Managing Director
Vowland Ethiopia Tour and Travel
- Office In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2019)
- Member Of:
- ABATA & ETPA
- Tour Types:
- Custom budget & mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $2,998 to $6,994 per person per day (MXN, excl. int'l flights)
for a custom tour
Your request will be sent directly to the operator
If preferred, you can contact the operator directly
Reviews
CN
Email zxh | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Irresponsible operator. Refuse to refund payment.
We lost $3600 with this operator, and the business owner, Abraham Haftamu, also treated us, the victim, in the most disrespectful way. Our booking experience with Vowland Ethiopia Tour has become a worst nightmare.
In July this year, we decided to book with this operator for our Ethiopia Safari tour. We emailed the official email address, which is under the operator's business website, for booking details. In early July, the operator emailed us the payment links to make the payment of $3600. Afterwards, they also confirmed the receipt of my payments from the same email address. However, we never received a contract, and this got me worried.
A few weeks later, we received emails from Abraham's email address claiming that his business website and email address had been hacked. He didn't receive any payments from us. He initially apologised for the situation and asked if we could pay an extra $1600 for the safari tour. ($600 initial discount he agreed to us, plus $1000 financial support due to the loss he suffered from the website hacking), While communicating the incident, he suddenly flipped his tone and refused to take any responsibility. But instead, claiming my email was hacked, that I was intentionally tracking and attacking his business. That I am a THIEF AND LIAR.
The whole incident is unbelievable. I didn't just lose my money, but also received the most disrespectful treatment.
I don't want to assume the worst for the business, but at least they are extremely irresponsible and refuse to take responsibility for their poor management. They refuse to resolve the issue, and they also refuse to refund any payment. But instead, they insist I am the THIEF and LIAR.
As a customer, this is the worst experience of my life. I hope no one has to experience the same.
I would like to thank the SafariBookings team and their investigation. Thank you for thoroughly looking into the evidence I submitted. I appreciate the time, the effort you gave to this matter.
Reply from Vowland Ethiopia Tour and Travel
Posted on Aug 27, 2025Official Response from Vowland Ethiopia Tour.
We are writing this statement in response to a recent attempt to discredit our company and damage our reputation through false accusations. Our company, Vowland Ethiopia Tour, has served travelers with honesty and professionalism for over eight years, providing quality, trustworthy service to both local and international clients.
❗ Incident Summary:
On April 21, we were contacted by a person requesting a 3-day Danakil Depression tour and a 5-day South Omo Valley tour for three travelers. We agreed on a total package price of $4,200 USD, with a deposit of $1,000 USD required in advance and the remaining $3,200 USD to be paid upon arrival in Addis Ababa.
We provided our official Ethiopian company bank account details for the deposit.
After sending several follow-up emails, we received no response. Then, on July 17, we received two unexpected emails—each under different names.
1. One sender claimed to be in Uzbekistan and promised to transfer the funds by July 20.
2. Another email stated that $3,600 USD had already been transferred on July 3 and requested a contract form.
How questions. How couldn't they deposit the money July 4 if they said in any email we will deposit July 20?? We leave the verdict to your mind who you read this review.
However, upon reviewing the payment, we discovered:
The money was allegedly sent to a company named Yaldo LTD in Sheffield (UK) — not our company. They make false transactions as we have attached to you.
We never use international bank accounts or accept full payment without a contract or service confirmation.
We only requested a $1,000 advance, not full payment.
This raised serious concerns, as the claim of transferring funds contradicts our agreement and protocols.
🚨 Scam Attempt & Investigation:
Following these irregularities, our IT department conducted a full review. It revealed:
Fake email accounts were created to impersonate clients.
False flight tickets and receipts were generated.
A WhatsApp message was later received from a young woman claiming to be the daughter of one of the travelers. She gave vague, contradictory answers and refused a Zoom meeting to resolve the issue.
When asked to speak to her mother (one of the supposed clients), she claimed they could not speak English—even though initial communication and the tour agreement were in English.
Eventually, we requested Ethiopian Airlines to verify the flight tickets. They confirmed that the booking number and names were fake.
📢 Our Stand:
These individuals made false accusations, attempted to scam our company, and now seem intent on damaging our reputation online. We have documented all evidence, including emails, WhatsApp messages, and verification reports from Ethiopian Airlines. And we found this case ETT tour has one who destroyed our company business by sent this women to make all those trouble and loss our trustworthy by our clients.
If these individuals proceed with further defamatory claims or false reviews, we are prepared to pursue legal action through Ethiopian courts for reputational damage and fraud.
BR
Email Breno | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Overall a good experience
That’s overall a good experience, the landscapes are indeed incredibly beautiful, the company is honest and correct, the meals are very simple but I think it’s fair for such remote area where resources for something more elaborated are inpossible, the guide Yonas is an excellent professional: intelligent, helpful, always friendly and respectful, he clearly loves his job! However, sleeping open air close to the volcano is extremely unpleasant and uncomfortable, the night there is very windy and cold and me and many other tourists felt bad and barely could sleep, it should be fixed. Furthermore, the driver was the opposite of the guide: unfriendly and careless regarding our luggages, mine had a damage. Apart from the mentioned minor inconveniences, I recommend this company.
LT
Email WinDee | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Abraham was nice and friendly, driver very professional. About trip writen in description.
Long but Worthwhile Trip
I booked this tour through GetYourGuide, but I didn’t receive any information about the meeting time until the day before the trip when I reached out. I was told to be ready by 7:30 AM. The trip was quite long and physically demanding, as we spent about 6 hours traveling back and forth.
Unfortunately, we didn’t have much time at the Debre Libanos Monastery, which was a bit of a disappointment. We were able to explore the monastery briefly, pray for a couple of minutes, visit the monastery museum, and then quickly head to the Portugal Bridge.
The journey itself is lengthy, but seeing the monastery is definitely worth it. Our guide, Abraham, was incredibly helpful, friendly, and kind. When he learned that it was my friend's birthday, he went out of his way to organize a surprise for him. On the way back to Addis Ababa, we stopped at a café where a cake with two candles was waiting for us. A truly thoughtful and sweet gesture.
As for the cost and the time spent on the trip, it felt a little expensive considering the amount of time spent traveling. The long drive made up the majority of the trip. However, looking at what we saw and experienced, we were ultimately satisfied with the tour.
IT
Email Eleonora Vendetta | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
The best agency you can find
I decided to organize my travel with this agency from the first email, every message was clear and swift, the attention to satisfy every single request to adapt the itinerary on my personal choices and willing was really appreciate. Abraham is a young and talented travel agent, he was always ready to answer my question and to adjust the trip even when I decided to change program during the travel. Compared to other agencies I can say its prices are way more honest, and there is really nothing I can complain about, I left this country really happy to have choosen Vowland as my agency amd I truly reccomand it to any real traveler.
PK
Email Ahmad | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Abraham is the best tour operator, in my experience, in ethiopia!
We took a 4-day tour in Addis Ababa and Wenchi Crater Lake, it was the most pleasant and exciting experience, for the beautiful views but also because of the professionalism and experience of the tour operator. Service, value for money and reliability were all top notch.
IT
Email Mario | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Perfect organisation
We made a personalised tour of Ethiopia together with Abraham: we told him the imprescindibile highlights we wanted to see and how many days we had in total and he organised a tour perfectly fitting for our needs. We had a different, passionate local guide in every place we went. Particularly impressive our 3 days in Danakil and the market and mass experiences in Lalibela.
HK
Email Rosita | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
The travel agency arranged a driver, and the tour guide was very attentive.
The biggest takeaways from this trip were from three people: the driver and the two tour guides. Their meticulous explanations and attentive care throughout the journey made it hard for us to leave this country. We would like to express our sincere gratitude once again to the travel agency for their arrangements.
CA
Email Lilly | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
One Life Time Experinace
We had fabulous 13 days bird waching tour with Vowland Ethiopia tour in awash national park, Bale Mountain and simein it was amazing. All staff and team made our journey unforgettable. We rally thankful Abraham who organized this trip and made our bird watching Photographer tour become true. We recommended Abraham and his company
CN
Email renne | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Vowland is Great
We had a wonderful day trip to Wenchi Crater Lake along with an Addis Ababa city tour, and the entire experience was truly fabulous. Our guide Kenaw and driver NEebeyu welcomed us warmly and made us feel completely at home throughout the journey. The traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony was an unforgettable highlight one of the most unique and authentic cultural experiences we’ve ever had in Ethiopia.
We highly recommend this tour to anyone planning to visit Ethiopia or explore Addis Ababa. It was exceptional from start to finish!
HR
Email Srna | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Unforgettable experience in Ethiopia
This was an unforgettable cultural and culinary experience that I would recommend to everyone. All of our guides were very friendly and helpful. I wish we had more time to see other parts of this beautiful country. Definitely a place to go back to. Very glad we went despite the unfortunate warnings that Ethiopia was unsafe because we found those not to be true.