Monasteries and Landscapes of Ethiopia Escorted Group Tour 26 November 2015 Lake Tana, Bahir Dar We are very proud to have received a number of awards over recent years including Best Tour Operator in the latest Telegraph Travel Awards, as voted by their readers. We came joint top in the June 2014 Which? Holiday Companies survey and have also won awards in the Wanderlust Readers’ Travel Awards, The Sunday Times Travel Magazine, Condé Nast Traveller and the Guardian and Observer in recent years. These awards are widely recognised as being the most respected in the travel industry as they are professional surveys of the publications’ readerships. With over 500 travel companies for you to choose from in the UK alone, we hope you find these awards are an additional reassurance of the quality of service you can expect from Audley. Contents Meet our specialists _______________________________ 4 Introduction to tour ______________________________ 5 Day by day summary of our Monasteries and Landscapes of Ethiopia arrangements _____________________________ 7 Price __________________________________________ 9 Why travel with us? ______________________________ 10 Introduction to the region _________________________ 11 Photographs of the region _________________________ 14 Itinerary in detail ________________________________ 16 Accommodation information _______________________ 34 Charity support ________________________________ 39 General information _____________________________ 41 Terms and conditions _____________________________ 44 Booking form _____________________________ back page Meet our Africa Specialists The Africa team at Audley is made up of over thirty Africa specialists each with bags of passion for and experience of both Africa and safari. Many of us lived and worked in Africa before joining Audley and our knowledge of the different regions of South, Southern and East Africa is unsurpassed. We return regularly to our specialist countries, keeping up-to- date with developments and discovering the best safaris, lodges and beach hideaways for our clients. Heading up the Africa team are Regional Managers Terry Moohan, Sharre Fox, Glenn Evans, Kevin Nicholson and Graeme Evemy. 4 Meet our specialists Introduction to our Monasteries and Landscapes of Ethiopia tour Tour overview Ethiopia’s central plateau is a verdant area which has supported civilisations for thousands of years. Although it is not a destination for those hung-up on creature comforts, the vibrant country of today is a far cry from the parched land ravaged by famine that was portrayed by the press in the 1980s. In addition to this rich cultural heritage, the country also has a variety of stunning scenery and unique wildlife. Exploring by road and domestic flights, this tour travels with an expert local guide around the northern part of the country, visiting cultural sites such as the towering stelae at Axum, the rock-hewn monolithic churches of Lalibela and the elaborate castles of Gondar. In addition to this you will enjoy hiking in the stunningly beautiful Simien Mountains and searching for the endemic Ethiopian wolf and gelada baboon. As you will travel around by road, the tour offers plenty of opportunities to view everyday life in Ethiopia and for interacting with the local population. Specialist knowledge Each member of our Ethiopia team has travelled extensively throughout the country and we have pooled their collective knowledge to create a trip that we think reflects the best of Ethiopia. Your initial enquiry will be handled by just one of our specialists who will then proceed to be your main point of contact until you return from the tour. Please feel free to contact them at any time. Expert guides You will be accompanied at all times by an experienced and knowledgeable guide who speaks English. There is not a tour leader accompanying this group from the UK as your Ethiopian driver and guide will be leading the group as well as being your point of contact on the ground. This policy takes advantage of the wonderful guides who work in Ethiopia, and ploughs more money from tourism directly into the country. Group size and transport The group size will be between a minimum of four and a maximum of 12 participants. The small size of the group ensures that the trip is a more personal experience and that you can always hear and speak to your guide. It also ensures that your experience of a particular sight is not marred by the presence of too many people and each person has their own window seat. The vehicle used in this tour will be a mini-bus. Single travellers Although we welcome single travellers, due to the complicated logistics of this tour, the single supplement can make this an expensive option. There are still two options; you can choose to share a room with another single traveller on the tour (providing that another single traveller of the same sex is also willing to share) and pay the standard tour price or if you want to guarantee sole occupancy of a room, a supplement, detailed on the tour price page, will be payable. Please note that due to limited numbers of rooms at some of the lodges on the tour, we are only able to accept a maximum of four single travellers unless you are prepared to share a room. Activity level: medium To ensure that all participants get the most out of the tour, it is important that you are fully aware of the level of activity, fitness and medical health required to successfully complete this itinerary. Please read this dossier carefully prior to confirming your place on the tour. Having established the facts, it is your responsibility to contact us with any concerns regarding individual levels of fitness, health or ability. Please be aware that our tour guides have the right to exclude customers from the tour if they feel they are not sufficiently fit, healthy or able to complete the tour without affecting its safety, comfort or smooth progress. If you would like to discuss any of these issues further please contact the Ethiopia team on 01993 838 565. Included in the price Unlike other group tour operators in Ethiopia, our price includes all reasonable costs that your trip will incur - this includes all permits, guide and park fees, transfers, all meals, accommodation and expertly guided excursions. The only money you will be required to travel with will be for the purchase of drinks, curios and for tipping. We believe that this is the most convenient way of planning for your travels and means that you do not arrive in the country with large amounts of cash. Dietary requirements and meals Special dietary requirements should be highlighted by you on the booking form. However you must be aware that it is unrealistic to expect specialist diets to be catered for in some of the destinations we will be visiting. We will advise hotels and airlines of your request but we cannot guarantee their availability. All of your meals are included in your itinerary with a variety of traditional Ethiopian fare on offer alongside international dishes. A change in eating habits when travelling abroad can often lead to an upset stomach and unfortunately a visit to Ethiopia is Introduction to our Monasteries and Landscapes of Ethiopia tour 5 Introduction to our Monasteries and Landscapes of Ethiopia tour no exception. If you do become sick it can make some of the long drives rather uncomfortable and impact on your overall enjoyment of your journey. To minimise your chances of becoming unwell we recommend that you only drink bottled water and ensure that your food is piping hot and cooked thoroughly. We also advise caution when eating shellfish, raw vegetables and salad as they may have been washed in tap water. Finally, we recommend packing some Imodium - just in case! We find that the liquid hand sanitiser and wet-wipes are really useful to carry around in your daypack. Home truths We aim to provide accurate and detailed information to make you aware of all the aspects of the journey you are undertaking. Some facts that you should be aware of are outlined below: There are a number of early starts in the itinerary. This is done invariably in order to capture the best part of the day for a particular site, to avoid crowds, or if it is a busy excursion, to fit everything in to the day. For this reason we have built in time at leisure, often in the middle of the day or in the afternoon, when you can relax. Internal flight schedules are often changed at short notice. Generally times only alter by an hour or two, but changes are sometimes more serious. If any of your flights are changed after booking we will notify you before you travel and amend the itinerary accordingly. Serious changes can result in additional costs which in some cases will have to be met by you. Tourism in Ethiopia is still in its infancy and the standard of accommodation outside of the capital is still developing. Most new hotels are aiming to attract diplomats and professionals for a few days extension to their business trips in Addis and so are built in an international hotel style with little charm or character. We have deliberately avoided these whenever there is a suitable character alternative. The biggest hurdle for hoteliers seems to be with the access to comfortable mattresses and so a common theme through Ethiopia is uncomfortably hard beds which is worth bearing in mind before booking this trip if you struggle with a bad back or find it difficult to sleep on a firmer mattress. Most of the activities included in this itinerary are on foot. There is a large amount of walking on this trip, with some excursions possibly lasting four hours or more.