Simien Mountains Trekking: The Roof of Africa

This morning you fly north to Gondar, the romantic seventeenth-century imperial capital set among the highlands, the gateway to the Simien Mountains. On arrival you explore its extraordinary heritage, centred on the Fasil Ghebbi, a walled royal compound and UNESCO World Heritage Site enclosing a cluster of stone castles, palaces and towers built by Emperor Fasilides and his successors, often called the Camelot of Africa. You wander the soaring battlements and banqueting halls, visit the tree-fringed Fasilides Bath, and admire the famous angel-painted ceiling of Debre Berhan Selassie church. This immersion in imperial grandeur and living Orthodox culture is a wonderful prelude to the wilderness ahead. You settle into your hotel and make final preparations for the trek. Rest well in Gondar, ready to head into the mountains tomorrow.

This morning you drive north from Gondar to Debark, the highland town at the edge of Simien Mountains National Park, where you complete park formalities and are joined by your armed scout, a requirement that also supports the local community. From here you begin your trek, climbing gradually onto the great plateau through fields, heather and giant lobelia, with the escarpment revealing itself in ever more dramatic views. Before long you are likely to meet your first troop of gelada baboons grazing peacefully on the grasslands, allowing wonderfully close and unhurried encounters. You reach your first camp or mountain lodge in the late afternoon, perched near the escarpment edge with sweeping views, where your crew has prepared a hearty meal. As the stars emerge in the crisp air, rest well on your first night high in the Simien Mountains.

Today you trek deeper into the range, following the dramatic escarpment edge with the land plunging away for a thousand metres to your side. The walking crosses rolling afro-alpine moorland dotted with giant lobelia, clear streams and the occasional village of thatched tukul huts and terraced barley. You pass close to more troops of gelada baboons and watch for lammergeier vultures riding the updrafts along the cliffs. Reaching viewpoints along the way, you gaze out over an immense panorama of jagged peaks, buttes and valleys. A highlight is the chance to see the Jinbar waterfall plunging over the cliff into the gorge far below. You arrive at your camp or lodge near Geech in the afternoon, high on the plateau. As the temperature drops and the sky fills with stars, enjoy dinner and rest well amid the mountains.

Today delivers some of the most spectacular scenery of the entire trek. You set out across the moorland to the celebrated viewpoint of Imet Gogo, a rocky promontory jutting out into the void where the escarpment falls away on three sides in a breathtaking sweep of cliffs, pinnacles and plunging valleys, often with cloud swirling far below your feet. Nearby viewpoints such as Inatye offer equally staggering panoramas. The walking is exhilarating and the photography superb, with the endemic wildlife of the range, geladas, soaring raptors and highland birds, all around you. Your guide points out distant peaks, including the mighty summits toward Ras Dashen, the Roof of Africa. After a picnic lunch amid the grandeur, you return to your camp or lodge in the afternoon. Rest well under the brilliant highland stars, tired and elated by an unforgettable mountain day.

Today you trek across the high plateau toward Chennek, one of the most beautiful and wildlife-rich areas of the Simien, set beneath towering crags. The route continues along the escarpment with ever-changing views, climbing through zones of giant lobelia and afro-alpine vegetation to high, remote country. Around Chennek you have the best chance of spotting the magnificent walia ibex, the great curved-horned wild goat found only in these mountains, watching for it on the steep cliffs and rocky slopes, and you may also glimpse the elusive Ethiopian wolf hunting rodents on the moorland. More gelada troops and soaring lammergeiers add to the wildlife spectacle. You reach the camp or lodge at Chennek, the highest point of your stay, surrounded by dramatic peaks. As night falls in the thin, cold air, wrap up warm, enjoy dinner and rest well in the high Simien.

This morning you take a final walk to soak up the grandeur of the high Simien, perhaps to a last viewpoint gazing toward Ras Dashen and the deeper peaks, watching for wildlife and enjoying the vast, clean silence of the mountains one more time. You then descend from the plateau to meet your vehicle and bid farewell to your dedicated trekking crew and scout. The scenic drive brings you back down through Debark and the highland farmland to Gondar, where a hot shower, a comfortable bed and a celebratory dinner await. Over the meal you can reflect on the escarpments, geladas, viewpoints and star-filled nights of your Simien adventure. You settle back into your hotel in the imperial city. Rest well in Gondar, proud of the wild and beautiful mountains you have trekked through over the past days.

After a relaxed final breakfast in Gondar and perhaps a last look at the castles or some souvenir shopping, you transfer to the airport for your flight back to Addis Ababa, where you connect with your onward international departure, or extend your journey to Lalibela, Axum or the Omo Valley. You leave having trekked through one of the great mountain landscapes of Africa, the soaring escarpments and viewpoints of the Simien, having sat among troops of unique gelada baboons, watched for walia ibex and lammergeiers, gazed toward Ras Dashen, and slept under brilliant highland skies, all framed by the imperial grandeur of Gondar. The images of cliffs plunging into cloud and of geladas grazing on the roof of Africa stay with you long after you fly home. Depart already dreaming of a return to the mountains of Ethiopia.