4 Days To Bahir Dar Gonder Simien Mountains

Overview

The Simien Mountains National Park in Northern Ethiopia is an exotic setting with unique wildlife and breathtaking views of a landscape shaped by nature and traditional agriculture. The natural beauties of this region have always filled visitors from Ethiopia and abroad with awe. Gentle highland ridges at altitudes above 3600 meters above sea level (m asl), covered with grasses, isolated trees (Erica &bored), and the bizarre Giant Lobelia (Lobelia rhynchopetalum) are found on the high plateau that ends abruptly at 1000- to 2000-m deep escarpments.

Day 1 | Fly Addis Abeba – Bahir Dar

Short flight north to Bahir Dar. Bahir Dar is a pleasant city located on the shores of Lake Tana, the largest lake in Ethiopia. After checking into your hotel, exploring Lake Tana and its islands by boat. There are 37 islands on Lake Tana and 20 of them have churches and monasteries of considerable historical and cultural interest. We visit the monastery churches of Ura Kidane Mihiret, Azwa Mariam, Ura Kidanemihiret is the best known of the monasteries and has an important collection of religious icons from the 16th to 18th centuries A.D. Azwa Mariam is known for its paintings and we also have time to visit the small museum.

Afternoon drive to the Blue Nile Falls, which is known locally as Tissisat (smoking water) the water plunges for 45 m (148 ft), giving rise to steam clouds and rainbows. We climb down to the base of the falls for an up-close look and then ascend the other side the round trip will take about 1hour walking. Than we cross the Blue Nile by boat to return to the point of departure.
Overnight In hotel

Day 2 | Gonder – Royal Enclosure of Fasiledes

Morning Drive to Gonder: Gondar City Sightseeing, Gondar was the first capital city of the Ethiopian Empire, which began in 1632 with the reign of Fasilidas. In Gondar, there are a dozen castles built by various emperors over the course of 236 years. The city seems more European than African and also has Islamic influencejks. In the morning visit Fasilidas’ Palace, probably the most impressive of all the castles found in the area and the oldest one! We continue on to the bath of Fasiledes and Quskuam Church. In the afternoon we visitthe Church Of Debre Berham Selassie (Light of the Trinity). The interior of Debre Berham Selassie is decorated with beautiful frescos, cherubs and paintings. Debre Berham Selassie is rumored to once have been the proposed final resting-place of the Ark of the Covenant and we will visit the colorful market of Gondar.
Overnight in Hotel.

Day 3 | Simien Mountains

Morning Drive to Simien Mountains: on the way to the Simien Mountains visit the village of Ethiopian felasha (black Jewish) than we continue to the Simien Mountains (Simien National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site). The road passes over mountainous areas of wild beauty, drawing close to the Simien Massif.
From Debark town, we will drive to the park gate, which is about 16km from the town. Then, we are heading about 6km to Buit Ras, the first area of the national park. From Buit Ras, we will trek for about 3, 4 hours to Chilkuwanit which is one of the most beautiful viewpoints. This area offers stunning views over the escarpment dropping vertically. You will most certainly encounter troops of the endemic Gelada Baboons and see them up-close.
O.N Gonder Hotel.

Day 4| Gorgora

Drive to Gorgora : Visit the beautiful monastery of Debre Sina Mariam monastery and make boat trip to Brigida Mariam, Man-Endaba monastery and others nearby the lake shore and afternoon drive back to Gondar and end of the tour.