Journey through the Origins of Ethiopian Coffee

With group members arriving during the afternoon and evening, today is a 'free' day for you to arrive, be transferred to the start hotel, and to shake off any travel fatigue before the start of your adventure in earnest, tomorrow.  Your YellowWood guide will be on hand to welcome you in the evening with an Adventure briefing, and advice on where to grab a bite to eat. Depending on your arrival time, you may wish to explore independently - do contact us for advice on how best to spend your time.

Having rested last night, your adventure begins in earnest this morning with a trip out to a local coffee company, in whose impressive facilities we will see the beans being washed and processed for export. The complex also has a beautiful in-house coffee shop where we will experiment with creating different kinds of drinks. Following this we have an optional (and highly recommended) visit to the Hamlin Fistula Hospital in Addis, run by our linked charity for this adventure; Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia. In the evening we will watch traditional musicians and dancers performing different tribal dances in a culture house, and to sample ‘tej’, honey wine, before dinner at a local restaurant.

First thing this morning, we will hop on a short national flight (not included) down to the SW city of Jimma, meeting our local guide, Bereket, with his minibus transport. From here we will drive the 2 hours to Bonga in the ‘Kafa Biosphere Reserve’, taking in the truly spectacular views along the way. Our guesthouses are located just outside town, amidst beautifully maintained exotic gardens surrounded by acacia trees and jungle. We couldn’t hope for a better-positioned base from which to explore! After settling into our rooms, we will enjoy a leg stretch by climbing to the high point above Bonga, where the King of Kafa previously had his palace. It offers us massive views of the lush area that is our playground for the next few days.  

The local team at Tatmara Coffee Plantation welcome us today, introducing us to our first experience of the famous Ethiopian coffee ceremony. We enjoy some excellent homemade Ethiopian pizza for lunch on site and an interesting and educational walking tour of the facilities and processes, before returning for a second night at our guesthouse in Bonga.

Today is about treating our senses - sights, sounds, smells and tastes! We begin the morning with a 2km round trip walk to see the beautiful Barta waterfall. Not to be missed is the very popular visit to a nearby Bee farm, where our host (who has studied bee keeping) has fluent English and is passionate about his insects!  We see the hives, taste the honey and can buy it direct as souvenirs. This afternoon we drive to Wush Wush Tea plantation, close to Bonga, to see the whole process from leaf picking to drying and creating the finished product.

A 40min drive takes us to the start of a beautiful 3hr walk (round trip) through lush and wild forest, to the ‘Mother Tree’ in Mankira Wild Coffee Forest - the oldest wild coffee tree in the region. We return to Bonga for lunch and a fabulous visit to a family-run Spice Farm. Our hosts speak no English but their warm welcome needs no words, and Bereket will translate for us as needed so that we can understand their trade, and ask any questions we may have.

We will continue our tour by visiting another beautiful coffee plantation; a convenient excuse to keep exploring some of the most stunning scenery in the entire country. We start early for a bumpy 2-3hr drive in 4x4s this morning; this region is like something out of the film 'Medicine Man'…and really it would be criminal to miss it! We will get to see Colobus Monkeys and all manner of tropical birds and wildlife, as well as enjoying a tour of the plantation and a delicious lunch before returning to the now familiar Kafa guesthouse.  

This morning we drive (2hrs) from Bonga to Jimma, a major nerve centre for coffee in the Oromia region. We will visit the colourful palace and museum of Abba Jifar (which houses the previous contents of the palace), King of the Gibe Kingdom of Jimma. The largest and most powerful of the five kingdoms of Gibe, it was established around 1830, when silver Maria Theressa Dollars and bars of salt were the main circulation of currency (the palace itself cost 400kgs of gold and 65000 Maria Theresa Dollars!). Jimma is a very lively town so we can explore the markets and later on enjoy the hotel restaurant for dinner and a comfortable stay in the best hotel in town with modern facilities.

This morning we take a short national flight back to the capital (not included). After freshening up in our rooms we will take a short guided tour of the city with private minibus transport, stopping off at the Red Terror and Ethnographic Museum to get a feel for Addis as a vibrant capital city, and learning more about the history of Ethiopia before our last group dinner in one of the best restaurants in town.

For those of you who have decided not to extend their adventure with the additional visit to Lalibela, this morning we transfer you to the airport for flights out of Addis Ababa. Leaving the beauty of Ethiopia is going to feel all wrong but ‘normal life’ awaits you. It must be time to plan your next escape!