Welcome to our next newsletter which comes with the recent news from SimienEcoTours and Ethiopia.
Tigray reopens for tourism - and we have been there!
We're delighted to announce that as one of the first Ethiopian tour operators we have been to Tigray, to witness the reopening of tourism there. We wanted to experience the unconditional love, hospitality, and kindness of the Tigray people, the beautiful landscapes, the breath-taking views from every mountain and the spiritually rich churches and monasteries. Our absence from this region is just about three years, but it has a feeling of three centuries and more. What now matters most is the empowerment, courage and mental strength to reopen and restart – for us and more than all for the people in Tigray. Read here in our blog article more about our visit there.
Marco and Mark also discussed about tourism in Tigray during an online webinar organized by the Dutch organization CBI and Ethiopia Specialists and which is available on Youtube here.
Understanding Rastafarianism: Lorenzo explains the Kebra Negast
As second topic of this newsletter you find something really educational. There's a lot of misconceptions and prejudices about Rastafarianism. Let's dismantle these and learn the real roots of this movement which is not all about Bob Marley and Reggae. Our employee Lorenzo Mazzoni is expert in Ethiopian history, religion, music and culture, and there is no other person who can better explain the true Rastafari movement than him. Have a read in this blog article!
On the Ethiopian TV with programs about paragliding and GM Marco Degasper
In the past months SimienEcoTours and its manager Marco Degasper have been featured on the famous Ethiopian TV Channel EBS, in 2 different programs about paragliding in Ethiopia and another. Unfortunately both programs are available in Amharic language only:
After successfully overcoming 2 crises like Covid-19 and the conflict in the Northern part of the country, we organized again the annual training for our internal staff and freelance tourism professionals. We found it important to bring together all these professionals after such a long time - to reconnect, spend some valuable time together, improve our knowledge and fill the small gaps that this long time with few job opportunities inevitably created.
In the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee held in Saudi Arabia on 18th September UNESCO granted the world heritage status to the Gedeo Cultural Landscape and the Bale Mountain National Park (official sources: Gedeo & Bale Mnts.). Now Ethiopia has 11 registered heritage sites, more than any other African country.
Hope to hear you soon! Feel free to get in touch with us, we’d be happy to hear news from you as well. Best regards from Ethiopia,
