Simien Mountain NP trek, Ethiopia

Another great breakfast at Lodge du Chateau, left some luggage and passports etc for the safe, checked out, and we were off on our three-day trek in the Simien Mountains.

There were three other people on the trek - Alain (a retired teacher in Addis for a few months), his son Mathieu, and Brice, traveling through Ethiopia as a pre-trip before his big round-the-world trip next year. All three happened to be from France, with Mathieu and Brice around our age.

First was a 90 minute drive to Debark to pick up our permits. The ETT agent introduced us to our guide (Chago) and scout (who carried an AK47 at all times). I think the scout was more for local employment than anything else, but he did keep a watch on our bags and tent the entire trek. Our scout spoke Amharic and just a few words of english but seemed like a very nice man. We also picked up our cook and food supplies.

Another hour drive took us to the trekking start point, just past the Simien Lodge. We were now on dusty dirt roads. The roads in and around Gonder (including to the airport) are all paved, however the local villagers use the roads to move their livestock (cows, sheep, goats, horses) so it can be slow going, but at least it's not dusty.

At our starting point there was a large group of gelada baboons, which was one of the main attractions for me on this trek. Check. And I didn't even need to get out of the car :)

We took some pics, and then realized our guide had taken off for a lunch. Alain tracked him down, gave him a bit of a lecture, and then we started trekking.

The first day follows the ridge to Sankabar. It's a great view of the lowlands 1000m below, except it didn't change much all day. The horizon is a brown smog-like blur with all the dust. The dirt road also follows the ridge and in some places the path was on the road. This sort of took away from the trekking / national park experience.

We arrived at the Sankabar campsite around 5pm, although we only walked for about three hours. We had stops for pics, and lunch (an egg sandwich which was excellent and gave us misguided hope for the food on the rest of the trek).

Our tents were all set up. ETT also provided a 1-inch thick foam mattress and a warm sleeping bag (at 3250m, it gets to about -2C at night).

There were signs that said "cold shower" so we walked down to them. It was just a thin water stream with some rocks built up to allow it to drop as a "shower". They got the cold part right though. We decided to not shower.

The temperature dropped quickly as the sun set. We bundled up in all our layers - base, mid and windbreaker, toques, gloves and neck gator. We crowded into the kitchen hut for warmth and a small fire.

Dinner was pasta with tomato sauce, and two mixed vegetable sides. No protein. The vegetables were tasty but the lack of protein was a problem the next day while trekking.

It was cold and dark and the fire was smoky so we were in bed by 8pm.

We had doubled up our sleeping bags inside the ETT ones, and wore our base layers and toques to sleep so we were fine temperature-wise. The ground was hard though and so we slept only so-so.

...

We were up at 6:45am before the sun came up over the mountains on the horizon. It was freezing (literally, it was below 0C).

Our three trekking companions were also up and we all warmed up in the little patch of sun at the top of the sloped campsite. We had breakfast - baguettes and honey, and then porridge. No protein.

The 2nd day of trekking was a little more interesting. We walked to a point overlooking the Jinbar waterfall - a 1000m total drop, which was now just a trickle but in rainy season would be cooler.

Then we descended into the valley and had lunch beside a stream. The water pooled in places and Alain actually went for a swim! - it was way too cold for the rest of us. Saw more groups of baboons feeding and grooming each other. They're quite fascinating to watch, and for the most part ignore humans, passing within feet of us.

After lunch we started a long ascent, through Geech village and then to our campsite at 3600m. The walk through the village and surrounding fields was cool to see. Our path followed where the animals walk everyday, and so has eroded from the animals and rain into foot-deep ditches, with lots of animal poop. Not so comfortable for walking.

With the lack of protein we were all getting tired. Finally we reached the crest just past the village, and could see the campsite off in the distance. That gave us a little boost of energy, as did the tea and snacks served after we freshened up in camp.

Alain (who had done the trek before) suggested climbing the Kedadit summit (3750m) overlooking the campsite (3600m) for the views. It was still early, about 3pm, and we felt energized enough to make it so off the five of us went.

The views were great at the top, it was also much more peaceful than in camp (there were about 20 other people with different tour groups doing the trek at the same time as us).

Heather led us in some stretching at the request of Alain; and then we chatted away the remaining sunlight.

We walked back down to camp before the sunset completely because the walk was tricky with the ruts. We were just in time for dinner - sitting on stone benches warmed by the sun, watching the sky slowly change to dark blue.

The chef put on a show for our last dinner - battered eggplant, vegetables, rice, potatoes, and a boiled egg each at our request (we went off-menu to get some protein). Dessert was pineapple served in its juices; and a spiced ginger tea. Mmm good.

It was a colder night at the higher altitude - it went down to -5C.

...

We had chosen to start earlier for a better chance to see animals (high on our list was the ibex), so we were up before the sun rose.

Breakfast was pancakes (!), and a boiled egg on request. And then we were off to Imet Gogo, at 3900m. The scenery today was spectacular, it reminded me of Torres del Paines in Patagonia in some places, with baboons.

We crossed the valley, had our lunch overlooking the mountains, and then to the road for our pickup back to Gondar.

ETT didn't do a good job of coordinating our pickup and so we waited over 90 minutes for the vehicle.

We got back to Gondar around 6:30pm, showered for the first time in three days, and then had dinner at the Master Chef.

Overall we were glad we did the trek for trekking's sake; the 3rd was cool scenery. Alain said it got even better the 4th day if we had booked the 4 day trek. I wouldn't say it rivaled the W-trek in Patagonia as we had read in some travel blogs before we came here.