Marco Degasper

I had wanted to go to Ethiopia for sometime, when it was decided I searched the internet for a company that could deliver the tour that I wanted.
I found kimkim and through them found Marco from Simien Eco Tours.
I also looked at least 3 other tour operators. I had a specific list of things I wanted to see and was open to suggestions of what else Ethiopia had to offer. I specifically wanted to go to Aksum, Lalibela and the archaeology site where 'Lucy' was found. I emailed Marco stating as... read more

I had wanted to go to Ethiopia for sometime, when it was decided I searched the internet for a company that could deliver the tour that I wanted.
I found kimkim and through them found Marco from Simien Eco Tours.
I also looked at least 3 other tour operators. I had a specific list of things I wanted to see and was open to suggestions of what else Ethiopia had to offer. I specifically wanted to go to Aksum, Lalibela and the archaeology site where 'Lucy' was found. I emailed Marco stating as much and his first reaction to the Lucy site was 'why would you want to go there, there is nothing there'.
I must admit I was a bit annoyed that I received this reply and responded with 'Because I want to!'. His reply to me was a detailed itinerary of our trip which included the northern historic tour of Bahir Dar, Gondar, the Simien Mountains, Aksum, Lalibela and then a drive to Samera and the Lucy site. The fact that he immediately responded to the request of the client sealed the deal with me.
The itinerary was more than I had anticipated and was delivered very professionally.
We were met at the airport by Marco taken to our hotel to freshen up from the long trip. We met a short time later and he advised us of our trip in the days ahead. We were taken to see the National Museum and the displays therein. My focus was on Lucy and I was not disappointed. However, if you are looking for a museum similar to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo then you will be disappointed. This is Ethiopia and I think that western tourism is in its infancy, the infrastructure is still a work in progress.
We were then taken to lunch, to be introduced to the local food, injera. We went to the Taitu Hotel, as Marco advised it is in a seriously rundown condition, there are bedrooms, but you certainly wouldn't stay there, however the restaurant hadn’t changed in a hundred years and the food was great. And he wasn't wrong, it is a great restaurant for the tourist to begin. Marco had to beg off after lunch and left us with Mohamed and a driver, we were asked where we wanted to go and decided to have a look at the Mercato Markets.
We also spoke about other things to do in Addis, the only other choice was a church. We don't go travelling without doing some research on the place and I already knew that there is not a lot to do in one day for a tourist in Addis. We were happy with the Mercato for a couple of hours.
Marco picked us up in the morning and took us to the airport for our flight to Bahir Dar where we would meet our guide Yirga who would look after us for the next 12 days.
The flight was uneventful and were met an hour later by Yirga and our driver Awasha. Over the next 12 days Yirga was the best. His English was excellent, his knowledge of all things Ethiopian fantastic. He told us that he had been a guide for at least 15 years, this certainly showed, what really impressed me was his enthusiasm.
Bahir Dar was excellent, a trip to the Blue Nile Falls, a boat trip to the 14th century monastery was a great day the next day we drove to Gondar. At Gondar we had a guide (I apologize for not remembering his name) who showed us around the castle (palace) and a couple of churches. One thing which always pleases me is the knowledge that the guides have of what they are showing you. The castle you might be able to see in half an hour, with the guide we spent 2 -3 hours and learned so much, I wish I could remember it all.
On to the Simien Mountains the next day. A simply wonderful drive, we arrived early afternoon and after checking in Yirga suggested a short walk. He loves trekking and short walk to him was 2 hours, fortunately for us it was all downhill!! Along the way we saw a small group of gelada baboons, several different birds and many species of plants all which Yirga knew the English names.
We were met 2 hours later by our driver with the car and were driven back up the lodge. We were stopped by a large group of gelada's. Having these animals within an arm’s reach was quite remarkable.
Next day off to Aksum. Aksum is a very holy city and if you don't know anything about it get on the internet and do your research, 2 days was not enough. Again, Yirga made sure that we were Ok and again provided us with a guide for the city and surrounds and again everything was exceptional.
We flew to Lalibela and were met with a new driver, Bekele, a great driver and a very nice man.
Again, we had a great guide and again we had a great time in Lalibela. Lalibela is the hone to the rock hewn churches and they do not disappoint. After spending a day and a half looking at the churches, we went to the open-air market. It was Saturday and market day, and what a great market this is, through the household goods, pots, pans etc through the vegetable area, through the meat market, meat was still live on the hoof, sheep, goats and cattle. Then onto the grain, wheat, split peas, tef, all for sale (tef is the grain they use to make injera) Then onto the spices, what a great day.
A quick note on the hotels we stayed at, as earlier stated tourism infrastructure is still a work in progress, the hotels look nice and the staff are unbelievably friendly and accommodating, but not everything works as you might like, accept the small inconveniences as a work in progress and have a good chuckle. You don't live there, are only in Ethiopia for a short time so enjoy.
For me the best was yet to come. We had a long drive to the city of Samera, not that it is far in distance but the roads, goats, sheep, cows, people on the road slow you down a bit. However, the scenery was fantastic. We drove for about 7 hours with a couple of stops for coffee and lunch.
The next day we drove south to the Hadar region, stopped in a small town to negotiate with the town mayor for the right to drive to the Lucy site, all the official paperwork in order and off we go across the landscape, we had to take the town mayor and another. Along the way we went through an administration centre, a few buildings in the middle of nowhere, we picked up the local policeman (not sure why) and set off for another 45 minutes through the landscape.
We arrived, walked for about 10 minutes over hill and dale and came to a stone cairn with a plaque stating that Lucy was discovered here in 1974. There was much backslapping, hi-fiveing and hand shaking, why because it turns out that we are the very first tourist to ever visit this site. Over the years there have been a few archaeological groups come out and survey or dig, a couple of documentary groups but never any tourists except us. It was Yirga's first time as well and he was as excited as us.
I know that I have waffled on a bit, but I wanted to try and give you an account of the great trip we had in Ethiopia. I cannot praise Marco enough for the organisation of the trip that he put in, there was no hiccups. Yirga, what can I say about this young man, except that his attention to us, our needs and wants went far beyond what I was expecting. I have no doubt that he provides this level of service to all his clients and he will truly make your holiday memorable.
To Marco and Yirga and all who made our holiday what it was, I can only say Ameseginalehu.

Visited Addis Abbaba, LALIBELA, Gondar, Simien Mountains. The places were in an itinerary suggested by Marco after evaluating my personal interests. I saw amazing churches with amazing architecture, sat with wild baboons, tried cultural foods and unexpected dancing! This trip was amazing. I would recommend Ethiopia for a unique travel experience and definitely recommend this company!

Marco was disorganized and did not have your stereotypical tour guide personality. He constantly couldn't answer basic questions like "what do locals eat" or "what church are we touring?" Then there was no one waiting for us when we arrived at the airport in Lalibela. I was expecting to book a LOCAL guide, but all the places we were taken to in Addis Ababa were what we would call "tourist traps" - buffet dinner for tour groups and shopping stops for major tour companies. Definitely not what we signed up for!

I didn't enjoy Addis Ababa, but the local guide in Lalibela was great.

I have been traveling internationally all my life, and have been to 50+ countries and counting. In my experience, there are 2 kinds of tour companies - the big bus kind, where everything is regimented - you stay at hotels and eat at restaurants that cater to tours, and are given a strictly regimented, one-size-fits-all itinerary, where you get picked up and bused around all day, passively being fed information by a guide who recites factoids over a microphone at each known tourist spot, and... read more

I have been traveling internationally all my life, and have been to 50+ countries and counting. In my experience, there are 2 kinds of tour companies - the big bus kind, where everything is regimented - you stay at hotels and eat at restaurants that cater to tours, and are given a strictly regimented, one-size-fits-all itinerary, where you get picked up and bused around all day, passively being fed information by a guide who recites factoids over a microphone at each known tourist spot, and gives you 10-15 minutes to wander around on your own before hustling you back on the bus to head to the next spot. Then there are the kind that offer tours that cater to your specific interests and needs. Where they ask you what kinds of things you’re interested in doing, and find ways to make that happen. I’ve done the former when traveling with my first-generation, elderly parents who really like the comfort of having everything handled for them when they’re on holiday, and who don’t mind tourist traps at all, but when I’m on my own or with friends, I always guide/explore myself or opt for the latter.

This October, my friend and I wanted to go to Ethiopia, among other places in East Africa,and thought with a tagline like “book unique trips, customized to your needs, with the help of reliable local travel specialists,” Kimkim would provide us with a guide or guides in the know who would not only be able to show us the top sights, but give us a true taste of local culture. Unfortunately for us, Kimkim did not deliver, despite being backed by former TripAdvisor top dogs and having strong reviews, which I now am firmly convinced were all fake reviews written by friends and family. In fact, what we had with Kimkim was the worst of all worlds - we neither had the comfort/security of a big bus tour where everything runs like clock work, nor anything one could say was unique in any way other than uniquely poorly planned.

Marco was our local Kimkim liaison. He was incredibly responsive during the booking phase, but that’s where that ended.

We booked a 3.5 day tour in Ethiopia through Kimkim, planning to spend the first half-day and last day in Addis Ababa and the intervening 2 days in Lalibela. Marco was going to guide us in Addis Ababa, and hand us off to someone else in Lalibela.

I was upset pretty much from the minute we landed in Addis Ababa. Here’s why. Apparently, a few weeks before we arrived, Ethiopia enacted new laws requiring people to register mobile phones at the airport when entering the country in an effort to combat counterfeit phones. Marco did not think to alert us of this. In fact, my friend only found out from him just before we boarded our flight to Addis because she planned to get a Sim card in Ethiopia and was asking him about it. He did not tell me or tell her to tell me, and we assumed I did not need to do it because my phone is not unlocked and therefore I was not eligible to get a local Sim card anyway. So imagine my surprise when I cleared customs and exited the airport, only to have Marco tell me that he thought maybe I might have to register my phone even just to use WiFi and that I should try to go back into the airport and do it. Ethiopia, however, is very strict about airport security, and does not allow anyone who has already exited the airport to simply reenter. In this day and age, where everyone has a mobile phone and often relies on it for work - which both of us were having to do to some degree while in Ethiopia - we did not understand how a local specialist would not think this was extremely pertinent information to share with all visitors. Suffice to say we felt we had gotten off on the wrong foot.

Our flight was delayed 20 minutes, and it was around 2 when we wrapped up at the airport, and we were starved. So we asked about local snack foods. But were told that Ethiopians don’t have any snacks. We did eventually end up at a juice bar getting fresh juice that was quite lovely, but we found it impossible to believe that there were no uniquely Ethiopian snack options at all.

Then we were supposed to do an afternoon city tour. We were taken to Trinity Cathedral where the last emperor, Haile Selassie, is entombed. According to Lonely Planet, this is the second-most important place of worship in the entire country of Ethiopia. As of today, TripAdvisor ranks it #4 of all things to do in Addis Ababa. In short, it’s a pretty significant stop for any visitor to Addis Ababa, not to mention important to locals. As we were walking up, I asked Marco how old it was. He said he did not know and that the deacon would probably be able to tell us. We were pretty stunned. Neither of us had ever had a local guide who did not know such basics about key monuments. And because the deacon could not speak much English, and our so-called local guide could not speak more than a few words of the local language (!!!), we basically spent a few minutes walking quickly around the cathedral in near silence, taking pictures of interesting looking things.

After we left the cathedral, we sat in the car for several minutes because we apparently had an hour to kill before dinner and Marco did not know what to do with us in the interim. It got to the point where we were throwing out suggestions - “What about taking us where you might take your friends or family when they come to visit? Are there any monuments? Parks? Cafes? Art galleries?” At the word, “gallery,” Marco perked up and said he knew of a place. So we relaxed, thinking we were going to see some local art. But it turned out that the “gallery” was one of those cheesy souvenir shops on the big bus tours routes, where they follow you around and try to sell you everything for a “good price.”

Finally, we escaped and headed to dinner. We were excited for our first real meal in Ethiopia. Also, Marco had told us we would see a traditional coffee ceremony and traditional dances being performed there. We wound up at… a big bus tour restaurant with a giant Ethiopian airlines mural on the outside and an Ethiopian airlines model plane suspended from the ceiling. We were greeted with, “are you with a [tour] company?” And we learned Marco hadn’t even made reservations for us. Then we saw other big group tours ordering a la carte food to be brought out so their guests could at least enjoy them served in a traditional way, but we were directed to a long buffet that literally had fake pictures of fire taped along the side. The traditional dancers were dressed in far from traditional neon dress. And the traditional coffee ceremony girl sat around looking bored and annoyed and talking on her mobile phone. Ultimately, we were told there would not be a coffee ceremony after all and that we could catch one at Lalibela. The only saving grace was that the food was actually quite good, despite being served in a big bus tour cafeteria with zero ambience. Because we had to leave for the airport before 6 am the next day, before we were dropped off at our hotel, we asked Marco to please send us the name and contact information for our Lalibela guide so we could know who to look for when we landed. But that never happened.

When we landed in Lalibela, we walked around the tiny arrivals area outside searching for signs with our names. Nothing. Then we pulled out the only itinerary Marco had provided us to see if there was a company or hotel name on it. All it said was “Accommodations - Lalibela Lodge or similar.” Everyone else on our flight had been scooped up by their respective guides and hotel shuttles and was long gone. We were literally the only people left standing at the airport, and were desperately trying to make use of the WiFi signal emanating from the baggage claim area to contact Marco as they started locking up the airport - it appeared that there was only our one flight coming in at that time - and yelling at us to move along. Reps from other tour companies and hotels were milling around us, trying to offer their help in getting to town or finding our tour company or hotel. They kept asking, understandably, “what is the name of your hotel? What is the name of your tour company?” But that was not information we had ever been given despite having asked for it.

Eventually, our driver came. And to be honest, from that point on, aside from one additional snafu with how the meals that were supposed to be included were paid for, our time in Lalibela was great. We had a legitimate local guide take us around the churches that Lalibela is famous for. He had grown up in Lalibela, had worshipped at these churches his entire life, and was a fount of knowledge about their history, the art displayed in them, and the practices. We mentioned having missed out on the coffee ceremony in Addis Ababa and wanting to try local tej (honey) wine, and he made sure both happened during our short time in Lalibela. So, to be completely fair and give credit where credit is due, we were really happy with our Lalibela experience.

We returned to spend our last day in Ethiopia with Marco in Addis Ababa. We really hoped that things would improve. And to be fair, in some regards it did seem as though he was genuinely trying, but just falling short. We went to lunch, and then to get coffee at a famous local spot. Marco then mentioned he had remembered an Ethiopian snack called Kola, but when my friend asked if we could try it, he said he would think about it and never followed through. As it turns out, we saw Kola at the airpot as we were leaving the next day - it is like a nut mix that you would be able to buy in any supermarket or gas station. Then we went to Mount Entoto to see city views from a high point and visit another significant church, which I now know is the Maryam Church, but which Marco could not even tell us the name of even as he was taking us there to see it. When we asked him the name, he told us it was probably on the sign. Then when we got to the museum attached to the church, instead of waiting for the museum guide, he hurried us around, pointing to things and making very obvious but fairly meaningless remarks like, “this is a crown.”

Then he took us to a market filled with 300+ stalls that mostly sold identical looking traditional Ethiopian dresses but had no recommendations as to which stalls were better than others, so we gave up after a short while and moved on… to a juice bar, where he had invited a friend to meet him. Which would have been OK with us, except that the friend apparently was unable to find the place, so Marco got up, ostensibly to go help her, and left us sitting alone in the juice bar for 20 minutes, wondering if we had been abandoned and should try to make our way back to our hotel on our own. Then, Marco tried to take us to the wrong hotel despite us having told him a number of times, including at his request, where we were staying the last night since we were responsible for booking our own place for the last night.

In sum, with the exception of Lalibela (post airport arrival trauma, of course), we felt that our overall experience with Kimkim was incredibly sub-par and disappointing and left us feeling like we had been sold a false bill of goods. We paid over $1000 pp for less than 4 full days (with Kimkim pocketing 5%) because we were promised we would have local specialist with in-depth knowledge of Ethiopia take care of all the details, and what we got for our money was no better, and likely much worse, than if we had just booked directly with the local guides in Lalibela and tried to muddle through Addis Ababa alone with a copy of Lonely Planet and the TripAdvisor app. Which is honestly what I urge everyone considering Kimkim to do instead. I cannot in good conscience recommend this company to anyone after the time we had.

Even though there were some mild challenges, Marco was able to rectify everything which made the experience better than what my boyfriend initially anticipated.

Marco was ABSOLUTELY amazing! I would recommend him to any and everyone.

The attention from Marco during all the searching and booking process was great, and the fact that you could pay all the travel costs through one platform made things very easy.

He developed different travel proposals for me and give me all kind of recommendations and advice.

The trip allowed us to visit many exceptional sites accompanied by professionals, exploring and learning as we went. We especially appreciated the attention to our interests and the design of a trip that met our needs. Highlights were too many to mention but included - great visits to the Blue Nile, the Simien Mountains with opportunities to visit with the Gelada, Lalibela, and Addis. The guides were consistently pleasant, knowledgeable, and helpful.

Marco has a great understanding of the... read more

The trip allowed us to visit many exceptional sites accompanied by professionals, exploring and learning as we went. We especially appreciated the attention to our interests and the design of a trip that met our needs. Highlights were too many to mention but included - great visits to the Blue Nile, the Simien Mountains with opportunities to visit with the Gelada, Lalibela, and Addis. The guides were consistently pleasant, knowledgeable, and helpful.

Marco has a great understanding of the country and opportunities to both see and experience it and an excellent ability to recruit team members across Ethiopia to support the trip.

Really enjoyed our trip and our experience with the guides was fantastic. The whole experience went smoothly and SimienEcoTours and their guides are a large reason for our ability to immerse ourselves into the Ethiopian natural and cultural environment.

Marco was very responsive before the trip, kept track of our experience to make sure all was well along the way, and served as a local guide in Addis as well.

Really loved using kimkim. Made everything really simple and convenient. All aspects of the trip were great. The highlights of the trip were the guides - both Bekele and Tadele were awesome to hang out with. I liked pulling over to talk to random people on the street and going on spontaneous adventures. It felt like a bunch of friends hanging out rather than a guided tour.