Simien Mountains – 4 Days

The nature there is stunning. We loved our group (11 pax is a great amount of people) and appreciate the hard work of the chef who served two amazing dinners in a really basic environment (we saw the kitchen, wow). Unfortunately we also have some major critical points that we want to share. First of all: the beginning. We were the first to be picked up and drove around Gondar for 1,5 hours for picking up food, people, more food, drinks etc. Samy is not the right guide for the mountain tracking. He didn’t know much about the environment, the plants or the animals. On the first day, he led us right into a thunderstorm, on the second day her led us right into ice rain. While everybody got wet he started to panic and didn’t know what to do. When the group started to criticize that, her ran off and didn’t care about the group anymore. Three people got sick because of the altitude. No one cared. The group complained about the hiking speed which he didn’t seem to care off. I wished he had listened to the scouts instead of showing off what a great guy he wants to be. I personally find it very odd to pose like a Taliban with a Ak47 and ask people to take a picture of him. And is it really necessary to wear the exact same T-shirt three days in a row? But what really pisses me off is the accommodation. I don’t mind sleeping in a community lodge but they were full of bed bugs. I hate bed bugs! There was no possibility to wash your hands after trecking and there was also no campfire to warm up after you got soaking wet while hiking through the thunderstorm. On the second day we shared the lodge with at least 20 Ethiopians and I think The guide subrentet the lodge. There was also no first aid kid or rope in case of an accident what I personally find quite dangerous. We also run a bit short on food. More food was coming only after the group complaint about the hunger (and assume food was bought and kept for other purposes). All in all I think it should be organized a lot better. On the way back to Gondar we got picked up in the base camp with a car that run short on gas. Surprisingly we ran out of gas some 20 km before Gondar after passing a couple of gas stations. We hope that this feedback helps to improve the next tours cause I think there is a lot of potential. We wrote a email to the company haven’t gotten any reaction.

THANK YOU! The trip you arranged for us met and exceeded all our expectations our tour guide, was the key ingredient that made things happened. We followed generally the prepared schedule but made modifications to accommodate our needs to minimize walking. Thanks again for everything.

We had a really amazing trip with David as our guide for 4 days of trekking in the Simien Mountains. What an incredible park -- stunning views and an environment that's truly unique (I've never seen another landscape like it). We got to see tons of geladas up close and personal, in addition to a few walia ibex from a bit farther away. The camping experience was very good, our food was delicious and filling every day, and the porters and cook staff were all friendly and extremely accommodating. David did a great job of setting a comfortable walking pace every day on the trek, and provided us with plenty of laughs and incredible stories, especially about guiding David Attenborough when he visited the Simiens to film a documentary. No part of the trek felt uncomfortably difficult or strenuous, though if you're not used to higher altitudes be prepared for a bit of huffing and puffing as you acclimatize.

Just finished my second trip with ETT the first was to the southern Ethiopia with guide Daniel this one was to Danakil with guide Zenebe. Both trips were an adventure to remember I am sold on this company’s professionalism and welcoming atmosphere the guides are great fun and extremely friendly and helpful and the group of guys on the trips where great too. If you travel solo, with a friend or your partner it’s a great experience.

We had a wonderful time in the Siemen mountain with ETT. We want to say many thanks to the ETT Team for organizing the trip and for making all these moments possible, thank you Yonas for being the best Guide you can ask for, having always a smile on his face. We highly recommend ETT