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Ethiopia's Meskel Festival

Duration
9 nights
Price
£3,413 pp.
Location
Ethiopia Holidays, Africa
Meskel Best

History, Mountains, Wildlife and the Meskel Festivities

Enjoy Ethiopia's famed Historical Highlights and attend Meskel

This tour was not able to take place in 2023 due to the political unrest in the northern part of Ethiopia.

If the situation improves during 2024 we do intend to run all our Ethiopia small group tours, so please call or email to office if you’d like to register your interest.

This small-group set departure tour departs in September 2023 and includes both Ethiopia's famed historical circuit (including Gondar, Lalibela, Bahir Dar and Axum) as well as the unique Meskel Festival - one of Ethiopia's most significant religous festivals and undoubtedbly one of the most impressive.

Meskel, which roughly translates as the 'Finding of the True Cross', is a Christian holiday in the Ethiopian Orthodox church and commenemorates the discovery of the True Cross by the Roman Empress Helena in the fourth century. The festivities are held in Meskel Square (named after the festival) in Addis Ababa and includes the burning of a large bonfire known as 'Demera' - based on the belief that the Empress had a revelation in a dream that she must build a large bonfire and the direction of the resulting smoke would show here where the True Cross was buried.

Accompanied by an expert cultural guide, you'll arrive in Addis Ababa in time to see crowds gathering for the procession of the cross, followed by the lighting of the massive pyre that is the Demera and the jubiliant celebrations that follow. In a country with many religious festivals, Meskel is undoubtedly a highlight - a fact recognised by UNESCO who have listed Meskel as an item of global "Intangible Cultural Heritage"

Following the festival - the group departs on the historical route, as well as a visit to the magnificent scenery of the Simien Mountains National Park, where you can also see wildlife such as the iconic Gelada monkeys and the Walia Ibex Another spectacular geographical feature included in the tour is a visit to the Blue Nile Falls, one of Ethiopia's best known attractions near Lake Tana.

In all, for those keen on seeing the best of Ethiopia's Historical attractions, combined with the spectacle of a major religous festival and a wonderful mix of mountains, waterfalls, lakeland and dry country scenery - this small group tour represents a wonderful choice.

Other Ethiopia group tours
Timket in Addis Ababa -- We also operate a second Timket Tour - view the full itinerary. This follows a very similar itinerary but starts three days earlier so that the group can experience the Timket celebrations in Gondar rather than Addis.

Timket in Gondar --We also operate a second Timket Tour - view full itinerary. This follows a very similar itinerary but starts three days earlier so that the group can experience the Timket celebrations in Gondar rather than Addis.

Please note our small group tours to Ethiopia operate with a maximum of 10 participants + our specialist guides. This allows you to explore Ethiopia with other like-minded individuals at excellent value - but take note spaces are limited and this tour does sell out quickly.

Some images are by Fikreselassie Admassu


Trip Itinerary

Day 1: 26th Sept 2023 Welcome to Addis Ababa

Day 2: 27th Sept 2023 Meskel Festival

Day 3: 28th Sept 2023 Island Monasteries and lakeland

Day 4: 29 Sept 2023 Gondar and Simien Mountains

Day 5: 30th Sept 2023 Hike the Simiens Mountains

Day 6: 1st Oct 2023 Mountains and castles

Day 7: 2nd Oct 2023 Flight to Lalibela

Day 3: 3rd Oct 2023 More of Lalibela

Day 9: 4th Oct 2023 Flight to Axum

Day 10: 5th Oct 2023 Axum and Addis Ababa

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Ben

Ben

Founder

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