A Short Trip to the Simien Mountains

We are now at 13,000 feet above sea level, and directly beneneath the northern verge of this plateau lay a fierce, somber scene of geological anarchy. One fancies that at the time of creation some basic law had here been forgotten—and nothing grew or moved amidst the grotesque desolation of these mountains…. While devouring a pound of dried apricots I  sat on a sweep of burnt-gold, springy turf where low bushes covered with daisy flowers grew between sheets of pale grey rock, and scorses of ten-foot giant lobelieas looked incongruously like dwarf palms. Their long shiny, pale green leaves glinted in the sun, making sparks of silver light all over the summit, and through the enormous silence came the faint, fairy-like chiming of the wind in those leaves. There is an overwhelming integrity about the silence of such places; in its purity and power it differs utterly from the noiselessness of even the remotest inhabited regions. This afternoon’s silence seemed no less tangible than the crags around us.

                                    ~~Dervla Murphy, In Ethiopia with a Mule

I quoted Dervla Murphy in this blog a few years ago. There is still no one who can describe the highlands of Ethiopia quite like her.

The Simien Mountains do not disappoint, though I have to say the region was the driest I’ve ever seen it, as the escarpement lies at the edge of the zone of drought you all have no doubt read about. It is the height of dry season and so crispy grass and dust is expected, but it seems more extreme. We passed many public wells on the route from Gondar, and rural folk were lined up at all of them to fill their yellow plastic vegetable oil containers, and at this point, vigorous hand-pumping still seems to be producing plenty of water. Keep your hopes and prayers focused on a productive rainy season, set to begin in the next few weeks.

We didn’t have a long stay at Simien Mountain Lodge—only two days—but it feels it was just the right amount of time to gain a little space and reflect privately and collectively on all we had seen and experienced in Gondar the last six days. As I’ve mentioned before, this has not been your sanitized tourist trip and this groups’ members had really been thrust into the unveiled existence of so many local Ethiopians. Of course, that statement is ridiculous in itself because in the big picture we have been here a very short time, but I suspect the personal impact has been out of proportion to the length of stay.

We were able to do a couple of short hikes, taking in the spectacular views from the escarpment (we were at about 12,500 feet) and a couple of spectacular sunsets. We had the good fortune to see a respectable variety of wildlife: Lammergeyers (the largest raptor in Ethiopia,) klipspringers, dikdiks, a red dyker and various birds that Sam could identify and futiley tried to teach the rest of us. We were also lucky enough to see at least six ibex, endemic only to the Simien Mountains. The ibex are rare to begin with, and are also difficult to spot in midday, because they rest below the escarpment in the shade of the shear cliffs. We definitely scored on that one!

Then, on the hike back to the lodge, a group of us came upon a very large troop of Gelada baboons, maybe two hundred—probably two-thirds of which were babies—among a large grove of false heather trees. We stealthily crept up to the edge of the group, a maneuver that proved entirely unnecessary as the mob was not the least bit disturbed by our presence.

The babies cavorted and flipped around, fell out of trees and accomplished other comical maneuvers while the adults ate rose hips off the wild roses and stuffed their mouths with grass (along with the nits they were involved in picking out of their neighbors’ fur. Gelada baboons are called ‘bleeding heart baboons,’ because of their prominent, bright red breast patches; they are also called ‘lion monkeys’ because of the heavy mane of long, golden fur draped around their neck, reaching almost to the ground. Once in awhile one group or another would break out in primate chatter consisting of screeching and an odd clacking sound; some would engage in teeth-baring (they have formidable looking teeth!) and flinging its sparring partner to the ground. The whole close-up show was quite an end to the day!

We took another short hike this morning and talked politics (Ethiopian and U.S.) with our guide, Chale. Chale has been with us since we arrived in Gondar and he has just outdone himself with service, organization, knowledge and humor. We will all be very sad to leave him behind when we depart for Lalibela tomorrow. 

For now, we are back in Gondar for one night and must also bid farewell to wonderful SCOPE fellows. We will all have dinner together tonight at our favorite local restaurant, Fasil Lodge. Let it be known that Kate and Kirsten have written an original rap in honor of our fellows, so stay tuned for a report on that in the next blot post!

Photos: Simien Mountains ;the escarpment x 2, a highlander and his highland horse, Sam talking geology, Gail, Betsy and Kirsten; sunset behind tukels; Mike and Dawn with the Gelada baboons; Gelada baboons x3; Kate and our guards; everlasting flowers and the Simiens; rain clouds in the Simiens.