The Flip Side of the Coin

As Dan has mentioned, Ethiopia (at least the northern part) is full of historical sites and culture, but there is a way to get a break from all the Kings, Dynasties and Years BC & AD – the Simien Highlands.

The Simien Highlands are often referred to as the “Roof of Africa”, and for good reason – they are really high! They also contain Ethiopia’s highest mountain, Ras Dashen, at 4,543 metres above sea level, and are where ancient man first emerged to take over the rest of the world. We were going to copy ancient man but this time in reverse!

To reach the Simien Highlands you must first make your way to the gateway town of Debark. There are tour companies that can arrange the whole thing for you, but as Dan and I were feeling slight backpacker guilt (we were already cheating by flying instead of braving 12 -18 hour bus journeys) we decided to save ourselves a few dollars and do all the planning ourselves.

The expedition began in Gonder bus station early in the morning when we took the local bus to Debark. We were pushed onto a rickety old bus and then waited for another hour or so as it slowly filled up. Once the bus was full, off we set up the mountain roads to Debark. When we thought that the bus was full, that was in fact an error on our part as we discovered in the first small town we stopped at – half the town appeared to get on, complete with sacks of grain, tef (Ethiopian crop that makes injera) and all the rest of their shopping. The remaining three hours of the journey was spent with various sacks of things by my feet and stunned children staring at the two mad white people (they call us Faranji here, we have lost our Mzungu title) on the bus. We finally unraveled ourselves in Debark and headed to the national park HQ.

The guide book recommends allowing at least one afternoon to organize a trek, which seems a bit long to sort out a route, guide and associated stuff, but as we found out they were quite correct in their recommendation! Although the route we’d picked was a standard one for those with three days, and arranging a guide didn’t take long, it was the “associated stuff” that took us the time…

We had to have a scout who in our case was a tall silent gentleman, armed with an ancient AK-47 rifle, to protect us from not sure what! They recommended that we hired a cook and deciding that as we’d saved a few dollars by doing it ourselves we would treat ourselves to a cook for the trek and Farooq was the man. We had bought quite a bit of food with us and were only expecting to pick up some fresh veggies to complement what we had. Foruk wanted to see our supplies and the look of horror on his face when he saw our selection of tinned goods, pasta, rice etc was hilarious. Out came his list and as we tried to explain that we didn’t need fresh soup as we had packet soup, it soon became apparent that if you have a cook, what he says goes! So off to the market we went to pick up a complete new menu!

Early the next morning we set up off the mountain, packed into a little van along with our kit, our team (guide, cook and scout) and big bags of food for our now extensive menu. The drive up to the start point was amazing, climbing up Up UP beside sheer cliffs and an ever-increasing view. On arrival at the start point we had to organize our mules. I like how you trek in Africa – you never need to worry about carrying your kit as you either pay a man or an animal to do it for you! So our kit was weighed (45kg exactly) and it was declared that only one mule was required. The gathered muleteers (mule men) decided that this was incorrect and that two mules were required. Then a large argument broke out. We are learning that everything in Ethiopia has to involve an argument. We have seen many play fights, real fights, and pretend real fights – generally lots of shouting, pushing and general argey-bargey. So the whole process began and as the crowd got more excited our silent scout stepped in, brandished his ancient weapon and it was quickly declared that it was just one mule for us. (So unnecessary expense was what he was hired to protect us from!)

Once that was sorted we set off on the trek. The first day was to Geech village, a distance of about 20 kilometers. We were immediately walking along a steep cliff looking down to the plateau below. The walk till we stopped for lunch was a reasonable steady climb and as we ate our food looking over a 400 metre high waterfall we got to see the famous Lammergeyer (huge vulture-like thing) playing on the thermals. After lunch we walked amongst the gelada baboons who are endemic to the highlands. They are much nicer than their East African cousins – they have an impressive lion like mane and they aren’t anywhere near as aggressive (so no baboon charges Jackie!) As well as their silky mane they replace their coloured bottom with a coloured patch on their chests. They wander all round the highlands in groups of up to eighty, but the most we saw together was about forty.

The end of the day was the toughest – as we approached Geech camp at 3,800 metres the fact that we had ascended nearly 1000 metres in a day suddenly dawned on my body and my feet filled with concrete and it was a slow and painful trek to the campsite. On arrival Farooq appeared with a cup of tea, biscuits and popcorn. Bliss! (Sorry Dad and Rick we so should have got a cook for Mount Elgon!)

We pitched our tent and then watched the sunset over the escarpment as the locals brought their animals back in for the night. As the sun set the temperature plummeted and we were both very thankful that we’d brought our longjohns and other winter gear. Soon after dark, Farooq appeared again, having changed into a white jacket and hat (taking his job as “chef” very seriously) to inform us that dinner was ready. Dinner was not what we had asked him to make but we were realizing that Farooq was not going to take orders from anyone, he was a gifted professional, but it was very nice anyway!

The next day we woke to a very white and wintery view – everything was covered in frost, including the inside of our tent! As the sun rose the temperature began to rise and we were able to start the trek for the second day. This was going to be the big one, 20 kilometers but mainly uphill! The first stop on the walk was Imet Gogo, a prominetary that was meant to have amazing views. They were not kidding, it was sheer cliffs on either side and the view went on for miles. Absolutely stunning. As we looked around we were also blessed with an opportunity to see the endangered Walia Ibex. These have been made famous from the David Attenbourgh’s Planet Earth series; they are an antelope that specializes in high altitudes and making a home on cliff edges – that is exactly where we saw them, balanced on a thin edge warming themselves in the morning sun.

After viewing them for a while we reluctantly proceeded with the rest of the day’s walk. Although it was hard work with lots of Up, the route went all along the ridge and the staggering drops and precarious overhangs meant that you had much more to concentrate on! We arrived in Chenek (just under 4,000 metres) mid afternoon and tucked into our afternoon tea. Chenek was even colder than Geech and it was a slightly uncomfortable night but the view first thing in the morning as the sun moved across the cliffs, thawing as it went, made it worthwhile.

The plan for today was to climb the second highest mountain in the park, Mount Bwahit. We set off early and again got lucky with spotting the Walia Ibex sunning themselves. There were more opportunities to get vertigo while walking along sheer drop off cliffs, as we slowly climbed up. Due to a communication error we thought Mt Bwahit was 4,140 metres high and I was beginning to worry about my fitness as the top was a struggle to get to, but as we reached the top the guide congratulated us on reaching 4,430 metres – that explained the difficulties! It was a great climb and the views at the top were fantastic (Still prefer Mt Elgon but very biased with that summit!)

The next day we headed back to Debark to continue our history tour. The views and scenery in the Simiens is so difficult to explain, due to all the sheer cliffs and extended plains below you get a real sense of height and scale. It is some of the best walking I have done. It was also interesting to get a blast of some of the coldness that people in the UK are getting, although I’m very glad that it warmed up to t-shirt weather in the daytime… not quite ready for winter yet!