Short Tours 

You are in Ethiopia for a few days, on business or in transit and quite rightly want to take in something of the country before leaving.   This section, Ethiopian Quadrants’ Short Tours – will help you to make best use of your time, explaining what there is to see and do in the time available. Ethiopia is a fascinating and diverse country and once you have sampled it, it is inevitable that you will come back for more.  If you have the time, the 2 days can easily be extended into 3, as most of the places described here are well worth a second night.

These tours are all road journeys, but it is possible to visit places on the Historic Route – Axum, Lalibela, Gondar and Bahir Dar – or Harer via Dire Dawa – by air, flying out one day from Addis Ababa and returning the following day. Ask us for more details.

For both your short and longer trips Ethiopian Quadrants will provide advice on the itinerary, good vehicles, experienced guides and the best service at reasonable rates.

Introduction 

If you take Addis Ababa as the hub, there are 6 main roads coming out like spokes to the North, North East, South East, South, South West and West.

To the north is the Gojjam road, to Debre Libanos, the Blue Nile Gorge and Bahir Dar. The road to the northeast is the Dessie or Asmara Road, which will take visitors to the Senbete Market, Kombolcha and Dessie. Travelling south and south east we can take the Expressway, staying on it if we are continuing east, to Awash and Harer, and getting off at Mojo if we are going south to the Rift Valley lakes.

The road directly south is the Butajira road, the road to the southwest is the Jimma Road, while the road to the West is the Ambo Road – the last two meet in Gambella near the border with Sudan.

On these routes there are a variety of attractions for visitors, from historic and religious sites, to bird life and wild life and places of scenic beauty. For convenience sake we will take each route in turn, starting with Addis Ababa itself. While some visitors may be less interested in bird life, the birds we can expect to see will be mentioned in each tour.