Goodboons' Blog: Simien Mountains, Northern Ethiopia

From Axum we drove south through rugged mountainous country to Debark, the starting point for treks into the Simien Mountains. We arranged our guide and scout at the Park Headquaters in Debark before driving the 35km up to the first camp at Sankader.

Simien Landscape

We saw our first spectacular views from the escarpment and our first troops of Gelada Baboons. This primate, endemic to Ethiopia, is unique in that it feeds predominantly on grass. It also has a harem-based social structure which is regarded to be the most complex of any animal other than humans. That evening, we were visited at the camp by a handsome Menelik’s Bushbuck (another species endemic to Ethiopia). It was also there that we met the ‘Amazing Swiss’, Marc and Roman, who we would end up travelling with for a few weeks.

Our first views from the escarpment

Caro and our Scout

We had planned a three day trek: one day from Sankader up to Gich, one from Gich up to Imet Gogo (3,926m) and back to Gitch, and the last day out to Sankader. We had decided not to climb the highest peak - Ras Dashen (4,700m) - as it is a 7 day round trip from Debark and we had been told that we would see most of the sights on the three day trip anyways. We were well acclimatized by now and found the trekking not very strenuous, walking for 5-6 hours each day.

Beakfast at Gitch Camp

View from Imet Gogo

Returning to Gitch camp before the storm

The Simien scenery is truly spectacular. We saw many Lammergeier’s soaring back and forth along the escarpment, dropping bones onto rocky patches to break them open before swooping down to eat the shards and marrow. The Gelada Baboons are very used to humans and it was interesting to sit close to them watching their antic and listening to their odd language of chirps and grunts. We had to look hard, but eventually we also found a lone male Walia Ibex on one of the steep escarpment edges. These Ibex are the rarest of Ethiopia’s endemic animals.