Community Treks

Community Tourism that works

The Tesfa Tours treks take you on walks through the age-old agrarian landscape of the Ethiopian Highlands, following escarpments with birds of prey soaring in the thermals and Gelada baboon scrambling up and down the cliff face.

We set up community treks in Janamora Woreda in the Simien Mountains – to the south of the National Park, and in Wof Washa Forest, North Shoa, some 140km N.E. of Addis as the crow flies, in addition to the more established Tesfa treks in North Wollo (near Lalibela) and in the Agame mountains of East Tigray. Sadly with the exception of Tigray, these community treks are in Amhara Region and can not be accessed at this time due to ongoing conflict across the region

We are now extending the concept to the Gurage highlands, a zone south west of Addis in the newly created Central Region of Ethiopia. In these beautiful highlands villagers build lovely houses, and we have realised that the community tourism idea can be done through Homestays, as the houses are clean, spacious and comfortable. So we do not need to seek funds for the village to build a guesthouse. We are still working with the whole community, through the elders and so it is not run with one family but the whole village!

I MAY HAVE inadvertently unearthed the perfect holiday: affordable, unforgettable and in one of the most awesome, exotic and unexplored parts of the world. This is a trip that will enrich your life and that you will likely look back on from your deathbed with a smile.

Manchan Magan

You will cross meadows where local shepherd boys keep an eye on their flocks, while their fathers plough the fields, and their sisters collect water in clay pots. This is a window into the ancient world of the Ethiopian highlands with their churches and their way of life. It will be an experience you will never forget!