The most significant excursion from Jimma is into the Kaffa highlands, southwest of the city, where the wild coffee forests that gave the beverage its name still stand. The Kaffa Biosphere Reserve, centred on the town of Bonga roughly 120 kilometres from Jimma, protects some of the last remaining wild Coffea arabica forest in the world — trees growing under a dense forest canopy, exactly as they did before cultivation began. The road to Bonga is asphalt and the journey takes around 3 hours each way; a full day is enough to reach the forest, walk among the wild coffee trees, and return.
The Gibe River Gorge to the east of Jimma offers dramatic highland scenery and is accessible as a half-day excursion. The gorge drops sharply from the plateau into a warmer, lower zone, and the change in vegetation and birdlife over the descent is significant. Local transport runs toward the gorge area, though hiring a vehicle gives more flexibility.
For a shorter outing, the coffee-growing villages in the hills immediately surrounding Jimma are worth exploring. Small-holder farmers grow coffee under forest shade in a system little changed over centuries, and walking between farms with a local guide — easily arranged through accommodation in the city — gives a more grounded understanding of coffee than any museum exhibit.