Our family could not have imagined having a more meaningful trip to Ethiopia.  Our youngest daughers were adopted from Ethiopia 12 years ago, so we decided that our family of six would experience the sites and culture of the beautiful country togehter.  Muluken went above and beyond.  Despite the orphanage being closed, he connected us with the orphanage director who knew our girls well.  She was able to provided us with information we didn't know and give us important family documents.  Because of Muluken's engagement and persistence, we were able to locate and connect with dozens of our daughters' family members, including a brother and sister we didn't know existed.  Of course, this was not a part of the original plan, yet Muluken adjusted because he knew it was important to us.  

It is not an overstatement to say that this trip was life changing because of Muluken's commitment to giving our family the best experience possible.  This would have been a 5-star rating without the orphanage and family elements.  I wish I could give him bonus stars.

My husband and I had an excellent day out with Muluken (tour guide) and Birhanu (driver) last week. Muluken is a walking dictionary on Ethiopia. Ask him anything! We learned so much about Ethiopian history and culture. 

Muluken picked us up from our hotel at the agreed time. He was extremely punctual (something that is very important to us!) It was our first time in Ethiopia and we were a little anxious about safety etc but it took us about 2 minutes of being with Muluken to relax and trust him and Birhanu. They are both really lovely and trustworthy guys. 

Birhanu's driving was excellent too. I am quite a nervous passenger usually but I felt completely comfortable with Birhanu's driving. 

I would highly recommend booking a tour with Merit Tours. The city tour we did was excellent as we were short on time and saw SO much more in a day than we would have without Muluken. I particularly enjoyed the lunch in the local house. Also I loved the church murals on top of Mount Entoto: Two things we definitely wouldn't have been able to do ourselves. 

Another small touch I liked was that Muluken uses WhatsApp which made it really easy to be in contact before the tour. Also very nice that he provides water as I forgot to bring any!

We really fell in love with Ethiopia and its people. We will definitely be back and will bring our kids next time. I think kids our kids' age (9 and 11) and over would love it. When we are back, we will be contacting Muluken for a much longer tour of his beautiful country!

Highly recommend this company and happy to answer any questions!

I have just come back from a city tour of Addis Abeba with Muluken. Well chosen sights, thorough knowledge of the country, its history, culture and current events. Muluken was accompanied by an equally good driver, they would make a perfect team. Both were friendly, polite, punctual and fun to talk to. We went to a viewpoint above the Megenagna bus hub, to the Holy Trinity Church, to a coffee cerenony in an informal cafe on Mount Entoto, to the National Museum, to Mercato (which itself would be fascinating enough) and to the African Union Building. Good driving and safety awareness especially around Mercato, you could either stay in the car or walk some hundred meters through the bustling market. This tour gave me tons of impressions and a good overview of Addis Abeba. I would definitely book Muluken again.

Had a great experience with Muluken.

He was able to customize his resources and knowledge  to adapt to the things I was interested in.

We very much enjoyed our tour with Muluken.  We learned much about Ethiopian history and culture and gained an insight into how some people live in and around Addis Ababa. He shared his knowledge in a relaxed and friendly manner in excellent English.  Without his tour we would not have had the confidence to visit some of the locations and so would have missed out.