Travel to Omo ValleyMy friend and I, both women in our 60s, recently visited Ethiopia. We started our travels with a tour to the Omo Valley, spending 10 days traveling through the most fascinating places imaginable! The Tour Company we picked is called, "Bona Fide Ethiopia Tours". You can easily find it at the Internet(TripAdvisor) in Bahir Dar. The phone number is: +251 (0) 918 026 386. The e-mail address is www.bona-fideethiopiatours.com.My friend and I are well-seasoned travelers and have been on many tours. While I can not say I ever really had a disaster tour, I can honestly say that some tours were better than others. Temesgen's tour is definitely up there with the best! He and his employees are professional, polite, respectful, and very knowledgeable of the culture and the history of Ethiopia. They have excellent English skills, and were able to explain the details of the many sights we encountered each day of our tour. Our driver Teddy, was excellent. How he was able to navigate roads that looked like paths to nowhere, is beyond me. I still can not believe we never got lost! Our guide, Mule, knows the Omo valley like the back of his hand. A great guide, a great driver, and a comfortable, safe car, are absolute MUSTS for a successful tour to the Omo valley. At the time of our travel, the weather was very hot. The bottled pack drinking water provided by Temesgen was an extra perk!Bona Fide Ethiopia Tours gives a great deal for a very reasonable rate. I can't say enough good things about our tour, and dealing the Bona Fide Ethiopia. We were given as much flexibility as we wanted in terms of stopping to eat, stopping to take pictures, stopping when we saw folks on the side of the road selling mangos, baskets, and wood carvings, or stopping to have a cup of delicious Ethiopian coffee&free Farewell dinner at a traditional Ethiopian restaurant have experiences featuring dancers and musicians representing some of the country's many ethnic groups.

Temesgen (Tommy) is amazing tour guide. He was verytalented, knowledgeable and competent guide in bahir dar of the ancient Lake Tana monasteries and the Blue Nile waterfall; actually we meet temesgen through another company b/c he works freelance.He offer us unique opportunities to meet local people and he help as to learn and know their culture history and natures, I know there are many other great guides in bahir dar but Temesgen (Tommy) is a warm gentle person who loves his country! What I do understand from him! he highly gives consideration and more emphasis to treat his guests and find their safety, security and satisfactions! We enjoy and entertained a lot on his services in bahir dar and I do highly recommend his business!

I am writing to express once again my special gratitude to you and your collegues at Bona Fide Ethiopia Tours & Travel, as well as to the guides and drives in Addis Ababa, Bahir Dar, Gonder, Semien Mountain National Parks, Axum and Lalibela, Bale mountain national park, Awassa,We couldn’t have had a better experience from the very beginning of our planning for the trip. I greatly appreciated the immediate responses from you, as we developed the plans. From our perspective, the plans all worked out very well during all of the days of sightseeing in Addis Ababa, east south and North #Ethiopia. You are clearly a well managed operation! As I recall, all of the meetings we had arranged were timely, and we were never kept waiting. You also went out of your way to make sure we had everything we needed, like the hotel receipt for Addis, Bahir Dar, Lalibela & Axum. Most important, we learned much from you about history of Ethiopia, wildlife and current life and enjoyed your company throughout. We were also welcomed by the drivers and guides in Bahir Dar, Gonder, Axum, bale Mountain & Lalibela, who were flexible and worked hard to meet our needs too.Thank you once again for all you did to assure a most memorable and enjoyable trip.

Temesgen! Well all satisfied in your well magement teams & I sincerely recommend traveling with Bonafide Ethiopia Tours agency. They provide very professional services, they are extremely well organized and flexibly adapt to the customer's suggestions. We are Ethiopian families living USA with three children’s; for our children’s it is first time came to Ethiopia, during our one-week trip to the north Ethiopia All the services given by the company were excellent. i was very much happy that my children’s getting be acquainted with about their roots. And in some destination we enjoyed spending time visiting relatives and our driver "Halie" always support us to meet up our relatives. And we believe that they can organize an excellent tour to meet your needs, too.Kindly BirhanuWashington Dc(Ethiopia)

My 5 friends and I, decided to undertake a 17-days tour of the historical & Cultural northern & southern part of Ethiopia in the first two weeks of April 2015. Apart from what we had read in Bradt’s Guide & TripAdvisor Forum to Ethiopia we had very little knowledge of the country so we asked Temesgen (who had been recommended to us) to organize an itinerary with a budgeted pricing as we are students.He came back to us very quickly with suggested itineraries covering city tour of Addis Ababa, Bahir Dar, Gondar, the Simien Mountain, Axum, Lalibela, Langano, arbaminich and dawn the lower Omo Valley. He offered us either all-inclusive or bed and breakfast basis tours, and the use of a 4WD with driver, and his own services as tour guide throughout the 17 day trip.In fact we had to cut out Axum due to time restrictions but we covered all the other centers and Temesgen and his drivers took us efficiently from center to center with the minimum of fuss. We had organized our own accommodation in Addis Ababa and from there Temesgen took us to Bahir Dar, Gondar, semine, Lalibela, arbaminich, turmi and Jinka. where he had booked accommodation for us in the best available hotels. He arranged all the local guides together with the obligatory armed scout in the Simiens & Mago Park visit Mursi. We did one or two legs of the trip by plane which we in fact organized ourselves though I am sure that Temesgen would have been happy to organize these too.Temesgen’ knowledge of Ethiopian calture, architecture, Nature, birds, history sites and of the country’s wildlife was encyclopedic and he and his drivers were excellent company throughout the trip.All in all we cannot praise his services too highly and, if you too are planning a trip to the Authentic Ethiopia, we have no hesitation in recommending Temesgen’s Company “www.bona-fideethiopiatours.com” for a visit to this utterly surprising, fascinating, and interesting country.

I traveled to Ethiopia in January, 2013. Temesgen was my guide for 6 days in the north, and he was just wonderful! Besides being competent, reliable and organized, he was kind and caring. Temea went way beyond what I expected, taking so much extra time to give us a terrific experience. For example, in Bahir Dar, after a full day, he picked us up after dinner to take us on a walk around the town at night, stopping to have coffee with us at a special coffee shop. In Gondar, again he picked us up to take us to a dance club at night. On the drives from one town to another, he was always looking for good experiences for us. When we saw an animal market, he stopped and we all walked around the market, taking pictures. He looked for families along the road to stop and talk to, and farmers baling hay. And Temea was so kind, not only to us but to our driver. When we wanted to leave our hotel to eat dinner in town, he took us to lovely restaurants and made sure the driver, as well as himself, ate with us to keep us company. Temea really knows Ethiopia. He has been all over the country and he loves it. He told us that he loves his country and wants to help us love it as much as he does - and he did! By the time we left, we felt like he was not just a guide, but a friend. I am hoping to return to Ethiopia, and when I do, I will be using Temea again!

Temesgen is very knowledgeable of the history of his country and made all of our tours very special. We really got to see the 'inside' of Ethiopia. I could not have been more pleased."

Temesgen Agumas - an ideal guide for anyone who wishes to have a safe and wonderful trip across Ethiopia we just returned home, after nearly two weeks in Northern Ethiopia. Our guide Temesgen Agumas, from start to finish along with his driver Abdul gave us a great experience throughout our stay in Ethiopia. They were most helpful and clearly exceeded our expectations. They helped us plan our itinerary before our arrival and were extremely thorough, reliable, flexible and knowledgeable on every aspect of our trip. They are highly professional, prompt, responsive, easy to communicate with in English and were quite trust worthy. They were very focused on our comfort, preferences and interests. They took care of all big and small details, thus letting us get the most out of our visit. We feel that we certainly got full value for the fees we paid them and would highly recommend Temesgen and his team to anyone who wishes to have a quality experience in this beautiful country. You can search for Temesgen Agumas or visit his website: WWW.bona-fideethiopiatours.com Happy and enriching travels!!!

Hey Tommy, we are back to home safely! We have just ended a 19 days trip arranged by Bona Fide Ethiopia Tours and Travel Agent to historical & a lower Omo valley. We visited many historical sights in Northern Ethiopia, wildlife in a few national parks & different ethnic groups of the south where we experienced cultures that we have never seen before. We were so lucky to see the bull-jumping of the Hammar people which was just amazing! We were very satisfied with the hotels and the food-also we had the most amazing two people as tour guides and drivers who made our trip unforgettable. Actually we were dealing to guiding by Temesgen the owner of Bona Fide Ethiopia tours, unfortunately, he was sick before we start a tour and shifted to his best friend Getnet to take care of us a Guide. Thanks to Temesgen even if he wasn't with us he checking us every day through phones how things going on! All in all, we would like to say thank you Temesge & his stuff for the unforgettable tour in Ethiopia

My husband and I had a great experience travelling with Temea in northern Ethiopia. We took a boat to the monasteries on islands ofLake Tana, and then drove on to Gondar then the magnificent Semien mountains to hike and see the Gelada Baboons. Timket festival brought us back to Gondar to experience this celebration. Temea had a great insight into what appeals to tourists along with thorough explanations of the local culture and history. He was kind and pleasant to all of the local guides plus our driver. I highly recommend Temea as a guide; as he is attentive to detail which includes not only careful planning but also a few surprises! We sensed he is caring and honest plus very pleasant to spend multiple days travelling with. We hope to someday return to Ethiopia and visit Temea.

My wife and I recently traveled in Ethiopia with a travel agency of bona fide Ethiopia tours. He has started his own tour business as he worked a guide for different company for more than 5 years; Temesgen (Tommy) is young but experienced. He went out of his way to fulfill our every wish. He has enthusiasm for his job and is well informed on Ethiopian history and culture. You could not travel with a better guide. I am sure that his prices would be more than competitive. I recommend that you at least consider him as your guide and best tour operator. My sister-in-law (my wife’s sister) is considering traveling to Ethiopia, perhaps with Tommy as her guide after in the New Year so there is a possibility that you could travel together and have your costs. As far as safety is concerned, we had no trouble whatsoever. We found the people very welcoming and friendly. We traveled for 12 days on the historic route, then across to the east to Harar (well worth the trip). If you were to choose Tommy as your guide, I’m sure you would be completely safe.

Hi! Temesgen was our guide last week (january 2014), when we spent one week tour in the north of the country (Addis - Lalibela - Debre Tabor - Gonder - Kossoyé - Bahir Dar - Addis). He was really helpful before we arrived there, to help us preparing our trip by email, giving good advice and helping with booking our hotels. First we have contacted him to rent a van. And then he has helped us to book the hotels we couldn't reach by phone. The van we got was perfect, large enough for 8 travelers (6 adults and 2 young children, 5 and 2 years old), and in good condition. We had a driver, Bayu, who was also really good, friendly, always happy to guide us, driving safely and Amharic speaker, which is so helpful!... And as he knew all the roads and paths, it was easy to move from one village to the other. Finally, we met Temesgen at the end of our road trip. He organized his planning to be with us for 2 days and guided us to visit the Blue Nile Falls. The last night, he invited us for a nice dinner on Lake Tana lakeshore, and to see a fantastic show in a bar. There were singers and traditional dancers, it was crazy!!! We had so much fun!... And for our last day in Addis, we asked him if possible to have a van for the day. It was not planned but he managed to find someone to drive us, and took care of everything!... So yes, we really advise everyone to choose Temesgen as guide! He is so professional and friendly!

When I started researching for my trip to Ethiopia, I came across this post but I was wary about contacting Temesgen and his company bona-Fide Ethiopia Tours, although I always prefer to work with small companies. You know, Ethiopia sounds a bit untrustworthy... So at first I contacted the big companies and just got poor standard itineraries for high prices that didn't match my requirements and budget at all. Then I decided to ask Temesgen and he immediately suggested a great itinerary for a very reasonable price. His emails were sometimes a bit difficult to understand (his spoken English is perfect, though) but he always addressed my concerns and explained everything in detail. So I booked and off I was to spend 21 days in Ethiopia last Christmas! All the services I got from him were very professional and efficient. I had two drivers, one for the Southern route and one for the Northern route, who were excellent. Their English might not have been the best but we understood each other and had fun. In the South, Temesgen came along, which is something I must be thankful for because he showed me lots of things and answered my great load of questions. In the North, I had a different guide in every city, being all of them very competent. Temesgen, drivers, and guides were always ready to walk the extra mile to make my experience even better. I learned and saw so many things, that finally, my trip was unforgettable and hassle-free! So I can recommend Temesgen and his company wholeheartedly. I'll for a sure book his services again when I go back to visit Eastern Ethiopia one day.

I had the same great experience with Tommy and Bona Fide Ethiopia Tours. We had a great time doing a two week road trip with Temesgen Aguma (Tommy). We went from Addis to Bahir Dar, Simien Mountains and right up to Mekelle. Tommy had a great vehicle - Land Cruiser and brought along a great driver too.My tips:1. spend more time in the Simien Mountains. We just did a one day visit.2. I liked driving btw alot of people fly in to each destination and i think miss a lot of the country and people.But with Tommy - you are in safe hands. He knows everyone and is meticulous in organising a great trip.

Bona Fide Ethiopia Tour and Travel live up to their name. We looked into the window of the past by visiting the Rift valley where Lucy was found, the inexplicable monolithic obelisks of Axum and the amazing hewn-rock churches of Lallibella. The people who work with the company are excellent and we have no hesitation in recommending this company to anyone who has an adventurous nature and loves the challenge of travel. Best regards, Mrs Britt from Australia Trip Advisor forum reviews, For a very special occasion we contacted Bona Fide Ethiopia Tour and Travel, this company based on the center of Bahir Dar a town which is the jumping place of the historical circuit, we wanted the director, Temesgen Agumas, to organize a 2.5 week trip through Ethiopia during January 2015. We were difficult customers. We had our special demands about our destinations and about our lodgings. As well as we are a students we was limited in budget, Mr Temesgen patiently changed plans we mailed to him as our departure date drew nearer and nearer. Our trip was finally arranged completely according to our wishes. Temesgen seems to have his contacts everywhere. The local guides were well-informed of what assistance we wanted and, equally important, what we did not want: an over-organized trip with no possibility for a change of plans along the way. Our expedition into the Danakil (salt)desert, from the city of Mekele, was an experience which lead us close to the Eritrean border (and at 42 degrees Celsius almost melted us). Again this leg was meticulously organized by Tenesgen. On the whole we are extremely grateful for everything he did for us. I Would not hesitate to recommend him as a location fixer, the flexible and professional services of temesgn's great office to everyone who wishes to visit Ethiopia on their own terms

It has been an amazing trip to Ethiopia in Feb 2015; We felt the freedom to enjoy many areas "off the path" and still felt safe and secure in our exploration. Going to an actual home and enjoying coffee in the hostess was special, and unforgotable. Visiting the clinic and school in Bahir Dar was very nice too. Our tour guide & Operator did an exceptional job handling of all the inevitable issues that arose during the trip with professionalism and diplomacy. Excellent job! I am proud to recommended Temesgen's company.

My husband and I have just returned from a tour of north and south Ethiopia organized by Temesgen (Tommy) and I agree with everything that has written above. Tommy organization was almost flawless, he was endlessly flexible, delightfully friendly and helpful, and he produced for us a truly memorable holiday. I would not hesitate to recommend him and his associate friends who working with him in Gondor, semine mountain, Lalibela, Axum and the Omo valley to anyone visiting Ethiopia

My wife and I just came back from 10 days in South Ethiopia with Temesgen Aguma owner of Bona Fide Ethiopian Tours.We came to Ethiopia with little knowledge about the country and what to expect, just the idea that it is going to be a new experience, one that we have never experienced before, and thanks to Temesgen Agumas the result was much more than we could ever imagine.Due to his rich knowledge we learned a lot about the country and its people from various aspects, Teme succeeded to share with us his fillings and love to his country emphasizing the rich culture and tradition of the people in south EthiopiaTeme’s kindness and concern that we will always have the facilities to feel as comfortable as possible even in remote places, where living conditions were quite poor, was outstanding and more than we could expect.We were really lucky to have Teme as our guide and are sure that without him it wouldn’t have been the sameWe do not have any business connection with Bona Fide company, nor with Teme himself, we had a wonderful time and wanted to share it with you and recommend his services.

Hi! I recently visited my friend working in Ethiopia. After staying some days in Addis Ababa, we traveled to the north, via the Lake Tana (Bahir Dar). Here we met our fantastic tour Guide, temesgen (Tommy), who took us on a tour to the ancient monasteries of Lake Tana and the big air open market. It was magnificent! Tommy is an excellent guide, very knowledgeable (he loves to answer every question you may have about every aspect) and very friendly!! Actually, as Tommy told us he organizing tours and he works as a freelance guide for different companies and we could see it how he had gradual enrichment of himself with specialization and proficiency knowledge of the sites! It was an awesome tour and I am very glad that we found such a qualified guide. Thank you for the delightful time in Bahir dar!

We toured several African countries during March through June, 2013. In May, we decided to change our plans to include visiting Lalibela and the Simien Mountains, Ethiopia. We found recommendations for Temesgen or Tommy on the Internet, and contacted him very shortly before we wished to travel. He was easy to contact and very responsive to our requests, which included some last minute changes on flight arrangements. Young fellow Tommy arranged all of our flights and ground transportation within Ethiopia as well as our accommodations in Lalibela, bahir dar his permanent living place, Axum, tigray rock hewn church he do unforgettable things as professional he is the one who propose our trip to tigray rock hewn church to sow it and it was the most marvels place to see it for people who is strong to clip up the rocks to reach on top and see those fabulous rock hewn church but it is tuff and Gondar (the accommodations were very good). Tommy also arranged a three day trek in the Simien Mountains, for us, including guides, cook, pack animals, etc. Everyone involved was excellent to work with. Another thing which we found very helpful was his willingness to change money for us, which was very convenient. All in all, we found temesgen or Tommy to be easy to work with accommodating to our last minute changes, knowledgeable, organized and energetic. We recommend tommy and his associates without reservation.