We planned our 6 days trip to Ethiopia through Armaye Ethiopia Tours, basically looking at the Trip Advisor reviews and comparing with other companies, you see there are many of them making it difficult to choose, but it is ranked among the best and is not for nothing. I recommend this company because they certainly have a different service of others and for us it was excellent from start to finish. We made the tour of Bale Mountains. From the beginning I was chatting with Armaye, who at all times gave me all the information I needed and was very good with communication. Depends on our agreement they came and pick us from Addis the Hotel we stayed overnight ( Home Town Addis Hotel) As well before leaving for the mountains he made us a summary of all the important things we should take into consideration.

The landscapes are surprising, varied and we observed endemic Ethiopian Wolves and more mammals. We climbed to the second highest peak of Ethiopia also visited a waterfalls, many wild birds to observe. Part of it all happen was thanks to our guide, who always kept a good mood and our friend. He was always present when needed, accurate and kind at the same time. On the night before trekking always he briefs us all the necessary information so we are ready for the next day. We also accompanied by a cook, ‘Awol’who was serving us a delicious food for the whole tour during trekking. On the way back we stayed one night at Sabana Resort it’s a great place to relax after 5 days trekking. The resort is beautifully located along the Red Lake Langano; small chalets with terrace offers excellent comfort, very good.

We felt safe at all times, for us Armaye Ethiopia Tours is without any doubts to be recommended to anyone who wants to experience trekking tour in Ethiopia!

When we first started planning our trip to Ethiopia, we were digging on the internet about different tour companies. We were very lucky to find Armaye Ethiopia Tours. From the first moment I felt very comfortable with the contact person who answered me quickly, dissipated doubts and gave me a thousand pieces of advice. We requested quotes from other companies however their pricing was competitive but Armaye’s response time to any questions was incredible. The service has been excellent, at all times adapted to our requirements or circumstances so that everything went great.Our plan was to spend nine days in Southern Ethiopia including rift valley lakes and Bale Mountains. Armaye put together a package tailored to me and my wife. He was incredibly patient with all our questions, requests, changes to the original plans, extra things we wanted to see. On our arrival to Addis Armaye met us at Bole Airport and took us to Caravan Hotel which was quality and clean rooms.

At Abidjatta Shalla National Park We take a scout to the park entrance. This national park is largely inhabited by livestocks so there are few wild animals. However, we spotted  gazelles, warthogs , ostriches and many bird species like  flamingos and Hornbills. One lake hosts many flamingos while the other is fed by a hot spring. The boat ride on Lake Chamo, between hippos and crocodiles was really extraordinary journey.

You have to cross Lake Chamo to access the nech bsar  park, which allows viewing of birds, crocodiles and hippos. Then we walked in the middle of the volcanic rocks and acacia trees. We  saw zebras and have been able to get very close and  very amazing  scenery. We also visited Dorze village, Dorze certainly have a habitat, traditions, an interesting lifestyle. The village tour is interesting and you may have the chance to taste their excellent bread, drinking the local alcohol!  we loved the people of this village, nice and welcoming. We spent two nights at Bale Mountains national park this park is superb. We saw Mountain nyala, Bush bucks, baboon, warthogs and some other antelopes. While we get close to 4000m, the vegetation is completely different and we were in the habitat of Abyssinian Wolves that we spotted 5 wolves on the plateau.  Track allows you to go to 4300 m at Tulu Dimtu which is the 2nd highest mountain in Ethiopia, magnificent view.

The country is magic, everything was planned as our interests were mostly naturalistic, culture and ethnography of Ethiopia, and we were just amazed!  highly recommend a trip organized to us by this company.

Memorable trip to Bale Mountains with Armaye Ethiopia Tours

First of all: Visit Ethiopia! It is a very beautiful country (culture, great variety of landscapes) with really nice people, always ready to help. To save time I often took the airplane, which is quite cheap. Based on my route I really recommend: Lalibela churches and landscape, Tigre churches, Gondar, Bahir Dar, Bale Mountains and Addis Ababa. I absolutely wished to visit Bale Mountains, because, in contrary to Simien Mountains, there is a widevariety in animal- and plant life, which are still well preserved. It is really worth a visit. Looking for a good tour operator on the Internet I found Armaye Ethiopia Tours. He answered very quickly to all my concerns in fluent English. I had a very good impression and decided to book a tour with him. I travelled to Ethiopia around mid-January. I did the shorter 3 day-tour going from Dinsho to Sodota, then to Adalay and back to Dinsho. It is quite flat and we walked about 5-6 hours a day. The trek can be easily done, even if you are not too sporty and with sneakers. You can hire an additional horse for children or persons with light walking difficulties.

Around Dinsho I saw many animals like warthogs, bushbucks and Nyalas and other species of gazelles. All the tour long, there is constant change in the landscape with forests, grassland, hills, arid plains and a brocéliande-like forest” with St.John’s Warts. I also saw the famous Ethiopians wolves, all kinds of birds and many rodents. It was breath-taking. On fourth day in the morning, we drove to Sanetti-Plateau: lunar landscape with hawks, Ethiopian wolves and giant Lobelias. We walked to a small lake, which reflected the sky and the landscapes like a mirrorand hosted migratory birds. In the afternoon, I visited Harenna forest: a temperate rain forest, that is home to many different primates. On the trees, impressive hives are hanging. If you like to take walks, I think that is worth to stay a whole day in Harenna Forest.

During the whole trek food was really good and abundant. The price of the tour depends on the number of participants. It is not cheap, but really everything is organised, you will feel safe and find in Armaye an excellent guide who knows a lot and can explain you everything you want to know about the flora, fauna and the culture of Ethiopia! To elaborate the ideal trekking tour for you, it is important to communicate to Armaye your walking abilities and wishes. Armaye, the cook and the horse handlers were all really cordial, patient, competent and trustful. Armaye speaks a really good English, is open-minded, intelligent, knowlegible about flora and fauna and will adapt to all of your wishes.
I really recommend Armaye trekking tours. Some additional advices: Temperature:

In the night, it falls under zero degrees and during the day, you have about 16 degrees Celsius, but the sun is quite strong. Armaye did provide all the camping gear, horses and a horse handler to carry all the equipment and your luggage as well as a cook. He has sleeping bags for high altitude so you won’t freeze during the night. Anyway, take very hot clothes for the night and lighter ones for the day and on the plateau it is windy.