2 dage Tigray Kirke

I booked a 2-day tour through Ethio Travel and Tours. Before booking, I checked the company details, contacted the owner directly, and was told that the tours run every day. He then passed me to the manager, who confirmed that a driver would pick me up on the morning of departure. I also specifically asked how many people were in the group, and the manager told me that I was the only one. From my understanding, organizing this kind of tour costs around $200, while I paid only $130 through the platform, meaning they would receive even less after commission. Then, just 3 minutes before departure, they canceled the tour and claimed it was because of the security situation. This immediately seemed suspicious. I spoke to many other guides and agencies that same day, and all of them said that tours were operating normally and nothing unusual had happened. What happened next made it even more obvious that this was not about safety. First, they claimed that the route was too dangerous for me to travel alone. Then, later the same day, they told me that one part of my original itinerary had suddenly become safe again — specifically the Abune Yemata Guh area, where they already had two other people booked for a shared tour the next day — while the rest of the route was supposedly still too dangerous. In other words, for me alone it was unsafe, but for a more profitable shared tour, part of the same route had already become acceptable within a few hours. To test whether they were telling the truth, I contacted them from another account and pretended to be part of a group of three people. I asked them to organize the exact same route that had supposedly been too dangerous for me. Suddenly, everything was possible. The same route that had been presented to me as unsafe became completely fine as soon as it was profitable for them. At that point, it was obvious that the issue was not security, but money. Instead of explaining the situation honestly and trying to find a compromise, they chose to mislead me. Because of this, I lost the 2-day experience I had booked: transport, hotel, and the full itinerary I paid for. Instead, I ended up with a much worse 1-day trip with only partial overlap, had to travel part of the route by public transport, lost the hotel that should have been included, and wasted one of my own hotel nights because of the last-minute cancellation. I also lost nearly a week of my visa time because this disruption ruined the rest of my plans. The most disappointing part was not only the cancellation itself, but the dishonest way it was handled and the complete lack of apology or compensation.

Impressive Abuna Yemata church. I didnt know that is quite dangerous to reach the church 😁 And needed to climb the high wall as well. I came from Danakil and overnite at Mekelle. The scenery all the way from Samara, Mekkelle to the church is so magical. My driver is super fun. Only that the guide is very bad, she knos nothing and kept talking about her problem. If possible, ask ETT not to provide the guide. Because you can do yourself, and when you reach the wall, there are 4 old kind peoples who are ready to help you. For them, I was more than happy to help 🙏 The view from the church is really impressive. But, be careful, DONF FALL 😂 Thank you ETT. ETT has a super good driver

Ashenafi & Gebre manage the trip well. I really enjoy the trip. We did hike to Maryam Korkor & Daniel Korkor on day 1 and to Abuna Yemata Guh on day 2

I did the trip with Ethio Travel and Tours just after the rainy season. It is grean and scenic. Thanks