Saturday, January 28, 2006

The Simien Mountains



Click to see map of the National Park & surrounds.

This is what I came to see! It was a few years ago now that I first saw some pictures of the Simien Mountains in the Work Expeditions brochure, and since then I have always wondered what they would be like in real life. I found them no disappointment at all, in fact quite the opposite – they were amazing. Some compare them to “half the Grand Canyon” and I can see the resemblance. The cliffs of the escarpment are 800-1000m+ above “the lowlands” and we had many specatcular views over the edge.

Our trek started not far from the border of the National Park and on the afternoon of the first day, after the drive from Gondar, we walked for an hour or so along the escarpment to Sankabar Camp to stretch the legs and acclimatise a little. From this point onwards until the second last day of the trek we were almost always above 3500m altitude, so acclimatisation was crucial…for me I even struggled with this conservative approach, so just as well we did or it would have been worse! At Sankabar camp there was still plenty of daylight, so reading my book whilst sitting in the sun was the order of the afternoon, only briefly interrupted by the Broad-beaked Raven stealing the soap only 5 minutes after it was set down next to the washing water!

From Sankabar we then moved on to Geech Camp (2 nights), summiting Imet Gogo (3926m) on our “rest day” in between. These days were filled with wildlife sightings, not to mention the Sheep, Goats & Cows that we found everywhere. First we came across Gelada Baboon, also called the “Bleeding Heart Baboon”, owing to the red patch on their chest. We were able to get very close to them before they started to show signs that we should come no closer (baring very large teeth, snarling at us etc) and they were very photogenic. When we were too close they would disappear over the edge of the cliff… a terrain that was a little too steep for us. The Gelada mainly eat grasses and roots and unfortunately these can be in short supply in some parts…hence the National Park’s efforts to restrict certain activities (such as paragliding, but that’s another story!) in he park. As well we saw fleeting views of Klippspringer (type of antelope), Walya Ibex down on some of the vegetated parts of the escarpment and Lammergeyers, birds of prey with a huge 3m wingspan. On the native flora side there were many exquisite wildflowers over these couple of days, plus the very strange Giant Lobelia (Lobelia rhynchopetalum) which measures up to 10m in height. It can take up to 20 years before the Lobelia first flowers, and then dies after that!

After Sankabar we made our way up, then down, then “up up”, then “down down” (climbing Inatye 4070m on the way) to Chennek camp. We ended up at the same altitude after all that! Chennek camp came complete with Beer supplier…”How many birr for a beer?” was the frequent question on arriving in a new camp. After Chennek camp we moved on out of the national park and climbed the second highest peak of the trip, Bwahit (4430m). As it turned out, this was the highest point for me. I suffered from some mild altitude sickness and with such an energy sapping day, with a “down down down” section in the afternoon of more than 1600m, not arriving to camp until after 6pm. I decided to take a day off the next day whilst the rest of the group climbed Ras Dejen. After this day of doing not much except washing my socks and reading a book, I was fighting fit then to move on. It was a little disappointing not to have been able to climb Ras Dejen, but it was not to be, and anyway, it was not the reason for me going on the trek in the first place – much better that I enjoy the remainder.

After we left Ambiko, the village at the base of Ras Dejen we crossed through the high altitude farmland of the Simien mountains on the way to Arkiwasiye, back on the edge of the escarpment. It was an interesting day’s journey with a number of local children joining us for part of the journey. That night it rained!!! Not very much, but enough to be annoying, and we found that the mess tent was not waterproof. We had dinner dressed in Gortex jackets, gloves & beanies (it was cold too, as it was at all of our high altitude camps!). Next morning Glenn got out his camera to take a few photos of the children surrounding the camp, and then more children cam from everywhere, wanting all of us to take their photos. Eventually we escaped onto the trail, and after a lovely walk through the farmland we began the huge descent down into the lowlands - the Ansiya Wenz valley in particular. On the way down the farming didn’t stop with various grasses being harvested from the very steep hillsides, not to mention the odd sheep, goat, mule…and Gelada. After a couple of hours descent (for us anyway – I think the group at the front completed it much more quickly) we made it to the river for lunch. It was a lovely flowing section of the river with conveniently placed boulders to sun ourselves on and large pools for washing ourselves. I felt much fresher after that!

That night was spent at Mekerebya where we camped in the school grounds. There were great views of the cliffs above us and the volcanic plugs that we were heading for. In the morning we visited the school and met the teachers. Some threehundred or more children of primary school age attended this school which consisted of only 3 classrooms. We left Mekarebya that morning for a walk along the river valley to our last campsite for the trip at Mulit, near Adi Arkay. The day was hot – it was much warmer in the lowlands. Even last night it was relatively warm and we ate dinner under the stars and I barely covered myself with my sleeping bag. By lunchtime after passing a very refreshing looking waterhole it was 31 degrees celcius in the shade, and much hotter in the sun… quite hot for walking in. And the afternoon got worse because it was all a steep uphill. Those of us at the back of the group (Mel, Garth, Glenn, Stewart, Getinet, Tikaba & myself) took it easy and rested every time we got to some shade for a minute or two. At Hawaza we visited the teahouse for that Pepsi I had been craving for the last few days…I felt I deserved it well & truly by now.


The last camp at Mulit was a stunning setting with great views of the volcanic rock formations and we had a fabulous sunset. There was drama when we first got there as the dog living across the road from the camp had taken a chicken and was protecting it by hiding it in a bush and barking at everything and everyone that came within a 30m radius. The dog was only a pup and was bearing some resemblance to the Ethiopian wolf pictures that we had seen. It was certainly not popular with it’s owner since chickens are valuable possessions…I wonder how long that dog will last! That night we didn’t sleep well, though it was nothing to do with the comfort of the tents (being well used to the hard ground by now!). It had been market day, and our camp was located on the equivalent of the M1 it seemed. Endless streams of people with their animals and other purchases were heading back to their villages throughout the night, continuing well into the morning. It seemed that not all of the activity in the market was related to buying and selling either… I think drinking had quite a bit to do with it and the travellers we quite “happy” on their journey. Next morning all that remained of our trek was a short walk down the hill to Adi Arkay, and to board our bus back to Gondar.

Comments: Post a Comment



<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?