This was absolutely amazing. We drove from Addis about 45 minutes to a spectacular viewpoint of the city and our guide, Alex, pointed out the landmarks. Then, we drove another hour to a coffee break overlooking the Rift Valley, with our guide providing fun facts and answering our questions all along the way. We got to Debre Libanos and toured the church, built in 1961, and the museum. Then, we hiked up to the 13th century monastery, where we stumbled upon an exorcism! After looking inside the monastery (one room where the founder of the monastery is said to have prayed for 29 years that is now filled with assorted plastic buckets to catch "holy water" dripping from the ceiling, we walked back down to the van. We drove to the Ethio-German Hotel for lunch (the best meal I had while in Addis), and then hiked about two miles long the Rift Valley to see the Portuguese Bridge and track down baboons (we saw about 200)! Really, a perfect day with a perfect tour guide. Hope for Alex!

awesome experience

This was another informative and interesting trip. We were fortunate to have the entire trip to ourselves. The guide was rich with information and helped us learn more about the rich history in the area. We had the chance to stop and visit a small village. I suggest this tour to others.

It was good to get out of the husutle and bustle of Addis and experience the countryside on the way to and from the monastery and the Washa Gadel Canyon where we saw Lammergeyer vultures and gelada monkeys while having a lovely lunch in a restaurant on the canyon edge.

this tour is a MUST if visiting Addis and want to see some epic mountains and views!! We felt safe throughout the trip. The tour guide and driver were both experts in their field. We were a group of four of different ages and nationalities and everyone enjoyed. Would highly recommend!