Simien Mountains National Park

John playing fuzzball with locals.

Kids are kids.

Gelada monkeys, or baboons.

They teach John how to dig for roots.

It was great to sit amongst them and just watch.

A male showing the bared lip look and his fangs.

On top of the Simien Mountains.

Sasha buys some woven coloured discs. 

The views were spectacular.

Even the locals enjoy them.

As does this alpha male.

Our campsite.

Dinner in a tent.

A campfire Ethiopian style.

Wednesday, January 24^th.

This was one of the best days of the trip thus far. As we had breakfast, our driver Tekley went to get our camping supplies for our trip to the Simien Mountains. John and I went for a walk with Eduardo to the local market. It was really interesting as always and provided some great photo opps. John played table football (or fuzzball) with some of the locals, which delighted them.

Then we went back for eight for our drive to the Simien Mountain National Park. We had seven extra Ethiopians on board (which made for a crowded truck). We had a local guide, a cook and an assistant, two people to put up the tents and set up camp and two armed local scouts from the local militia. It was never satisfactorily explained why we needed the last two.

We drove for about 15 kms on a paved road to the entrance to the park and then about 25 kilometres farther on a bumpy gravel road, at which point Kaleb, the local guide and all those who wanted to hike the 10 km overland to the camp, got off the bus. The rest of the crew went ahead to set up camp.
We started the hike over the rolling hills of the high mountain range and immediately came across a troop of about 400 gelada monkeys! There is some debate whether they are monkeys or baboons. This was one of the main reasons I came to Ethiopia, I really wanted to see them. They are an herbivorous monkey that eat mostly grass and travel in large troops consisting of many family groups. They are very hairy, and the males have something like a mane. They also have a red heart shaped fleshy spot on their chest. I have seen a documentary on them where the descend on local farms and destroy the farmer’s crops. We stood and watched them while they completely ignored us. They continued eating the grass, digging up roots, fighting, fornicating and going about their lives all around us. As we sat or stood amongst them they completely surrounded us. This was truly a David Attenborough moment. Absolutely incredible. We stayed for about an hour, before continuing on.

We were hiking about 3200 metres above sea level, and though we are almost at the equator, it was fairly cool. We could definitely feel the temperature go up and down as we were driving up and down the mountains. Breathing was difficult on the uphill sections but the views over the mountains were incredible. This is a beautiful place. We hiked for most of the day, in no particular hurry, as we stopped several times for rests and views. We met many local people who were fascinated by us and some who wanted to sell us their crafts. We also made a lunch stop where we ate the sandwich and banana that the last hotel provided for us.

Then we continued and came across a second troop of geladas! Again, a couple of hundred monkeys who were indifferent to us. We sat and watched as the young ones climbed trees and a dominant male climbed another tree as a lookout. I also got a couple of photos of the way they bare their teeth to each other as a means of communication.

When we finally arrived at camp, we found all the tents put up, including a cooking tent and a large dining tent. We had time to relax, eat some popcorn and baked peanut and barley mix and explore before our 6:00 dinner. Some of us went to a lookout and talked and watched the sunset. Then we all rugged up and put on several extra layers of clothing as it was getting very cool. The dinner we had was excellent. It was all cooked vegetables, pasta, beet roots, French fries and fried eggplant for pudding. Kaleb had also bought us two bottles of red wine, made by Bob Geldolf’s winery (Remember BandAid? Geldof has invested in the country and has a winery here).

Then we had a bonfire and talked for a bit. But since it was very cold, and we had to get up really early, we all headed off to bed by 8:00.

I woke up to the sound of someone throwing up and despite putting headphones on, shortly after I felt lousy too. So, I gathered up my layers, put my hiking boots on and found my way out of the tent. I went down to the lookout spot and stayed there for a couple of hours in the dark, listening to music on the cold and windy night. Nothing came of it and I headed back to the tent. I kept all my clothes on I case I had to get up again, and lay under my sleeping bag as the zipper was snagged. What a great day!