Gonder to Lalibela car share

Why not try and interact with the local people more wilddog.
Part of travelling is the getting there not just the location. Try not to overfly the country otherwise you miss sooo much.
Try and go in one direction instead of backtracking. This way you will have more time in each place and the pace will be less frenetic.

If you are in Gondar, then this is the best place to organize the Simien treks.
Also check out Bahir Dar, the most relaxed Ethiopian town.
Have you considered travelling on the Lake either north or south from Gregora. A very primitive experience.

There is not a lot to see in Addis, the regional areas are the most interesting.

Hiring a car?! They may take away your budget traveler credentials--just kidding wilddog ;-)

No doubt about it, a private car is most comfortable. You might also consider doing a ride share in an Ethiopian private vehicle. I managed Gonder to Lalibela in one long day.

I agree with Simsy that a stop in Bahir Dar is worthwhile. From there it is much easier to make it to Lalibela in one day by public transport.

There must be a reason why you would consider back-tracking. Is there an event that you want to be in Lalibela for?

Peace,

BB

Not really a local people kind of interacting person I'm afraid...I'm too suspicious, same at home! sad but true.
We are in Bahir Dar before Gonder. so its better to go from there to Lalibela?
We'd be best going straight to Gonder and book Simiens in Debark then back to Bahir dar and from there to Lalibela? Its just that I've got info on some good hotels in Gonder to try and get lifts from, Bahir Dar seems less likely for us to get a lift or share one.

Is the new bus plying the Lalibela route? I am on a budget but I do draw the line at dangerous and rickety buses, so it needs to be safe, thats why I'm thinking of car sharing, more comfy and quicker if the bus is a wreck!

ha ha, thats quite funny wilddog.
To my knowledge there arent too many flash buses in that part of the world. They are safe though.
Hiring a car is expensive as they come with driver. If you want budget you will have to go by bus.

The only negative i can see is if you just roll up and try to organize a group going to the Simiens from Debark, you might be dissappointed. Its not like there are hoards going there. IMO its better to try from Gondar where there are more travellers. Its a bit of a luck thing.

Good luck!

The "new" (company started in Dec. 2008) bus is called Sky Bus; their website is http://www.skybusethiopia.com/
Its quite good, but they only do the major centers on good roads (Addis->Gonder, for example ... they also went to Dire Dawa/Harar, and Mekele); not to Lalilbela.

Lalibela was my last stop so I flew in/out (seemed like most people flew) but I met a few who hired cars, though finding others to share will take luck ... its the usual Ethiopian rich/poor tourist problem (the poor wont pay and the rich wont share). But you never know ... everyone is going to Lalibela eventually ...

One of the pleasures or pains for that matter is getting to the different places as would the locals.
It is the best way to meet the locals, share some of their hardships and you may actually make friends and stay at their homes.

Flying into Lalibela is not the way IMO.
Travelling on their rough roads, feeling the isolation of their community with each passing kilometre, stopping in some back of beyond village to drop off a passenger. That is getting to Lalibela.

@simsy
There were several locals on my flights around Ethiopia. There are many wealthy Ethiopians I met on my trip. So there are different ways the locals travel.
I have done bush taxies and 7 hour rides on a back of a pickup truck to cross a distance of about 120 km, but while I am glad I have experienced it, I would not mind doing the same distance in a comfortable 4WD.
For example, In Bahir Dar I told my guide I would like to rough it and we took a local bus to the Blue nile falls (it felt a waste of money to rent a car just for me to go to see the falls), but I didn't complain when on the way back he hitched us a lift with a local guide who took some friends from Addis to see the falls in his brand new 4WD. I got to talk to these guys, all locals in one way or the other. My Amharic stops at counting to 100 saying hello, please thank you and goodbye, and ordering simple food and drink, so even if I spent 24 hours on the bus with the locals, if the language barrier was there how would I communicate.

By travelling on the bus you are not really sharing the hardships of the locals. Their hardship is about limited access to education and health care, about general poverty, lack of infrastructure, about the difficult political situation, not a bumpy bus ride.

Point taken LizaD.
Off course we cannot experience the hardship they do, day in Day out.
We just arrive in their town, look and learn and leave but we see little of what you said in your last paragraph.
When i travel Africa i make a point of travelling public transport. I still think you are exposed to the locals more than if you fly, self drive or on tours.
What do you think?

More exposure on the bus than if you SELF drive. But "exposure" on the buses really just means experiencing 3-to-a-seat. Hiring a driver who is talkative and friendly, finding a seat companion on a flight who is the same--with the greater possibility that those people will actually be able to speak in English rather than simply share smiles--is perhaps more meaningful exposure.

I would never hire a driver for an entire trip, or around town, but my real reason for riding the bus is that I'm cheap. I know that the exposure I'm getting on the bus is not high quality--the conversations go nowhere, and there's basically a lot of staring that I sit through, trapped. Hiring a driver from point A to B--especially when the road is as rough as the one between Gondar and Lalibela and not particularly scenic--means you have about 7 hours to get to know one person really well, and be taken to his favorite rest stops along the way.

I ended up sitting next to only foreigners on my flights in Ethiopia, but of course other than those 5-6 people everyone else on the flight was Ethiopian--so as LizaD says, of course you are meeting the locals. Even people waiting in line to check in were chatty. On my last trip in Myanmar, almost everyone on my flights were the well-off locals, and they were still just as friendly, spoke English more fluently, and yes...invited me to visit them at their homes. I think it's perfectly possible to travel on all types of transport without closing yourself into some sort of tourist bubble...it depends on your attitude.

Back to OP's query: check with TESFA. If they happen to have some clients going to Gondar from Lalibela or vice versa, they might be able to group you in. When I did this, it was 600 birr because the driver was already in Gondar and had to return to Lalibela anyway (half price) and another trekker came along (half price again). I was also trekking with them, but I imagine they would do it for you in order to save everyone some money.