About Us
Lucy Ethiopia Tours: The Authentic Ethiopian Experience.
Lucy Ethiopia Tours is a different kind of tour company. We’re special. When you choose to travel with us, you’re choosing to experience an authentic Ethiopia, our Ethiopia. Our goal is to give you a once-in-a-lifetime adventure… with expert local guides, a community-focused ethos and exceptional routes through our amazing country.
5 Things That Make Us Special:
Lucy Tours is your connection to Ethiopia: one of the most dynamic countries on the planet. When you choose to travel with us, you’re not just a tourist: you’re an esteemed guest in our wonderful home.
1 – Our ethos:
We passionately believe that tourism and travel should enrich local communities and landscapes, not destroy or exploit them: we work with local community leaders to ensure that your adventure has a positive impact on the people and sites you visit. That’s why we advocate sustainability and community-based tourism whenever we can; on our community treks, up to 60% of your money goes straight back into the community and, better still, you’ll actually get to meet the people who benefit from it.
Our aim is to give back more than we take… except the rubbish; we a lways take
that away with us!
2 – Our story:
Lucy Ethiopia Tours is the passion-project of Kiros Zeray, a proud Ethiopian who was born in a small town, just outside of Adigrat. As a child, Kiros trained to be a priest before going on to study at Hawassa University, eventually becoming a
group-tour guide. With over 7 years’ experience as a successful guide behind him,
Kiros established Lucy Ethiopia Tours and the rest is history…
Today Lucy Ethiopia Tours is thriving. We’ve appeared in Lonely Planet and have a 5* rating on TripAdvisor. Our passion for Ethiopia, and strong ethos of ‘giving back’ to the communities we visit, have earned us our positive reputation among local communities; many of whom are now our dear friends and happily welcome us (and you) beyond the usual tourist routes and into their lives.
Through Lucy Ethiopia Tours, Kiros has been able to realise his dream of showing his guests an authentic Ethiopia, from a local’s perspective, while
enriching local communities.
3 – Our community:
Lucy Ethiopia Tours is an Ethiopian-owned private tour company based in Mek’ele and Addis Ababa with connections to local communities spread
throughout Ethiopia. We work with German, Belgian and British partners to welcome visitors from all over the world, including America, Asia and Europe.
In addition to running classic tours on the more popular tourist circuits
(including the Historic Route, Treks through the Simien and Bale Mountains, The
Rift Valley, The Omo Valley and The Afar triangles), we also have some very special contacts, through which you can experience authentic cultural activities
and interact with our communities first-hand.
For example, on one of our community-based treks, you’ll get to: experience
traditional farming activities; participate in cooking, and tasting, Ethiopian local
dishes; perform a coffee ceremony; have your hair plaited in a traditional style; or
spend an afternoon sitting with some local elders who – if you’re lucky – might
even share some of their juiciest traditional stories.
With Lucy Ethiopia Tours, you won’t just visit local communities, you’ll be part of
them for as long as you stay.
When you travel with Lucy Ethiopia Tours you’ll get to choose from our extensive range of pre-made itineraries. Explore the options today through the ITINERARIES page. Or, if you can’t find what you’re looking for, let our team of
expert guides create a unique adventure just for you.
4 – Our guides:
Our guides are all hand-picked and trained by Kiros, and are selected for their
exceptional local-knowledge, leadership and ethos. We believe in providing
opportunities within our local community and our wonderful guides are
testimony to the success of this. You’ll be well-looked after and our small tour
sizes mean you will have the chance to really get to know your guide along the
way.
5 – Our customers :
The people who choose to travel with Lucy Ethiopia Tours are a special kind of
tourist.
You choose us because you want an authentic Ethiopian experience; because
you want to give back more than you take; because you want to meet local
people and communities; because you want more than the typical tourist-circuit
can offer; because you love our country as much as we do.
We’d love you to become part of our Lucy Ethiopia Tours community.