A Day Trip to Debre Libanos Monastery and Portuguese bridge

Highlights

Inclusions

Itinerary

1. Debre Libanos is an important monastic center for Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity. The monastery there was founded by the renowned 13th-century mystic, Saint Teclehaimanot, and there is a small cave near the church (which is of recent construction) where he is said to have stood for seven years on one leg, until the other was wasted away and dropped off. On this tour, visitors can combine history and culture with some good bird watching. As we pass through the Sululta Plain, we can visit the Oromo people's roundhouse to experience the local life. Also, you will see birds like black-winged plovers, wattled ibis, blue-winged geese, common cranes, and wheat ears.

   2 h

2. The Jemma River is one of the Nile's tributaries, and the valley below has a drop of nearly 1000 meters. Here at the gorge (and in the forest around the church), we can expect to see the Banded Barbet, the Black-headed Forest Oriole, the White-billed Starling, the Red-billed Starling, the White-winged Cliff Chat, the White-backed Black Tit, the White-cheeked Turaco, and Hemprich’s Hornbill. We will also see one of Ethiopia’s endemic mammals, the Gelada, or bleeding heart baboon. (In the gorge, we will see a variety of vultures: Lamergeyer’s, Ruppell's, and Lappet-faced vultures.)

   3 hAdmission included

Cancellation

Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the experience starts, for a full refund.

Reviews

Ratings come from 9 reviews collected by our booking partner. They are travellers' own words, in the order they were written — never reordered to flatter the experience.

Know before you go

How it compares in Addis Ababa

• Its from-price is 70% below the median of the 564 experiences we list in Addis Ababa.
• It is shorter than most of them.
• By number of reviews it ranks 114 of 564.
• The operator lists free cancellation on it.

About Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital, stands high on a plateau among eucalyptus-covered hills, with museums, markets, churches and African Union offices.

At around 2,400 metres, Addis Ababa is one of the highest capitals in the world, laid out on the slopes of the Entoto hills. The National Museum of Ethiopia tells the story of human origins through Lucy, a 3.2-million-year-old partial skeleton found in the country in 1974, while the Ethnological Museum is housed in a former imperial palace. Holy Trinity Cathedral and Saint George Cathedral are important churches, and Meskel Square hosts large gatherings.

Top-ranked sights in Addis Ababa: National Museum of Ethiopia, Mt. Entoto, IES Ethnographic Museum (Addis Ababa University).

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