5 Days North Ethiopia Tour

Lake Tana Be met and transferred to your hotel. Later, you will take a boat cruise on Lake Tana, which is dotted with island monasteries some dating back to the 14th century. Its 30 odd islands represent today a unique natural habitat for plant life. to visit the 14th-century Monastery of Ura Kidane Mihret which is the most famous of the Zege peninsula monasteries.

Afternoon, you will drive to the village of Tis Isat to see the Blue Nile Falls. (Note that the volume of the water could be minimal because of the construction of the new dam.) The Blue Nile Falls are a waterfall on the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia. They are known as Tis Issat in Amharic when translated, means “smoking water” They are situated on the upper course of the river, about 30 kilometers downstream from the town of BahirDar and Lake Tana.

After having your breakfast, you will begin your journey to Gondar. The Royal Capital of Ethiopia, Gondar was founded in 1636 by Emperor Fassiladas. The medieval town of Gondar has located about 748 km from Addis Ababa Following the demise of Lalibela toward the end of the 13th century, Ethiopia had no national capital for hundreds of years. The emperors had to keep on the move on constant campaigns to safeguard their vast empire and ensure allegiance to their rule. For their seat of government, they had to make do with what is known in the historical literature as ‘roving tent capitals’.

In the afternoon you will visit the city of Gondar with the drive to the Castles and Churches built by Emperor Fassiladas and his descendants’

Later Visit Debre Birhan Selassie church, Besides the eleven or so castles and related buildings, the 17th century Debre Birhan Selassie Church is the only one that has survived the repeated destructions of Gondar at hands of the Dervish (Egypto-Sudanese), Tewodros, the Italians, and the British. The church is a rich showcase of the religious art of the Gonderine period and its ceiling of painted angels is only one of its kind.

You will be transferred to the airport for your flight to Lalibela. Be met upon arrival and transferred to your hotel. ‘Eighth wonder of world Heritage’ Lalibela is famous for its underground rock-hewn cathedrals.

In the afternoon you will visit the top attractions of Lalibela that will simply stagger you. It is a history and mystery frozen in stone, its soul alive with the rites and awe of Christianity at its most ancient and unbending. Lalibela has one of the highest concentrations of Churches of such architectural elegance and overall engineering sophistication in one spot. The 13 Churches in two complexes are said to represent a reproduction of Jerusalem. Their lighting systems, channels, waterworks, a network of interconnected subterranean passageways, and the sheer magnitude of the whole project are mind-boggling.

This day after breakfast you will take your flight to Axum and start your visit to Axum Dating from around 300-500 AD, most of the Axum stele seem to predate the arrival of Christianity to Ethiopia. Their purpose is almost certainly religious, but the details are not known for certain. The stele was most likely a funeral monument for Axum’s ancient rulers, who may have been buried in tombs beneath them. Some have altars at the base with grooves cut into them to carry away blood from sacrifices. The Ethiopian epic, the Kibre Negest (Glory of the Kings) tells us that Menelik I, the son of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon, brought the original Ark of the Covenant from Jerusalem to Axum and thereby established one of the world’s longest known and uninterrupted monarchical dynasties. Impressive ruins, monuments, and archaeological artifacts abound in and around Axum attesting to the solid, articulate, confident, literate, and resourceful strength of this civilization. Axum’s most popular known insignia art is its mysterious monolithic stelae made of single pieces of granite with identical decorations. The biggest of them, now fallen is 33 meters high and weighs 500 tones, making it the largest monolith in the world.

After breakfast we will transfer to the local flight to Addis Ababa then you will be driven to Mercato, the biggest market in East Africa