Project Description
14 DAYS TOUR TO SOUTH-WEST ETHIOPIA, GAMBELLA AND SURMA
Day 1: Arrival in Addis Ababa at Bole International Air port
Meet and greet Network Travel and Tour Agency representative at Bole International Airport, Addis Ababa, and transferred to the hotel. Overnight stay in Reliance Hotel Apartment.
Day 2: City tour in Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa is the third highest capital of the world on an altitude of 2300-2500 m. with a pleasant climate and a background of green with eucalyptus trees covered mountains. The city is founded in 1886 by Emperor Menelik II and Queen Taitu.
Visit Entoto Mountains, with very nice view over the capital, the National/Ethnographic museum, St George church and the Merkato, biggest open air market in Africa. Overnight stay in Reliance Hotel Apartment.
Day 3: Drive to Nekemte
Drive from Addis to Nekemte visiting the Showa and Wollega Oromos. Visit the Ethnological museum of Wellega. Overnight stay in local hotel.
Day 4: Drive to Metu
An early morning drive will take you to Metu. The route leads you through dense tropical rain forest; birds are abundant in this area. Look out for the elegant widow birds, delightful little red-and black finches and black winged bishops. You will be arriving in Metu in the afternoon and check into a hotel. Later, you can drive to Sor waterfalls (there are many waterfalls in west-Ethiopia because this is the part of the country with the most annual rainfall). You will have dinner and spend the night at the hotel. Overnight stay in Local Hotel.
Day 5: Drive to Gambella
Drive from Metu to Gambella, the capital of the Gambela Region that nestles at the confluence of the Baro River and its tributary the Jajjaba. The town is home to an airport and the Gambela National Park is nearby. Overnight stay in Local Hotel.
Day 6: Excursion to see the Agnuak people.
These Nilotes are a river people whose villages are scattered along the banks and rivers of southeastern Sudan and western Ethiopia, in the Gambela Region. The Agnuak people are herdsmen and famers, believed to have a common origin with the Luo and Shilluk. Overnight stay in Local Hotel.
Day 7: Excursion to Nuer Village
Excursion to see the Nuer poeple, who live mostly in Southern Sudan, in the Upper Nile Province around the junction of the Nile River and the Bahr el Ghazal and Sobat River, and extend up the Sobat across the border into Ethiopia. These people are said to have begun an active migrations in the 1800s, and as they moved eastward, they pushed the Anuak people further east into Ethiopia. The Nuer are tall and dark, and their culture and that of the Dinka are similar. Overnight stay in Local Hotel.
Day 8: Drive from Gambella to Mizan Teferi
Mizan Teferis is in southern Ethiopia and is the largest town, and the administrative center, of the Bench Maji Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region. Overnight stay in Local Hotel.
Day 9: Drive from Mizan Teferi to Tulgit visiting the Dizi and Surma people.
The Dizi people’s homeland lies in the northern part of the district while the Surma inhabit the southern part. Most Dizi are subsistence farmers and keep cattle, sheep and chickens, and are beekeepers for the honey. Overnight Camping
Day 10: Drive from Tulgit to Kibish visiting the Surma people.
The Surma women are known for their beatification rituals, in preparation for marriage: most women have their bottom teeth removed and their bottom lips pierced, then stretched, so as to allow insertion of a clay lip plate. Overnight camping
Day 11: Visit the Surma Villages.
Overnight camping
Day 12: Drive from Kibish to Bebeka
Overnight stay in Bebeka guest house
Day 13: Drive from Bebeka to Jimma- an Eastern corner of the country famous for its coffee.
Overnight stay in Central hotel Jimma.
Day 14: Drive back from Jimma to Addis, visiting the Gurage and Oromo people.
The Gurage people inhabit a semi-fertile, semi-mountainous region in southwest Ethiopia. Overnight at your hotel in Addis Ababa.
Day 15: Sightseeing tour and Departure
