Escape

A few weeks ago we escaped the city to the Simien Mountains. We spent five days hiking, sleeping in tents and enjoying Ethiopia's great outdoors. Courtesy of Ethiopian Airlines recent tripling of flight fares for non-residents, the adventure started with a 13 hour bus ride from Addis to Gondar. And despite the number of hours spent sitting, twists and turns of the road, and our bus driver's avid use of the horn to clear a path - the ride was relatively painless.

Our group of five was joined by a sixth in Gondar and the next day we were off on our mountain adventure.

We walked through incredible landscapes, peered over the sides of cliffs, and trekked up steep mountain slopes to heights over 4300m. After months of breathing in the dust and diesel of Addis, walking all day and breathing in the clean was mountain air was incredible.

What was also incredible was that at the end of each day, we would arrive at our next base with our tents already set up and a tray of coffee and snacks sitting ready. This is the first time I've ever done an organised hike and while at first I was skeptical - what's the reward without doing all the hard work? - it was pretty wonderful experiencing this other kind of trekking. 

Sure the tents were often pitched in the one spot where they were guaranteed to receive no warming morning sunshine, but when all you have to do is convince yourself that if you climb out of your warm sleeping bag there will be a hot pot of coffee waiting for you, there really isn't too much left to complain about. 

So we spent our days wandering up and down mountainside, seeing some of the local wildlife and passing through a few of the remaining villages.

Ethiopia is in the process of reinvigorating its park protection schemes, and as a result, most of these villages will be moved. It's controversial and sad - I feel bad for the locals who will be moved from what is arguably one of the most beautiful parts of the country to much less pleasant towns where it will be harder to raise livestock and continue their present day lives. But on the other hand, having natural protected spaces is important. And I'm pretty sure all national parks were created by first removing the locals, its just that so much of it happened so long ago we don't have to think about it anymore. But regardless, it's sad that these villages will soon be gone and too bad that Ethiopia isn't trying a little harder to come up with a better compromise.

With our food made and our tents set up, we had little left to do in the evenings except watch the sunset, stay warm by the fire, and enjoy the wonderful company of the little group of travellers I was sharing this adventure with.

There were sun burns and bug bites. Freezing cold nights and tents set-up on rocky ground and sloping hills. An unforseen ascent to above 4000m with the only reward a freezing cold lunch while sitting enclosed by fog on the tip of the mountain. We lost our guide to some type of sickness, leaving us in the hands of our local (ie. non English speaking scout). And the nights were incredibly cold.

But I had like the scout better than our guide since day one when he noticed I was uncomfortable walking on a rock wall/bridge to our first lookout and offered a hand. He quickly won us over with his smiles and encouragement to greet and say goodbye to the baboons and walia we passed. The sun was bright, the air warm, and there is a pure pleasure to falling into an exhausted sleep, cosy in your sleeping bag at the end of the day. And my hiking mates wonderful company and the views breathtaking. I wouldn't have changed a thing.