Blog - Page 5

Last Saturday on November 21 fifty riders climbed up the Rift Valley escarpment at Ankober for the good cause. The first edition of our charity bike ride 'Ride the Rift' from Afar to the Ankober Palace was organized by four Ethiopian tour operators - SimienEcoTours, Dynasty Ethiopia Tours, Tesfa Tours and Ethio Cycling Holidays.
‘Ride the Rift’ is an initiative to support freelance tourism providers all over Ethiopia that are worst affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.It was an amazing weekend with more than 500,000 ETB raised for the good cause! Participants and their families had a great time and enjoyed the great atmosphere at the camp as well as at Ankober Lodge.

After more than half a year since the outbreak of the pandemic, Ethiopia re-opened for tourism again and we do know that safety will be one of the major concerns of travelers but also for our employees. To support the country's safe travel efforts at attraction sites, in hotels and restaurants tour operators are at the forefront to promote safe travel and train employees accordingly. A first COVID-19 Safe Travel Training has been conducted in our Addis Ababa office on October 16, 2020.

Ethiopia is re-opening its doors again to receive first guests after all necessary precautions have been put in place to make sure tourists can travel safely. However, borders have never been fully closed and internal travel restrictions where comparatively sound which was a great chance for the SimienEcoTours team to travel ourselves over the last couple of months and discover new destinations, get a personal feeling how it’s like to travel in Ethiopia during the pandemic and prepare great once in a lifetime opportunities for people willing to travel soon.

Ethiopia is widely known as ‘the cradle of mankind’ and home to ancient civilizations with an immense cultural heritage. But did you ever consider the country as an outdoor destination? You definitely should! In this article our Travel Expert Marco shares some of his favorite and Ethiopia’s best outdoor experiences!

The country is one of the most diverse in Africa—from rugged landscapes with deep canyons and the highest mountain ranges of Africa to evergreen rain forests with amazing endemic wildlife and deserts where the African Rift Valley pulls apart the continent and active volcanoes arise.

With a diverse desert landscape, adventure awaits you in Ethiopia’s Danakil Depression. Long ago, an ocean shaped these lands and left behind fossils, corals, and salt flats. Nowadays active volcanoes shape these landscapes at the edge of the Great African Rift Valley. It's the perfect destination to discover some of the world’s most fascinating volcanoes and active geological processes.

This hostile region is the home of the Afar people, who make a living harvesting and transporting precious salt to markets in the Ethiopian highlands. For centuries, camel caravans have plied their way across the deserts carrying salt.