VET Staff

Habtu Tekeba

Vast Ethiopia Tours owner and founder, Habtu Tekeba, graduated in Tourism in 2007 and has devoted his life to VET ever since. Since childhood, he has walked hand in hand with tourists and tourism in Ethiopia. His hometown of Lalibela is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and boasts Ethiopia's number one tourist site. He remember playing in the "mystical" rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, today he takes tour groups to see the sites.

Since its foundation, running Vast Ethiopia Tours has provided Habtu with a depth of knowledge and experience in the tourism sector, and he has begun to embrace the virtues of eco-tourism and sustainable tourism.

Travelers and adventure seekers can rely on Habtu's expertise in making the perfect travel arrangements with Vast Ethiopia Tours (VET). Don't hesitate to contact him.

Vast Ethiopia Tours
Mobile: +251-912-071-695 Office: +251-11-662-4997 Fax: +251-116-6212-93
habtu@vastethiopiatours.com , info@vastethiopiatours.com
P.O. Box 23881 code 1000 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Chris Kurtz
Travel Consultant
6936 N.Campbell Portland OR 97217 USA ebcef@yahoo.com

Chris is along term resident of Ethiopia and an avid traveler who has been on many, many tours and to many far flung and wonderful places in Ethiopia. It was a logical next step for Chris, to invest in this beloved country of his childhood by becoming a partner in a touring business. Chris speaks comfortably in Amharic, the unifying language in Ethiopia, and has a great deal of experience with other cultures.

Chris wasn't born in Ethiopia, but in infancy his first memories were incubated by a tropical and high altitude sun. The song of cow bells and the smell of eucalyptus smoke from a country breakfast fire can still bring pulsing images to mind from that childhood. He left the country of his youth in 1977 as a junior in high school. The decision to become a teacher ultimately led him back to Ethiopia where he taught English for two years. An experience with a young boy and his pigeons resulted in a children's book co-authored with his sister, Jane Kurtz. Since then, Jane and Chris have worked together not just on their writing projects, but also on establishing libraries for children in Ethiopia.

Chris's many visits to Ethiopia gave him the opportunity to travel and become more familiar with the rich history of Ethiopia as well as to take on Habtu as his tour organizer. What began as a tourist/tour guide relationship glided naturally into a business partnership and Chris and Habtu hope to treat many, many visitors to unforgettable moments in travel.

Nico Parkinson
Tour Operator and Tour Guide
Originally from Utah, Nico loves traveling, climbing and speaking local languages to negotiate a hot meal or a place to put his tent. He has guided trekking tours in the Andes for the past two years.
He is now working with Vast Ethiopia Tours to discover new trekking routes and create Unique Tours that other operators are not offering. Nico created and ran Nico Tours for almost two years in Santiago, Chile, taking hikers into the majestic Andes.
Since Ethiopia is almost completely covered in mountains, he thought it would be a good place to go. And if you're lucky on your trek, his Chilean dog Mino may come along.

Habtewold Belay
Freelance tour guide Vast Ethiopia Tours
Mr Habtewold Belay is a freelance tour guide and often works for Vast Ethiopia Tours. Habtewold grew up in Lalibela and moved to Dessie in the region of Welo, where he studied to be a teacher. He then worked in various schools for more than five years when he finally changed his profession to tourism in order to promote the beauty and history of Ethiopia to the outside world. He then began studying foreign languages and learned English, German and French. Thanks to his vast knowledge of Ethopia and ability to communicate in foreign languages, he is today one of Ethiopia's most famous guides with more than 15 years of experience behind him.