Julie and I were looking for a different holiday to celebrate my 60th birthday and found it in a two week guided cultural tour of the Omo Valley, Bale Mountains and Rift Valley Lakes.

The tour was operated by Eskinder Hailu’s “Highwaytours” company. We were driven throughout by a very pleasant and competent driver called Yared and our welfare was overseen by a thoughtful and efficient guide called Girma.

Supplementary to this, local specialist guides were provided to enhance our experience. The tour gave us a brief but thorough insight into the different peoples and landscapes that make up this region of Southern Ethiopia.

Our experience was further enhanced by Girma’s ability to communicate with all of the different tribes with whom we came into contact and nothing was too much trouble for him. He did much of our negotiating and all of our bookings; handling money matters and social interaction with ease.

We both thoroughly enjoyed this tour and would heartily recommend the tour and crew to anyone looking for an out of the ordinary holiday.

Ethiopia is a vibrant and exciting country but visitors should be aware that sanitation is not yet a priority in many areas and the use of toilets can be challenging to say the least. It is also a very large country and two weeks can only brush the surface of all it has to offer.

In conclusion, we wholeheartedly recommend Eskinder Hailu and his “Highwaytours” company for your Ethiopian experience.