Day 15
Time to start a new adventure! This 4 day hike in the Simien mountains has 2 objectives. First, enjoy the magnificent scenery of course but also it serves as a rehearsal/test for the Kilimanjaro. It's over 3000m the whole time and we'll go as high as 4500m so we should be able to see how our body adjust to height. We leave Gonder on a misty morning; we had rain the last two nights there. Our guide was telling us that it's likely we'll get rain but it usually happens at the end of the afternoon. First stop Debark to buy the national park entrance ticket. We're almost at 3000m already and do a quick stop to bask in our first magnificent view. It feels like flying with the whole valley at our feet. Back on the road we get the inescapable Madingo with his latest song on the radio (Suffer with us and listen to this ten times a day - Swedlat). By now we now it by heart and sing along. The cattle traffic is not nearly as bad as in the south. The landscape is very hilly, green and flecked with grazing cattle. As we get closer to Debark, horses start to show up both on the road and in the field. It has to do with altitude and the resulting climate that is more favorable to them up there.
Debark 2850m - We get our entrance tickets, our armed scout, the rest of the supplies, a coffee (breakfast for our supporting crew) and on we go. It's a 25km drive to the park entrance but the road is basic as one can expect in the remote mountainous area. They drop us off with our guide and scout on this side of the road. The rest of the crew continues with the car to the camp. After all we paid to hike ;) it's 12:00 we're at 3200m next to a ridge with the valley at our feet. We saw some monkeys from the car and pass by 2 other small groups shortly after having begun the hike. They're huddle together. It's on the chilly side with a few drops of rain. They don't mind us and we keep going. Our guide, Desu, is a living encyclopedia of the area. We get information on everything that is around; plants, birds, monkeys, etc...
After a short lunch break with a view, we resume the trek for more of the same. We arrive at camp (3214m) around 4pm. We only had 7.5km today and no problem with altitude so far. The rest of the crew has been busy. The tent is ready and they are cooking. We have tea, coffee and popcorn waiting for us! The donkeys are nowhere to be seen yet, maybe tomorrow ;) Checking out the “bathroom” we come face to face with two bush-back antelopes. They are as surprised as we are and a bit curious too but they quickly retreat to the nearby trees. We were not expecting it and it's a nice surprise but we are treated with a kingly meal; Delicious soup follow by a bit of everything. The whole thing on a table with a candle! It's difficult to believe we're in the middle of the mountains. Hooray for the cook!
DAY 16
The first night in a tent is always tricky but we have a decent night of sleep. Before breakfast we check out the place where we saw the antelope last night but they're not there. Instead we witness the clouds slowly invading the valley ahead of us. A time-lapse of this could look like a flood of epic proportion in an end of the world Hollywood movie. For breakfast we have freshly baked pancakes/crepes. It's in-between but our cook is definitely excellent. We have to force ourselves to eat a bit, the altitude I guess. That's why it's important to bring an excellent cook with you!!! We take off at 7:50 and are rightfully rewarded with some wildlife sighting; bush-back antelope, cliff-springers, countless birds and of course, one amazing view after the other.
We try not to stop every two steps to watch the views or the wildlife but it's not easy. We have a break a little longer on a cliff and watch the vultures playing with the currents. They are majestic when they fly. The main attraction for today is the waterfall. We see it from across a very narrow valley. It's big and impressive but I prefer the small ones we see everywhere.
After a grueling ascent to the road, we follow it for a half-hour. There's a lot of traffic and some big puddles of mud so we have to time it well when we walk past them. Soon enough we leave the road and get back to the routine – wildlife and views. We hear shouting in the distance and see a baboon chased downhill by villagers. He was probably having a free lunch in one of their fields. It's about time to have lunch for us too. We're at the river that is upstream of the waterfall. To cross it is a risky endeavor. First we walk on the edge of it on slippery stones then we have to jump on two big stones to get to the other side. Our scout does that with insolent ease. I follow with a little help and much less grace then it's Mar's turn. She does the whole crossing with a look of terror on her face. The important thing is no one saw the water from too close ;)
We're not far from the camp but in between us and the camp is a looong ascent in rough terrain. It's taxing; the terrain is gouged by erosion with little growing there. Our guide tells us it's called “alpine afro”. It's grass, fake palm trees (they are not palm trees but they look like them and their color makes them look like plastic) and that's pretty much it. We go up and up for what feels like forever, go through a village and exit it via a temporary river bed. Finally we reach our camp. It's very exposed on top of a hill at 3590m; it's only 2:30pm! Today we did 14km in 6h40 with probably around 1200m or elevation gain/loss... stretching is mandatory if we want our legs functional tomorrow. There's not much to do for us up there since everything is taken care of by our wonderful crew. When things calm down a bit, two curious thick beak ravens come near the camp and allow us to observe them. Suddenly they take off leave us wondering why. We were not getting closer, no one made any sudden move or noise. Not even one minute after their departure we have our answer... it starts pouring and they knew it! It's cold up there unsurprisingly and we put the additional layers we planned for that kind of situation. Once again we're treated with a royal dinner with Ethiopian wine! Delicious lentil soup, dinner, ginger tea (for altitude sickness), a game of riddle and we're in bed at 8:30pm... and it feels so good!
We read a lot on the effect of altitude but one thing no one mention is that gases seem to leak out of your body however they can all the time! I guess it makes sense with the lower pressure outside. Oh and don't try to hold it because of manners because then your belly will hurt ;)