The two days in Lalibela was by far the peak and summit of my trip to Ethiopia and a dream come true. However, apart from the visits, the best thing by far about being in Ethiopia was the people.

I had such fun with them and they are an extremely friendly nation – the guides, in particular, were fantastic, knowledgable and always keen to show you some extra places. Also worth mentioning is the agent, Eskinder, who went flat out to ensure that everything ran smoothly and was always able to go the extra mile for his customers – a real hero.

Prepare yourself for a completely different culture to your own, be open minded, be ready to have some amazing experiences and see some amazing sites. Importantly, don’t worry – the guides and agents are fantastic and will go out of their way to make sure that you enjoy yourself and have a great experience.

As I stayed at local hotels, ate in local restaurants and shopped locally, I feel that the local people definitely benefitted in some way. Regarding environmental impacts and conservation, I can’t really comment apart from that I know our party didn’t disturb any of the natural environments with litter or such things.