Walya ibex #4, Simien Mountains NP, Ethiopia, 21 Feb 2014
Walya ibex #1, Simien Mountains NP, Ethiopia, 21 Feb 2014
Truck, Simien Mountains NP, Ethiopia, 21 Feb 2014
Valley #3, Simien Mountains NP, Ethiopia, 21 Feb 2014
Panorama, Simien Mountains NP, Ethiopia, 21 Feb 2014
Valley #2, Simien Mountains NP, Ethiopia, 21 Feb 2014
Gelada baboons #1, Simien Mountains NP, Ethiopia, 21 Feb 2014
Gelada baboon #3, Simien Mountains NP, Ethiopia, 21 Feb 2014
Gelada baboon with baby, Simien Mountains NP, Ethiopia, 21 Feb 2014
Valley view #1, Simien Mountains NP, Ethiopia, 21 Feb 2014
Horseman, Simien Mountains NP, Ethiopia, 21 Feb 2014
Priests, Simien Mountains NP, Ethiopia, 21 Feb 2014
Gelada baboon #1, Simien Mountains NP, Ethiopia, 21 Feb 2014
Eagle, Simien Mountains NP, Ethiopia, 21 Feb 2014
Yellow flower, Simien Mountains NP, Ethiopia, 21 Feb 2014
Wild iris, Simien Mountains NP, Ethiopia, 21 Feb 2014
The highest Bar in Africa, Simien Mountains NP, Ethiopia, 21 Feb 2014
After a breakfast of porridge and scrambled eggs we began our visit to the Simien Mountains National Park by walking from the Lodge for about a kilometre around the nearby grassy hills to a point where below us was a spectacular valley with a backdrop of the Simien Mountains studded with jagged sawtooth peaks extending into the distant smokiness. Far below in the valley we could see numerous small farms with their terraced paddocks which are a feature of all Ethiopian agriculture. The terraces make farming possible in steep areas and also minimize soil erosion during the wet season. As we wandered along the cliff-tops with the breathtaking scene below, we sighted several large eagles riding on the thermals induced in the air by the warming effects of the sun. Our local guide introduced us to the natural history of the region and explained that a number of the local plants have medicinal benefits for humans as well as cattle.
We then met up with our bus and headed along the rockiest and dustiest road imaginable to Sankaber where we had our first encounter for the day with the endemic gelada baboons.
These animals are quite used to humans and were not concerned by our presence. They were busily digging up grass roots which are their staple diet. The group (apparently called a ‘herd’) of baboons was made up of 60 or so of which at least half looked to be juveniles or even tiny babies. These baboons are quite social animals and have many families living in harmony although the adult males seem to squabble a good deal due to the harem nature of the families. The social structure is regarded to be the most complex of any animal apart from humans! The males are quite distinctive and recognized by being larger and much hairier possessing manes not unlike a lion’s and having a heart shaped red patch on their chest. Our guide informed us that gelada baboons have an average life-span of 14 years.
We then ventured on in the bus heading for Chennek Camp about another 30 km away. The road was terrible but the scenery was dramatic. The road wound its way along cliff-tops and then down steep sections with a 500m fall over the road edge in some places. Our Toyota Coaster bus was not the sort of vehicle one would have recommended for such a rocky track but it coped in the most appalling conditions of big rocks, pot-holes and deep ruts.
Just before reaching Chennek we left the bus and stared a walk which took us up a gully with many giant lobelia, (a bit like pandani) with some of them flowering with a 2m high vertical flower stem. Lobelia flower after twelve years of growth and the die!
We then came to a grassy gully where there were possibly as many as 600 gelada baboons. The young were playing by rolling, jumping and generally frolicking while most of the adults were lying in the sun or grooming each other. We managed to get very close to them without them being concerned.
Our walk continued upwards as we were now in search of the elusive endemic walya ibex. We were at an altitude of 3800m so the lack of oxygen made the trek fairly hard going when going up steep sections. We searched for ibexes with our guide and his two scouts who carried Kalashnikov rifles to fend of the leopards or other beasts that might jump out and get us! (It’s a bit of a joke really but you are not allowed into the National Park without two armed scouts).
With no ibexes seen we decided to have our picnic lunch and Bini had arranged it to be on a cliff top at Chennek with a view over the Simien Mountains with 4000m peaks aplenty.
In a final desperate attempt to see ibex we drove a little further up into the mountains past Chennek and one of our scouts spotted a single ibex on a rock 100m up a steep bank from the road. We carefully clambered up the bank and came within 60m of the female ibex which was eating the dried lobelia leaves. After five minutes of watching and photographing her, she then started moving closer to us, maybe unaware of our presence. At a distance of 10m she suddenly decided she’d had enough and raced off but not before we all had good photos and video footage of this beautiful animal.
We clambered back onto the bus headed for home at Simien Park Lodge. The return journey was just as dusty and rough (they call it an “Ethiopian Massage”) and at one point we all had to get out and walk because the bus couldn’t make it up the steep gradient because of the roughness and loose rocks.
Another great day in Ethiopia!