Hiking the Lasta Mountains, Ethiopia

Planet

ENVIRONMENT AND WILDLIFE
In addition to visiting the beautiful churches of Lalibela there are also hiking opportunities around there. Abune Yoseph is the highest mountain in the area where we can also find the Ethiopian Wolf. Environmentally speaking the big threat to the area is the presence of people and and around the area and as a result of this there is human encroachment (overgrazing, intensive farming, deforestation, etc). As we have some agents in Lalibela we usually exchange ideas and experiences on how to conserve these mammals (sharing experience with the Bale and Simien Mountains National Park experts).

People

LOCAL ECONOMY
Lalibela is virtually dependent up on tourism, especially the town residents. In our case we have an agent there, originally born in Lalibela. So he knows the causes of many problems in the surrounding and in collaboration with him we try to reach different local residents (buying local products for our trips), employing local guides, cooks, mule handlers and others. The itinerary of this short trip brings you to some community guesthouses in the mountains above Lalibela, where a big part of your spent money will remain. The current situation is seriously affecting the livelihoods of the many local people and communities who benefit from tourism. For places like Lalibela and the Simien Mountains, the consequences can be particularly severe because tourism is an important source of local income.

EMPLOYMENT INCLUSIVITY AND DIVERSITY
Especially when we are hiking we employ different people from the local community who are selected by the local people and they spend a couple of days with us working in different areas. The more they benefit from tourism, the more responsible they will be and we always make sure that people are treated fairly through our agent.