Ethiopia

Day 1: Departure Kuala Lumpur
Departure from KLIA and transit 1:35hrs in Singapore Changi Airport.

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Day 2: Arrival in Addis Ababa - Arbaminch (B, L ,D)
Arriving at 6:10am, you will have a brief city tour of Addis Ababa. Transferring to the airport at 1:45pm, you will be checking in for your flight to Arbaminch. (ET135 15:00 – 15:45). Arriving Arbaminch at 3:40pm, you will be transferred to your hotel, spending an overnight at Haile Resort.

8kms / 25 Minutes Overall Day Drive

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Day 3: Arbaminch – Dorze Haizo - Chamo Lake - Konso (B, L ,D)
Starting off at 8:00am, you will be driving north into the Gughe Mountains where you will be visiting a Dorze village where you will be able to visit their bamboo-made cone-shaped huts, cotton weaving skills and ‘Kocho’ preparation, their local staple food made from false banana plants. Returning to Arbaminch at noon, you will have a two-hours boat trip on Chamo Lake - one of the seven Rift Valley lakes in the region where you will be able to see the largest and oldest Nile Crocodiles, Hippos, Pelicans and a variety of birdlife. You will then proceed to Konso and will be spending overnight at Kanta Lodge.

146kms / 4 Hours Overall Day Drive

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Day 4: Konso - Arbore - Turmi (B, L ,D)
‍Starting off at 8:00am, you will be able to visit a local Konso village, their terraced farm fields and symbolic wooden totems. The Konsos are known to be the ones who first initiated terrace farming. For your info, Konso Community has been registered in July 2011 as the 9th UNESCO World Heritage Site. Driving further down into the Lower Omo Valley past the Weito Plains and by the Buska Mountain chain that extends for roughly 96kms in the Weito Plains parallel to Lake Stephanie for certain parts, you will be able to visit a village of the Arbore tribe. Driving on and arriving in Turmi late afternoon, you will spend the overnight at Emerald Lodge.

208kms / 5 Hours Overall Day Drive

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Day 5: Turmi – Korcho - Turmi (B, L ,D)
‍Starting off at 8:00am, you will be heading to Korcho, home to the Kara tribe. Settled on the banks of the Omo River, the Kara tribe are known for their attractive body paintings, some done for beautifying purposes. From this village, the view of the Omo River is magnificent, a high ground view seeing off the Omo River flowing down South into the Turkana Lake. After visiting a Kara village and their lifestyle, you will be heading back to Turmi where upon arrival, you will visit a local Hamer village in the surroundings of Turmi. At the end of the day, you will spend the overnight at Emerald Lodge.

*During any of your days around Turmi, you will be able to see a bull jumping ceremony – an initiation rite of the young men that allows them for transformation from childhood to adulthood, a privilege that comes along with a lot of social responsibilities as well.

160kms / 4 Hours Overall Day Drive

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Day 6: Turmi – Omorate – Turmi – Jinka (B, L ,D)
‍Starting off at 7:30am, you will be heading to Omorate. Home to the Dassanach tribe, Omorate is a small town settled on the banks of the Omo River. Crossing the river in a wooden canoe boat, you will be visiting a local Dassanach village. Their huts and lifestyle much different from the rest of the tribes in the Omo, the Dassanach tribe are said to be descendants of the Turkana tribe in North Kenya. Returning to Turmi for lunch, you will be visiting the weekly Hamer tribe market in Turmi. Driving further via Key Afer and arriving in Jinka late afternoon, you will be spending the overnight at Nasa Hotel.

285kms / 6 Hours Overall Day Drive

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Day 7: Jinka – Mago National Park – Jinka (B, L ,D)
‍At 7:30 am, you will be heading into Mago National Park, home to the Mursi tribe. Settled in the lowland plains of the park, you will visit a local village of the Mursi and possibly sightings of wildlife like Dik Diks, Greater and Lesser Kudus etc. Returning to Jinka at noon, starting mid-afternoon you will have a visit of Omo Child Center www.myomochild.org, a non-governmental organization based in the U.S. that cares for 37 Mingi children of the Kara and Hamer tribes of the Lower Omo Valley (for better insight, please visit the mentioned website). At the end of the day, you will be spending the overnight at Nasa Hotel.

120kms / 5 Hours Overall Day Drive

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Day 8: Jinka – Addis Ababa – Dire Dawa (B, L ,D)
‍Starting off at 8:00am, you will be visiting the local South Omo Research Center, an opportunity that will give you a good overall insight into the various tribes of the South. At 12:45pm, you will be transferred to the airport for your flight to Addis Ababa (ET270 14:05 – 15:25) and later in the afternoon another flight to Dire Dawa (ET220 18:05- 19:15). On arrival at Dire Dawa, you will transfer to Samrat Hotel for overnight.

Hotel. 25kms / 45 minutes Overall Day Drive

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Day 9: Dire Dawa - Harar (B, L ,D)
‍Starting off at 7:30am, you will be driving to Harar. Arriving at 9:00am, you will be spending the day visiting the architectural attractions of Harar within the Jegol enclosure with its carefully designed housing patterns, narrow walkways and shopping centers around Feres Megala square. Additionally, you will also be able to visit the nearby vibrant market area on the outer fencing of 'Jegol' - the walled enclosure home to the native Aderes - as locally referred to in Harar and surroundings. With a total of Jegol's five huge gates all around its 3.5kms perimeter, capturing moments of the bustling activities notably around Harar Ber (Harar Gate) and the Chat market area just outside Shewa Ber (Shewa Gate) is to be recommended. Through the afternoon, you will be able to visit Arthur Rimbaud's House, traditional Harari houses (two of many to be recommended are Abdullah Sherif's which houses 2000-year-old artifacts AND/OR Emir Yusuf's house built in 1908), the 16th-century Tomb of Emir Nur and additionally Tomb of Sheikh Abadir who is said to have introduced Islam to Harar. At 7:00pm, you will be visiting the 'Hyena-Feeding Man' where you will be able to see Yusuf and/or his son feeding the tamed Hyenas with much ease and if daring enough, you will also feed one or two of these Hyenas. You will then be transferred to the Grand Gato Hotel for an overnight stay.

55kms / 1 Hour Overall Day Drive

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Day 10: Harar – Awash – Gewane - Semera (B, L ,D)
‍Starting off at 7:00am, you will be driving to Awash and on to Semera. A full day’s drive driving through the mountainous terrain around Hirna and further on into the lowlands of the Afar region, you will be arriving Semera late afternoon, spending overnight at Kuriftu Resort.

690kms / 10 Hours Overall Day Drive

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Day 11: Semera – Allelobad Geysers - Afdera (B, L ,D)
‍Starting off at 7:30am, you will be heading out to visit Allelobad Geyser, a massive geothermal hot spring located West of Logia town. Returning to Semera at noon, you will be proceeding to Afdera via Serdo Meda, heading West into the lowlands of the Danakil Depression. Arriving Afdera late afternoon, you will be able to enjoy a swim in the hyper-saline Lake Afdera. At the end of the day, you will be camping overnight by the lake.

296kms / 6 Hours Overall Day Drive

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Day 12: Afdera - Erta Ale (B, L ,D)
‍With an additional opportunity for an early morning swim in the lake and breakfast, at 9:00am, you will be visiting the salt lakes where powder salt is extracted and transported to the central Ethiopian highlands for sale. After making arrangements for our escorting police, at 2:00pm, you will start your drive to Dodom, the base camp for your visit to Erta Ale. Arriving at the base camp at about 4:30pm, you will be setting up camp and having a brief rest. At 5:45pm, you will be trekking up to Erta Ale peak, roughly 25 minutes’ walk to the rim and another 20 minutes’ walk down to the volcano pit. After seeing the volcano, you will be returning up to the rim and spending the night in open-air rock-enclosures where you will also be having dinner served. 83kms / 2 Hours Overall Day Drive

**45 minutes one-way walk from the base camp to lava volcano pit

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Day 13: Erta Ale - Hamed Ila (B, L ,D)
‍With the opportunity for an additional visit to the volcano pit early morning at 5:30am, you will be returning back to the base camp for breakfast, packing and loading up the vehicles. Mid-morning, you will be heading East to Hamed Ila via Dodom and local Afar villages which you will get to visit en route. Here is where the terrain and day temperature changes drastically with quicksand dunes on your left and volcanic mountain peaks on your right. Arrival at Hamed Ila late-afternoon, you will be camping overnight.

*Given the opportunity, we may have an evening drive into the Dallol Plains to see local salt workers making salt bars (cutting, shaping, packing) and loading on camels for sale in the highlands of Berahile.

123kms / 5 Hours Overall Day Drive

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Day 14: Hamed Ila – Dallol – Mekele - Addis Ababa (B, L ,D)
‍Starting off at 5:00am, you will be driving into the Dallol Plains where at about 6:30am, you will be able to see a beautiful sunrise in the salt plains. Through the rest of the morning, you will also be able to see the multi-colored sulfur pools of Dallol, Lake As’Ale and the old Italian potash site. With lunch break back in Hamed Ila, you will be heading to Mekele. On arrival, at 4:15pm, you will be transferred to the airport for your flight back to Addis Ababa (ET261 17:40 – 19:10). Arriving in Addis Ababa at 7:10pm and transferring to Best Western Pearl Hotel.

298kms / 8 Hours Overall Day Drive

**1.5 Hour’s round trip walks from the vehicles’ parking to the sulfur pools.

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Day 15: Addis Ababa Free Easy (B, L ,D)
‍With a free and easy day spent in Addis Ababa, at 7:00pm, you will have our complementary farewell dinner at the traditional Yod Abyssinia Cultural Restaurant where you will be able to taste the best of spicy Ethiopian cuisine while watching live cultural music and dance performance from the various ends of Ethiopia. At 9:00pm, you will be transferred to the airport for your flight back home.

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Day 16: Departure Addis Ababa
‍Departure from Addis Ababa Airport at 12:10am with transit 1 hour in Singapore Changi Airport. Arrival KLIA at 5:10pm. End tour.

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