About

Ras Dejen Ethiopia Trekking (RDET) is a travel and tour operator company in Ethiopia providing the best service with well designed tour packages specializing in the northern historical circuit & Simien mountains National park. We have worked to all corners of Ethiopia for six years. Our tour company name was Sammy Ethiopia Tours (one of the highly recommended tour companies in Ethiopia by trip advisor, bradt Ethiopia guide). Based on our customer’s feedback and by considering the benefit of niche market to provide quality service, we became specialists for the north historic route of Ethiopia. (Addis Ababa-Bahirdar-Gondar-Lalibela-Simien Mountains-Axum-Tigray rock hewn churches)

We have weekly fixed departure tour packages to the Simien mountains national park and Monthly fixed departure tour packages to the North historical route of Ethiopia.

We have different categories of tour packages to the Simien Mountains National Park, from one day trip to 10 days trek. If you are a budgeted traveler worrying about your Simien mountains trekking cost, we can join you with the right travel companion (travel buddies) to minimize the cost.

Some of the testimonials from our recent clients

Sean Prior – January 2020

In December 2019, my wife and I went on a four day hike into the SImien Mountains with Sammy. It was a spectacular experience, and I couldn”t recommend him highly enough. We would like to highlight the following: (i) Sammy’s organisation is highly professional. Everything worked liked clockwork, everything which was promised was delivered, and nothing unexpected or unheralded happened. The equipment is also top-notch. Good tents and sleeping bags are absolutely vital, as the temperature drops to close to freezing at night. Sammy’s is excellent – probably the best I’ve seen while hiking, and in many cases noticeable better than others we saw in camp. Sammy also has a knack for finding the best corner of the campsites and arranging, for example, a meal inside the cooking hut on a bitterly cold Christmas Eve, when the other groups ate outside. (ii) Sammy is an extremely nice, warm and engaging person. Being with him is like hiking the mountains with a highly professional friend. In particular, he is using his company to properly promote a sustainable tourism culture which involves and promotes the locals. He sees his company as providing an organised, developing set of opportunities for a large number of Ethiopians, and is articulate in describing this vision. He currently employs more than 25 people and is looking to get this up to 50. (iii) His support team was friendly, professional and absolutely efficient at everything they did. Sammy was extremely clear that he was not in the business of pushing a tipping culture and left it up to us to tip as we felt appropriately (although I strongly recommend leaving good tips – they make a huge difference to the support staff). (iv) He dealt with our group’s altitude issues, a fall I took while crossing some rocks and various other minor issues we threw at him with a relaxed professionalism which was very encouraging. He also is clearly well known and trusted in the community (he comes from Debark, the gateway to the mountains(. Finally, he was great in recommending (and guiding us to) some great spots in Gondar. His speciality may be the Simiens, but he is clearly a good guy to know for other areas in Ethiopia as well. His tours were absolutely value for money, and his communication was first rate. I would very strongly recommend both him and his organisation. Enjoy! Sean

Jacques, Olivier and Xavier – February 2020

We were fully satisfied with the 4-day trek in the Simien Mountains led by Sammy. His knowledge of the place allowed us to discover a remarkable site and landscapes.
On the material level, the two tents were spacious, the mattress sufficiently comfortable and the sleeping bags made it possible to face the negative temperatures of the nights of January.
Thank you to the cooks for the good meals after a day of walking.
We highly recommend Sammy for such an experience.

Daan, Mart and Johan – November 2019

We did a two day, one night trekking in Simien Mountains National Park. We left early in the morning from Gondar en drove via Debark to the entrance of the park where we started the hike to the Jinjabar Camp Site where we slept in a pre-pitched tent. The next day we drove to Chenek where we entered a completely different world. The views and flora and fauna are amazing! After a walk around we drove back to Gondar, What made this trip even better was the very professional and friendly guide we had. His name is Samuel Kasaw and he arranged the transportation, tent and meal perfectly and joined us on the hike. He is truly a good and knowledgeable guide who understands what Western travellers find important (like punctiualty, good food and good material). Greetings, Mart, Daan and Johan

Oscar Gonzalez – December 2019

We went with Sammy Kasaw to the Simien Mountains for a 3 days 3 nights trip and everything was perfect. I was traveling with my 68 years old mother and we really enjoyed our time at the national park. Sammy was ontime when our flight arrive to the airport. I think is really important to see someone with your name on a sign waiting for you so you dont have to worry about contacting people.
We drove directly to the park and dinner was waiting for us that night.
I must said the food was always good. Our chef prepared each meal with love and local spices (always check first with Sammy if you have food restrictions).
Our tent was bigger than the rest of the tents, we could see it was almost brand new. One night we had heavy rain and we were safe dry.
The walks and trails are personalized to your needs. If you are fit or not, Sammy can adapt the walks accordingly. You could have one big walk in the AM and another in the PM. Or only one. Just let him know how you feel and he will adapt. And anyways there is always a van to drive some parts if you dont feel to walk.
The only inconvenient (out of Sammys or any travel agency control) are the out houses and toilets facilities which require definitely more care, most of them are below any regular hygiene standards. Sanitation at the National Park should be a priority.
Besides that, the trip was fabulous. Sammy will make sure you enjoy every moment of your trip. We definitely recommend Sammy Kasaw for your future trip to the Simiens.
Please find his email and WhatsApp here:
+251918211005