Days 1 & 2: Addis Ababa

You will be met by an Origins Safaris representative and transferred to the Hilton Hotel in the city of Addis Ababa. On your first full day in Addis Abbaba you meet your guide and spend the day touring the amazing sights of this vibrant city and its surrounds. First you drive north up to Mount Entoto. Addis Ababa at between 2300 - 2500 meters is the third highest capital in the world and Entoto is several hundred meters higher - From the top, there is a panoramic view of the capital and surrounding countryside.

Entoto is an important watershed; to the north, water flows to the Blue Nile and on to the Mediterranean, to the south to the Awash River and east to Djibouti.  Your guide will point out the important landmarks of the city.   Originally the capital city, Entoto was soon abandoned as a site - it was cold, difficult to provision and there was a shortage of wood.  Empress Taytu was said to have led the move down to the plain of Finfine in 1889, and named the new capital Addis Ababa, or New Flower.  Two important structures remain within the old imperial compound on Entoto, the churches of Mariam and the Archangel Raguel. 

After viewing the churches you descend to Addis Ababa, stopping off at the National Archaeological Museum.  Here you see exhibits ranging from the 3.5 million-year-old bones of Lucy, relics and treasures from the Axumite and Gonderene periods through to the period of the monarchs Tewodros and Menelik II.

1 overnight Hilton Hotel.

Days 3 & 4: Gonder

This morning you fly to Gonder, arriving at the Goha Hotel in time for lunch. Afterwards you tour this fascinating city. Although many of Gonder's churches were destroyed during the Mahdist invasion from Sudan in the 1880s, one very fine example, Debre Berhan Selassie, was saved, according to the legend, by a swarm of bees which routed the invaders. The walls and ceiling are completely covered with murals - the angels' faces on the ceiling have become a common motif in Ethiopian design. The tour ends with a visit to the ruined palace of Queen Mentowab, and the church of Qusquam. The Mini Fogera is also worth visiting in the evening for cultural music (asmari) and national food.

On your second day in Gonder, your guide drives you north to Debark, a distance of about 100 km, heading up through clouds and mist. In Debark you are joined by a local game scout and enter the Simien Mountains National Park. The Simiens offer perhaps the most dramatic scenery in Africa. Here great volcanic plugs formed some 40 million years ago and eroded over the aeons into fantastic crags, pinnacles and flat topped mountains: the chess pieces of the Gods", as one writer described them.

The locals here use a network of tracks, ideal for us to use as our walking trails, as they take us through small villages and the terraced fields of the lower valleys, to the beautiful alpine meadows and rugged wilderness of the high peaks. There are many peaks over 4000 metres, and Ras Dashen at 4620 metres is the highest in the country and the fourth highest in Africa.

You drive to Sankaber – where you will see plenty of Gelada baboons, if there is time you can also look for Walia Ibex (found further into the park) or packs of Simien Wolf (the rarest canid in the world).

2 overnights Goha Hotel

Days 5 & 6: Lalibela

This morning you transfer to the airport for your next flight – to Lalibela, meaning �A Prayer in Stone'. You will be met and transferred to the Jerusalem Guest House for lunch before beginning to explore.

Lalibela, meaning 'a prayer stone' is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its extraordinary, rock-hewn subterranean medieval churches. At the end of the 12th and beginning of the 13th centuries King Lalibela of the Zaghyou dynasty built a series of rock hewn churches - the New Jerusalem as he called it - now rightly acknowledged to be one of the wonders of the world. There are 11 churches in the town named after him, with others in the surrounding countryside – all are still in use today. There are two groups of these stone churches divided by the Yordanos River (River Jordan)

On your second day after breakfast you set off on mule or on foot to the church of Ashetun Mariam, about a 4 hours' round trip. There are wonderful views of the surrounding countryside from the top of the mountain where the church is located. If visitors prefer a shorter journey, you can go a shorter distance to the cave church of Neakuto Leab. The afternoon is spent at leisure, to wonder in the town or revisit some of the churches.

2 overnights Jerusalem Guest House.

Day 7: Lalibela - Addis Abbaba

After a full morning visiting the churches and lunch at the guest house, you fly back to Addis arriving late afternoon and are met and transferred back to the Hilton Hotel.

Modern Addis Abbaba is a noisy, bustling trading town. Outwardly chaotic, it is a shopper's paradise if you like artifacts, rugs, jewellery etc. On your last night we recommend a traditional Ethiopian feast, with Amharic dancers and singers – your guide will take you to the best restaurant to experience the entertainment.

1 overnight Hilton Hotel

Day 8: Depart

At the end of your trip you will be met and transferred to the airport for your onward flight departure .