Up up and away

From Gonder we traveled by bus up to the Simien Mountains. The bus ride was about what you might expect - lots of people crammed into a small space, Erica and I with our packs on our (very limited) laps, chickens, occasional whiff of vomit, red fringe hanging from the windows, and a large poster of St. Mary staring back from the front of the bus. The countryside was beautiful however and we probably needed to have a few things jostled loose.

The Simien Moutains were formed by ancient volcanic eruptions which were then carved away by large glaciers and rivers. There's a very large National Park and we took a van in to the Simien Lodge, which hosts 'The heighest restaurant in Africa' at 10,000 feet. The landscape is very very green, thanks to the recent rainy season, with green groundcover punctuated with purple, pink and yellow wildflowers. Rocks and trees full of personality complete the picture.

We took a hike along the ridge of one of the mountains and stared into the canyon below while large birds (falcons? vultures?) circled overhead. A highlight of the hike were the Gelada baboons (which are not technically baboons) who were gathered in family groups grooming, eating and playing. They sleep on the sheer cliff face each night for safety from leopards and hyena and are proficient rock climbers - they apparently have the shortest, strongest fingers in the monkey world. They are not however very good tree climbers and I saw a couple make very ungraceful descents. It was amusing to see that the local goats grazing nearby were also climbing the trees with slightly more success.