck, Anubis baboon, and many more, while birds like crowned crane, saddle-billed stork, fish eagles, and different species of starlings can also be spotted. You'll drive to Turmi center for the Hamer village.

Accommodation: Buska Lodge

Meals & Drinks: All meals included

Day 6 Visit Karo, Nyangatom and Dassanach Tribe

After breakfast, you'll continue through the savannah along barely visible tracks, passing through a vast meadowland with shrubs and umbellifers for an excursion to Kangatan Village. This tribe is also known as Nyangatom. Here, you will cross the Omo River and take a short walk through the local fields to visit a village of the Nyangatom tribe. After the visit, you'll return across the river and proceed to the Karo village of Korcho, with a stunning location look in over the Omo River. The Karo people, while the smallest tribe of the Omo Valley in number, are also known to be the most decorated. After lunch, you'll start driving south to Omorate to visit another people, the Dasenech, and one of their villages. These people inhabit the areas bordering Kenya, north of Lake Turkana, and they live on the east and west banks of the Omo River. After that, you will visit Hamer Village near Turmi. In Hamer Villages, an extended family member lives together in a nearby hut.

Accommodation: Buska Lodge

Meals & Drinks: All meals included

Day 7 Visit Konso and Drive to Arba Minch

After breakfast early in the morning, you'll leave Turmi and drive to Arbaminch to visit and appreciate the very attractive culture of the landscape of the Rift Valley. On the way, you will visit Key Afer Market. Once a week, the small town of Key Afer in the Lower Omo Valley holds a large market where three different people come together to buy and sell. You will visit Konso tribe villages with their King UNESCO registered site for their extensive terracing and practice of making a wooden grave mark for their hero and kings, where magnificent carved wooden sculptures were created in honor of Konso warrior heroes, who have killed an enemy or animal, and often grouped to represent the man, his wives and his adversaries. The Konso people are known for their totems erected in honor of the dead and their intricate agricultural terracing techniques. You will visit the Konso people, who have an ancient, complex, and fascinating culture of their own. We drive to Arbaminch for the night.

Accommodation: Paradise Lodge

Meals & Drinks: All meals included

Day 8 Visit Dorze People and Drive to Awasa

After breakfast, you'll drive to visit the Dorze people and their village, famed for their beehive-shaped houses and their weaving skills. Weaving is a primary profession for many Dorze. They are also farmers who prevent soil erosion by ingenious terracing of the mountainsides. Around their huts, they have their little garden with vegetables, spices, tobacco, and Enset (false-banana). You'll continue your drive to Wolita Sodo and stop for lunch. After a relaxed lunch, you will drive to Hawassa. Then, you'll drive to your destination, Hawassa, nestled between coffee fields and lush vegetation. Natural coffee from Ethiopia, funky and fruity! Letting the coffee dry in its cherry is the traditional way of processing coffee for personal consumption and commodity coffee in Ethiopia. It is a sensitive process that can give the coffee a fermented taste profile, unless it is done carefully. You will drive back to Hawassa.

Accommodation: Haile Resort Hawassa

Meals & Drinks: All meals included Non-alcoholic drinks

Day 9 Drive to Bale Mountains National Park

Your Ethiopia safari starts with a visit to the fish market at Lake Awasa. Then, you'll drive to the remote Bale Mountains National Park of the Ethiopian Highlands. Home to Ethiopia's most abundant wildlife populations, this precious biodiversity hotspot is home to some of the rarest animals on earth. You'll make your way to the park headquarters in Dinsho and set off on foot from there. Your walk takes you in search of the rare and endemic species that make the Bale Mountains so special. Keep your eyes open for birds such as chestnut-naped Francolin, ground scraper thrush, the secretive Abyssinian ground-thrush, Abyssinian Catbird, and the endemic white-backed black-tit. You may also spot some mammals, including the Mountain Nyala, only found in the Bale Mountain massif, as well as Menelik’s bushbuck and warthog. After spotting birds and mammals in the beautiful area, you'll head to where you'll stay overnight at Bale Mountains Lodge.

Accommodation: Bale Mountain Lodge

Meals & Drinks: All meals included

Day 10 Visit Sanetti Plateau

You'll drive into Bale Mountains National Park early this morning, heading up onto the Sanetti Plateau where the endangered Ethiopian wolves are found. Your drive takes you along the highest road in Africa, with the Sanetti Plateau ranging between 3800m and 4377m above sea level. Along the way, you'll pass close to the summit of Tullu Demtu, Ethiopia’s second-highest mountain. The abundance of rodents, in turn, supports a wide variety of raptors along with the Ethiopian wolves. You are likely to see Steppe and Golden Eagles, Augur Buzzards, and Pallid Harriers up on these scenic plains.

Heading to the escarpment of this undulating plateau, you'll take in the spectacular views over the surrounding moors, grasslands, and expansive Harenna Forest below. Lions are still found in Harenna Forest along with the only surviving forest-dwelling African wild dogs. Although you are unlikely to see these rare carnivores, the journey down through this old forest is breathtakingly beautiful.

Accommodation: Bale Mountain Lodge

Meals & Drinks: All meals included

Day 11 Drive to Lake Langano

On day 11 of our Ethiopia Safari, you will drive on to Lake Langano after breakfast. This freshwater lake is a popular spot for watersports and is safe for swimming. You'll end your day with a refreshing swim in the lake or sit back and enjoy the sunset, looking out for waterbirds.

Accommodation: Sabana Beach Resort

Meals & Drinks: All meals included

Day 12 Drive to Addis Ababa and Departure

On the last morning of our Authentic Ethiopia Safari, you'll have breakfast and travel back to Addis Ababa. Along the way, you'll visit the scenic Ethiopian Rift Valley Lakes of Abiyatta, Shalla, and Ziway.

Tonight, you'll eat out at one of Ethiopia's top traditional restaurants, celebrating our fascinating journey through Ethiopia together. We are treated to delicious Ethiopian cuisine and folk dancing. After your farewell dinner, you are transferred to the airport.

Accommodation: No accommodation (End of tour)

Meals & Drinks: All meals included

Included

• Park fees
• All activities
• All accommodation
• Camping equipment
• A professional driver/guide
• All transportation
• All Taxes/VAT
• Roundtrip airport transfer
• Meals
• Drinks
• Bed linen

Excluded

• International flights
• Additional accommodation before and at the end of the tour
• Bath towels
• Tips
• Personal items
• Government imposed increase of taxes and/or park fees