Every single day was memorable, and virtually every day was exciting - for the right reasons, not scary reasons- and this being our 8th african country, we did wonder if we had already seen it all.

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Firstly, go with Ethiopian Tours - Eskinder went more than the extra mile to organise our trip, and looked after every detail, the vehicles were all toyota land cruisers, in excellent condition, the drivers all drove well and spoke english, as did the guides who travelled with us.  We were able to manage each day as we wished, staying or stopping as we wished.

Guides were great, of special note was our young female guide Kidist, an inspiring example of a women in africa and a privilege have her company.

Read the independentreview at ResponsibleTravel.com

Absolutely wonderful in every respect, and - bonus! - not a single day's illness for either of us!  We were priviledged to spend much of our time with Ethiopian drivers and guides, and with Eskinder himself, who talked freely with us about everything imaginable, and we returned home having had not just a wonderful and exciting holiday but also some understanding, and huge respect, for all things Ethiopian and especially its people.

Christine Browning
London, England.

Addis Ababa; Axum; Lalibela; Simien Mts; Gonder; Bahirdar; Awash; Harer; Lower Omo tribes.

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Seeing the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela was the impetus for booking the journey and they certainly did not disappoint...what engineering marvels and still the centres of an active faith..

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So many people have asked us - why Ethiopia and we have been able to change mindsets that dwell on devastating famines. The country is so unique in many ways and Eskinder was such a dedicated tour operator....answering numerous emails as we fine-tuned our itinerary, meeting us personally each time we routed through Addis and keeping in touch with our guides as we made our way around the country. I can highly recommend him.

Read the independentreview at ResponsibleTravel.com

Christine Didsbury,
Sydney, Australia.

Addis Ababa, Bahirdar, Gonder, Axum, Tigray Churches,  Lalibela and Lower Omo Valley tribes. 

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Loved We had a wonderful time in Ethiopia and would commend Eskinder to anyone planning on touring in this remarkable country.

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This visit was skillfully organized by Eskinder Hailu of Highway Tours who patiently assisted us in devising an itinerary that fitted the interests of the four of us.  He organized internal flights, guides, drivers and accommodation and it all went precisely as planned despite the complexity of flights and tight schedules.  Accommodation was fine although the Bale Mountains was pretty basic but the best available. 

However, the area is wonderful and well worth spending time
there despite the slightly less comfortable accommodation.

Read the independentreview at ResponsibleTravel.com

Judith Lumb,
Sydney, Australia.

Addis Ababa, Bahirdar, Gonder, Simien Mountains, Axum, Tigray Churches, Lalibela, Lower Omo Valley tribes and Bale Mountains. 

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Loved every minute of it!  Want to go back and do the South next!.

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The most memorable part of the holiday was camping and hiking in the Simiens and travelling through breathtaking landscapes. Also the friendliness and hospitality of the people we met along the way but most of all our driver and guide who looked after us throughout the whole trip.

Travelling overland is not easy - Very long travel days on bad roads. Flying is an option but then you miss out on the marvellous sights and smells along the way.

Read the independentreview at ResponsibleTravel.com

Sharon and Markeus Woodworth,
Liverpool, England.

Addis Ababa, Bahirdar, Gonder, Simien Mountains, Axum, Tigray Churches, Mekele, Lalibela. 

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We loved everything about Ethiopia, including injeera, which we really miss!

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Dear Eskinder,

I have been meaning to email you our thanks for arranging such a wonderful trip to Ethiopia for us, but since we got back we have had such a lot of things to do that its taken me far too long, so please accept my apologies.

we loved everything about Ethiopia, including injeera, which we really miss!   there are a number of ethiopian restaurants in london so we are going to make the time to test a few of them out, hopefully they will be able to recreate some of the delicious meals we had, even if they don't have quite the right authentic ingredients!

we were talking about our trip today, and we both agreed that one of the unexpected outstanding memories is of the amazing restaurant in Lalibela, Ben Abba - we think you should positively suggest it to future visitors, the building is absolutely fantastic, really world class modern architecture plus the scottish woman who part owns and runs it is lovely and chatty, and the food is great and quite a lot better than at the hotel, nice place though that was to stay.

You were very kind to take us on that tour of the city when we returned to Addis, we didn't expect that, and we now have our lovely picture as a permanent reminder of our visit, which we wouldn't have had.

To say thank you properly, we would love to have you to stay with us for a few days when you next visit london, we will reciprocate by showing you the bit of london we live in, which is on the river Thames, and has a real english market at the centre of it, absolutely nothing like the addis mercato, though!!

thank you so much, and we really do hope to see you again but this time in england

best wishes for a great 2014

kind regards

Chris and Roger

Christine Browning,
London, England.

Addis, Axum, Lalibela, Simien Mountains, Gonder, Bahirdar, Awash, Harer, Lower Omo Valley tribes, Rift Valley Lakes 

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..excellent and we had no worries about guides, drivers, travel arrangements or hotels.

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The most exciting part of the holiday was going to a wedding in Gonder which would not have been possible without the local guide, the churches in Lalibela, trip to the Simian mountains, having coffee, local markets in the south.

Tips for other travellers,ry and get small denomination notes (1,5 & 10 birr) for tips, small purchases in markets, coffees etc.

Trip was excellent. Having arranged the itinerary with Highway Tours, the organisation by Eskinder Hailu was excellent and we had no worries about guides, drivers, travel arrangements or hotels and could concentrate on seeing the country and the people.

Read the independentreview at ResponsibleTravel.com

Lorraine Goodhew,
London, England.

Addis Ababa, Bahirdar, Gonder, Simien Mountains, Axum, Tigray Churches, Lalibela, Rift Valley and Lower Omo Valley tribes. 

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We were all impressed by your professionalism and personal care.

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Hi Eskinder,
Just a few words of thanks and appreciation for organising an amazing trip for myself, Leo and Helen.

We were all impressed by your professionalism and personal care. I would like to thank you personally for organising the Doctor, as it made my journey home much more managable (I am well on the mend). I have expressed our feelings on your Tripadvisor site and we wish you growing success with your business in the future, you deserve it.

P.S. I will be in contact with you later in the year about a planned trip to the Omo region.

Noel, Leo and Helen,
Dublin, Ireland.

Addis Ababa, Bahirdar, Gonder, Simien Mountains, Axum, Lalibela, Harer 

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Thanks again for the planning and handling of this great trip.

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Dear Eskinder,

We hope you had a fine time during Christmas and New Year. Our plain back home arrived on time, but it is very cold here in Belgium and we are already missing the Ethiopian sun and that typical fresh wind from Addis.

In the meantime we had a look at our photos and we realised ourselves  : “This was a super holiday in a wonderful country with very nice people and all this in the company of 3 new Ethiopian friends”.

So thanks again for the planning and handling of this great trip, Eskinder, and for treating us as your very own guest. Our special thanks also goes to Mulugeta, our driver, and of course to Kidist. With her ingredients and recipe, we prepared our self a real “Shiro”.

If you would like some feedback from us on this trip, we will be happy to send you the comments you need or the information you like to have. 

And of course, if you want a strong recommendation for other tourist or new clients, please feel free to send them our email. We will provide them with the info they need and certainy recommend you and your agency without any hesitation.

Kind greetings from Belgium !

Thérèse & Willy,
Brussels, Belgium.

Addis, Lalibela, Bahirdar, Harer, Lower Omo Valley tribes, Rift Valley Lakes 

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Every day was a new experience.

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Ethiopia is a beautiful country with lovely people. The deprivation was startling and one had to remind oneself this is how so many people live. Mixing with the locals at markets and villages was very real and exciting.

The local guides were generally very sincere. Be prepared for rough dusty roads and road works and some long road trips.

Because we traveled with Ethiopian, Highway Tours and the wonderful attentive Eskinder we felt everything local was taken into consideration and we had a true picture. It was an amazing experience, we have well managed and with very caring and attentive guides and drivers..

Read the independentreview at ResponsibleTravel.com

Phil and Shona Rocne,
Ireland.

Addis Ababa, Bahirdar, Gonder, Simien Mountains, Lalibela, Rift Valley and Lower Omo Valley tribes. 

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