07 Day trip to the north historic route - Ethiopia

We had an excellent time travelling with Yama Tours on this northern adventure. We learned much about Ethiopia and saw sights we never imagined. We sat with Galadriel baboons, saw the rock churches, and experienced some of the culture and history of this part of Ethiopia. Shato, Daniel and other guides were very helpful and informative. We felt safe, enjoyed the food, and the accommodations. We recommend Yama Tours and are grateful for the service they provided. Thank you.

Very good tour company. We did tours of Lalibella, Gondar, and Harar. The tour guides and destinations were excellent. Lalibela was dream-like. The Blue Nile Falls were fantastic but VERY muddy (pack accordingly, if you can). The Lake Tana monasteries were fascinating. Harar was incredible, with a great guide. The hotels were either good or the best available in the town (not every town has a good hotel--especially Harar, check out the Lonely Planet for some entertaining reading on this). Our driver from Harar-Addis was fantastic (even though the drive itself wasn't--more below--but that wasn't his fault at all). The only suggestion I'd make: We flew one direction to Harar, and Yama recommended we drive back to Addis to see the landscape. I would recommend flying both directions. We had ZERO bad experiences in Lalibella, Gondar, and Addis (walking EVERYWHERE in Addis with no one bothering us), but the ride back from Harar was really bad. The roads were okay, actually, but it was: 1. very long (9 hours or so), 2. on a festival day, 3. most negatively, full of ridiculous police stops (literally over 20 of them) with, to put it politely, varying degrees of professionalism (some of the "cops" (many un-uniformed) were clearly high, actively chewing chaat). So, fly both directions and avoid all of this! And the landscape is fantastic all over Ethiopia, so this drive isn't worth it, if you can afford to fly, and we'd seen quite a bit of it on the drive from Dire Dawa. But I'd highly recommend Yama Tours, all of the above destinations, and Ethiopia!

We are a family of two adults and two teenagers who booked the historic Northern circuit without knowing much about Ethiopia. The guides were knowledgeable, professional and on time every single time. The vehicles were all well-maintained and clean and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves during the trip. We hope to come back to this beautiful country again and will not hesitate to engage Yama tours again.