Excursion to Debre Libanos & Blue Nile River Gorge
Description
AET-AA-003: Debre Libanos & Blue Nile River Gorge [1 day]
Blue Nile Gorge, often called Ethiopia’s own Grand Canyon is found 213 K.M north of Addis Ababa. This majestic and enormous gorge, is known for its magnificent physical feature and alluring natural beauty. After visiting the gorge, you will drive back to Addis en-route visiting Debre Libanos Monastery. Debre Libanos is an important monastic center for Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity. The monastery was founded by the renowned 13th century mystic, St Teklehaimanot.
Before driving back to Addis, we will stop at the Jemma River Gorge. The Jemma River is one of the tributaries of the Nile, and there is a drop of nearly 1000 metros to the valley below. We will walk downhill to the 17th century Portuguese Bridge. Here we can expect to see plenty of birdlife including 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, white cheeked Turaco and Hemprich's hornbill. We will also see one of Ethiopia's endemic mammals, the Gelada or bleeding heart baboon. Leaving the Gorge we drive back to Addis Ababa to arrive Addis late in the afternoon.