The trip
These are the eight o'clock, but the bar can not be a soul. Tens of Ethiopians are clustered to watch a Real Madrid game delayed. Each has paid a couple of birr (about 15 cents) the entry. No one consumes nothing. Not a coffee. Not a glass of water. No screen removes eye, only 24 inches. We review as the food we have prepared for the long journey: tortilla snack, a boiled egg, a baked potato and a bottle of water. Come to the mountains of Simien, one of the most fascinating places in Africa, in search of Gelada baboons (in Amharic, the local language, "Bleeding hearts"), a species which is found only in these places above Ethiopians 3.000 meters.
Debark preparing their stalls for a lively market day. A road leads us along a mountain track to the place of departure, situated almost 3.300 meters. A 15 miles is the entrance to the park, where is proof that our permits are in order, beyond seven dismounted cast by the Simien Lodge, which autocorona as the hotel located at higher altitudes throughout Africa. Here ends the track. You can only keep on walking.
Simien we get wrapped in mist, as expected in the middle of rainy season. In exchange, walk alone
The alpine landscape is: stones and shrubs are gradually gaining ground to the trees. Simien We get wrapped in mist, as expected in the middle of rainy season. In exchange, walk alone (7.000 Simien tourists visit each year). Very soon begin to accompany our steps dozens of baboons Gelada not take away our eye. On the chest, the males look a red heart-shaped inverted explains his nickname. This pack is no more than fifty, but some exceeding 700. Like any mammal, react with violence if they feel threatened. One does not walk quite quiet, truth. Above all, because the fog makes the baboons appear and disappear from sight as if by magic while a natural amphitheater bordered clothes sensed a valley hundreds of feet below.
In Simien not only inhabit the Gelada baboons. It is also suitable territory for two other endemic species: Simien jackal and the Abyssinian ibex
In Africa you never land. Even in these inhospitable landscapes. A group of ragged children emerge from the fog, emphasizing the magic of this place, waving their trinkets: goat wool hats, wicker baskets and "jwiraf", the whips that drive the cattle, a daunting task in this land of ravines and cliffs. Making crack in the silence of the mountain to chase the monkeys earned the rebuke of the ranger, while I wondered if it would end that bring out their aggressiveness. The fog eventually swallow the street early.
In Simien not only inhabit the Gelada baboons. It is also suitable territory for two other endemic species: the Simien jackal and íbice of Abyssinia, a mountain goat horns of powerful. Of these, much more cautious, we saw none. Baboons, however, accompanied us during most of the way. No wonder, considering living here almost 8.000. Sometimes sawest, despiojándose parsimony in solidarity with brotherhood, the intuited and other, often, listened only their guttural grunts. The dominant male directed the orchestra (baboons are extremely gregarious and are used to follow the pack leader). Raised on its hind legs, climbed to a rolling stone all his authority to his fellows and, passing, auscultation our movements and reminded us we were in its territory.
The dominant male directed the orchestra. Raised on its hind legs, climbed to a rolling stone all his authority
The trail runs sometimes on the brink, so you should not lose sight of the ranger steps, armed in case, especially when the rain begins to tarnish the way. Is a primitive landscape, high mountain, once more breaking Western stereotypes of the Ethiopian desert horizons and devastating droughts.
Crowned a hill after several minutes of breath. At our feet lies a small village of phantasmagorical. As spectra cut off from the fog, several children are waving to us in English. They walk with bare feet and bare legs, despite the cold weather, Gabis waving their tattered and threadbare rugs. ORILLING THE ADVERSITIES, smile as if life were nothing ought. His hands chapped by the wind, cold as a stone nude, palpated and scrutinize our own backpacks. It is a moment of joy wrapped in the mist. Tens of baboons watching us, proud of having brought us perhaps far.
We passed the defiles of creepy cut and we go into bush and forest landscapes where walking placidly between lobelia and heather
Take this opportunity to rest and eat something on a hill. From this, we will lose up to Sankaber, begin the camp where the main walking routes through the mountains of Simien, as we, due to time, of not wanted, We are closed this time. The culmination is the summit in the Ras Dashen, with their 4.260 meters the third highest peak in Africa. We passed the defiles of creepy cut and we go into bush and forest landscapes where walking placidly between lobelia and heather rusted by moisture, between horses with black manes grazing unperturbed by our presence. After nearly three hours of walking we went to a track with abundant landslides where the nearby mountains appear and disappear, as inevitable baboons, the whim of low clouds.
A woman invites us into his hut and the miracle occurs: two bottles of beer Dashen to smile at life
Finally we see a Abyssinian ibex, but only painted in a faded sign that heralds the approach of Sankaber, a handful of huts where, four hours after driving off, our frugal lunch supplies to 3.200 meters. The cold is numbing the muscles. A woman invites us into his hut and the miracle occurs: two bottles of beer Dashen to smile at life.
When we met again with the driver, who came to fetch the SUV, start our way back. Here, and throughout Africa, not be missed a place. The guide's sister and her daughter take advantage of the trip for them to relocate and settle Debark in the back. The baby, only the years, not even blink with jiggling the car downhill. A lesson for our children Western, subscribers to tears the first setback. Looking back. A lonely baboon shows us a side of the track. The pack leader wants to make sure we left their land.
Tips
-To avoid succumbing to the boasts African administrative, should address the day before the park offices (located at the entrance of Debark) to obtain the necessary permits. The entrance to the park and the services of a guide and armed ranger comes out 270 Birr (under 20 EUR), much cheaper to buy a map of the Simien Mountains (300 Birr).
-And Debark, Accommodations are scarce. We slept in the Simien Park. Let no one think of a hotel use, but rather a modest hostel, in these latitudes, is a luxury (rooms are ensuite and sometimes, if we are lucky, to hot water).
