Walk along the top of a basalt escarpment in the historic Ethiopian Highlands and you’ll see eagles soaring beneath you, baboons feeding on the cliffs, and shepherds and Christian priests in the fields. One thing you are unlikely to see, however, is other tourists.

That may be about to change as communities 80km (50 miles) from the incredible rock-hewn churches at Lalibela help to set up a trekking operation that combines jaw-dropping scenery with the chance to experience the ancient culture of the Amhara people.

My girlfriend Heidi and I walked along the top of the escarpment for eight hours each day escorted by an English-speaking guide from Tourism in Ethiopia for Sustainable Future Alternatives (TESFA), an NGO working to help villagers to provide a service to tourists and earn valuable cash.

We met a different guide each night in the villages and a donkey carried our bags. Every step of the way offered spiralling views down to a patchwork of tiny fields dotted with churches and clusters of thatched dwellings thousands of feet below.

Everywhere we went we were invited to visit local people in their thatched homes, drink coffee and hear stories of how they lived. We tried our hands at ploughing fields using oxen, spinning wool, weaving rugs and riding horses. On parts of the walk we were accompanied by priests, and children followed us like the Pied Piper.

On one occasion we were invited to drink beer with village elders meeting on a saint’s day in the churchyard. Their extraordinary and craggy faces were lined with years of hard work, and as the evening light drew in they stood up in turn to make speeches about how important tourism was to the villages now that their harvests were less predictable.

We never felt alone. As we walked through fields full of farmers gathering crops, we could hear voices from shepherds echoing from miles away across the mountains offering advice about the best path to follow. The charming and demure children were fascinated by us; they were thrilled to try out their English, and by gifts of Polaroid pictures of themselves.

Each night was spent in tukuls, attractive, traditional stone-and-thatch huts perched on top of the cliffs. The tukuls have good quality mattresses, cotton sheets and warm blankets and were built by villagers with help from TESFA and one of its donors, Save the Children UK.

After a meal of pancakes and a delicious vegetable stew, we sat with a beer on the cliffs watching the sunset and the homesteads below. As we glimpsed the rare gelada baboon feeding on the cliffs, the TESFA community tourism adviser Mark Chapman told me about the organisation’s work, which was highly commended in the “poverty reduction” category of the 2005 Responsible Tourism Awards.

“In tourism, remoteness can be an advantage, and cash from tourism can be injected into the heart of communities that have few commercial opportunities apart from subsistence agriculture,” he said. “Through tourism the communities have earned savings, which are vital in case the rains fail. They’ve shown an entrepreneurial spirit by using some of the money to provide micro-loans to others in their community to start a grain-buying enterprise.”

As our trek progressed to those communities farthest removed from our lives, we had some of the most special encounters, such as the generosity of the poorest women who picked armfuls of beans from their tiny fields to give us as we walked. While visiting TESFA, the film star Brad Pitt was told by some of these villagers that they didn’t know what America was. Tesfay Asfaw, the camp manager on our final night, told us: “Tourism is our great hope for the future. Last year there were few tourists, but this year it’s much better.”

Chapman says: “The communities can now manage tourists by themselves without any help – a lot of people said that this couldn’t happen.”

Treks with TESFA can be organised from October to June for individuals or groups of up to six, currently the maximum that can be accommodated in the tukuls.

As every trekker realises, relaxing in comfort for a well-deserved rest after several days in the mountains is half the point. For this, we flew to Addis Ababa and then drove to Bishangari Lodge, one of the first luxury lodges in Ethiopia, which is set in a towering forest 250km south of Addis Ababa on the shores of Lake Langano.

As we walked to our secluded thatched cabin, called a godjo, we marvelled at black and white colobus monkeys and silvery cheeked hornbills in the forest that watched us watching them. Each godjo has its own veranda, hammock, comfortable bed and fully equipped bathroom. Although not top-end luxury, Bishangari compares well to South or East African safari lodges. I’ll never forget the sight of the hurricane lamps illuminating the dining area as we walked through the forest towards it after a hearty gin and tonic in the bar built in and around a giant fig tree.

A must for visitors to Bishangari is a walk through the forest with a local bird guide, Hirpo. More than 300 species have been observed here, and Hirpo knows them all. Alternatively you can swim in the lake, watch hippos or go horse riding.

The lodge employs 39 staff, 37 of whom are from nearby villages. The head waiter, Dekebo, supports four brothers and three sisters from his wages. The chef is from Addis Ababa, and the food at Bishangari matches the best on offer in the capital.

The lodge is planning a micro-finance scheme for local farmers and entrepreneurs to ensure that food can be bought locally rather than at present from Addis – something that guests will increasingly expect.

In the future there is no doubt that Ethiopia could become one of the world’s great trekking destinations and TESFA intends to use responsible trekking tourism to create maximum benefit for Ethiopia’s charming rural people.

Need to know

Justin Francis travelled with Journeys by Design (01273 623790, www.journeysbydesign.com), which tailors holidays to Ethiopia, East and Southern Africa. A two-week trip, including the Bale Mountains National Park, Bishangari Lodge and a community trek, costs from £2,200pp. This includes full board and private guiding, but not international flights, which can be arranged.

Further information: TESFA (www.community-tourism-ethiopia.com); Ethiopian Ministry of Culture and Tourism: www.tourismethiopia.org.

Times recommends

• Oasis of the Seas: the Times review
• The 20 best new year party places to stay
• Green Spaces 2009: are you the winning writer?