VAST Ethiopia Tours — Attraction in Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa and the forty thieves If you enjoy being lied to and manipulated then Vast tours Ethipia is the perfect company for you! Habtu the manager quoted me €7700 for a 2 week luxury, full-bored tour with a driver, a guide, private cultural events and a special birthday party. I wired him 50%. Then I changed my mind regarding the meals and wanted bed and breakfast only. When I asked him to reduce the price, he said that €7700 was for bed and breakfast and full bored was €8200!! I told him that figure is completely new to me, he said someone just forgot to change the paragraph from “full bored” to “half bored”! and left it at that! every time I write him an email, he asked me to call him back, Which made it very hard for me to keep record and easy for him change his word! Before my arrival, I asked him to make sure I got rooms with king size beds, it’s a luxury tour after all, he told me that he booked me in standard single rooms and asked for an additional €650 ($770) for an upgrade, he said because hotels charge double occupancy for king size beds!!! I told him I’ll jus do it directly with hotels, but he said I needed to pay in advance if I wanted his discount! I told him to keep the booking as it is. some of the hotels had only king size beds, one hotel asked for $40, another $20, the last one $9!!!! All the upgrades cost me less than a $100!! He said he booked for the guide to stay in the same hotels as me in case I needed anything, The guide had to arrange his own accommodation! The guide was always late in the morning, we missed our flight from Addis to Gondor because of his tardiness! He said I had a special birthday prepared for me, a bull jump ceremony! the bull jump was on the 19th, my birthday is on the 20th! It was just a coincidence, he had nothing to do with it! As for the “private cultural events” I only got one! It was a visit to a village with a BBQ. The rest I had to pay for, not much, $40 max, but still, it was meant to be included! Not feeling the tour, I decided to cut the trip shorter, they helped me with changing the flight tickets, I paid the fees, no problem here. A couple of hotels they were able to reschedule without extras. I paid for three nights at the Sheraton, I stayed for one, I asked them to change remaining reservations to fit my new dates, but they didn’t and said it was been paid for and it was non refundable. I checked with the hotel, they said that Vast Tours canceled on time and didn’t have to pay a single dollar! They pocketed around $700, and I had to pay extra to stay in Addis! Habtu tried to take advantage of me and over charge few times. He quoted me €1500 for Addis to Zimbabwe air ticket, when I checked with the Ethiopian airlines it was €1045. I asked for a vintage car tour in Addis, he managed to find me one, but was very secretive about the price, and tried to include it in with the down payment without getting back to me! later I discovered he wanted €1000 for a day tour in a 70’s Mercedes!! The last day, before taking me to the airport, the guide was trying to convince me that habtu was out of town and his assistant was handling my itinerary and any negative review will cost her her job! I was on the phone with Habtu, the manager, not his assistant!!! They took me for granted and now they want to take me for a fool! Habtu had a couple of opportunities to salvage this situation, but his greed obviously was greater than his costumers...

I have always been fascinated by the history of Ethiopia, therefore from my quick online search i found Gondar highly recommended for a vacation, and Indeed It was. With all the details of my trip taken care of the Vast Ethiopia Tours Team - Mr Habtu and Mr Golden the tour guide. Golden, he is not only funny but quite knowledgable about the history and culture of Ethiopia. Both Mr. Habtu and Golden skills of communication, skills of the english language, and humour made this historical tour memorable.

My trip Started in Addis Ababa, a flight to and a lodging facility tailored to my specifications in Gondar, were handled by Mr Habtu. A wonderful stay at Mentewab lodge in the hills of Gondar and the next morning, I hear a knock on my door , Who is there? - "Ato Golden” said the tour Guide. I step out of the room and from the hills he points to the city of Gondar - there was just another magical moment of the trip - Seeing the morning clouds rubbing shoulders with the 400 years Fasil Castle was super spectacular. And there goes humorous Golden again, “well, if you like the view, how about you consider staying here forever”, he said to me. There was enough laughter, lots of historic info and knowledge being passed on to me, and I am learning so much about this delightfully charming country as we drove to the castle itself, visited the Selasie Church. I enjoyed other super cool mountainous terrain views of Gondar and beyond from Goha hotel, then traditional lunch at Four Sisters Restaurant, You should try it.

During this 4-day four day trip I surely thank to Habtu and Golden , I am the kind of traveler who can easily change what i want do when i get to a place, so time and again i could switch from the program and Vast Tours were very accommodating of my demands, like the on the 3rd day I requested to take a 4 hour lesson in Amharic, After all i was in the Amhara region, to which they had no objection and quickly rescheduled the other activities. Vast Ethiopia Tours went way beyond my expectations on many occasions during the trip, nice experience and multi-skilled skill staff. i look forward to my next trip with Mr. Golden and Habtu in the other parts of Ethiopia some day. Until then, ...

Vast Tours made our vacation awesome. Their rates were affordable and the tours carefully tailored. During the days of our trip for 6 people, the driver was friendly, professional, flexible and knowledgeable about the history of the rock cut churches of Lalibela, this is an amazing village-town in the hills and surrounded by the Lasta mountains. The tour guide in conjunction with Vast tours in addis ababa were very improvising and accommodating of many changes in our itinerary to ensure we ultimate fun. They are a great option for our Lalibala, Axum and Danakil tours,...