Simien Mountains National Park in northern Ethiopia is a spectacular landscape, where massive erosion over millions of years has created jagged mountain peaks, deep valleys, and sharp precipices dropping some 1,500m. The park is of global significance for its biodiversity conservation of globally threatened species, including the iconic Walia ibex, a wild mountain goat found nowhere else in the world, the Gelada baboon, and the Ethiopian wolf.
Imagine yourself in the heart of Africa’s highlands, trekking up a steady slope and heading for Ras Dashen, the roof of Ethiopia. To the south, mile upon mile of green cultivated land, intersected by dramatic gorges, stretch out beneath you. Here on the high plateau, the rare Ethiopian Wolf, Walia Ibex, and Lammergeyer call this home. Troops of Gelada baboons abound, and the giant Lobelia can grow up to 10m in height. The awesome landscapes of the Simien Mountains are simply breathtaking with amazing canyons and immense, bizarre rock formations. Surprisingly verdant and in contrast to the surrounding arid plains, the Simien Mountains present a wonderful setting for wild trekking. The traditional lifestyle of the locals adds an important extra dimension to this imaginative adventure and is guaranteed to leave a lasting impression. A UNESCO World Heritage Site since the late 1960s, the Simien Mountains present perhaps the most dramatic scenery in Africa – great volcanic plugs, formed some 40 million years ago and eroded over eons into fantastic crags, pinnacles, and flat topped mountains – ‘the chess pieces of the Gods’, as one writer described them, tower over precipitous gorges, river valleys, and plains stretching all the way to Eritrea.
The Simien Mountains National Park in Northern Ethiopia is an exotic setting with unique wildlife and breath-taking views on a landscape shaped by nature and traditional agriculture. The natural beauties of this region have always filled visitors from Ethiopia and abroad with awe. The margins of this high plateau consist of precipitous cliffs and deep, canyon-style gorges. In some places, the escarpment forms small elevations that offer splendid natural lookout points.
The main attraction of the Simien Moumains National Park is its biosphere: the steep cliffs and the cool climate at the altitude of the Erica tree line (3600 to 4000 m above sea level) have created conditions that are appropriate for the survival of an ibex species (Capra ibex wee) endemic to the Simien Mountains. Despite the severe restriction of their habitat over the last several centuries, several hundred animals have survived up to the present. Apart from the Walia ibex, many other animal species are found in the Park, for example the endemic Simien fox or Ethiopian wolf (Canis .071817,51-3 simony’s), several birds of prey, the endemic Gelada baboon (Theropithecusgelada), the Klipspringer (Oreo tragus omotragus), and the bush buck (liagelphus scriptus).
The human population living in the area adds to the distinctiveness of this special natural environment. The traditional lifestyle of the rural population and their survival in a rather harsh climate and with scarce natural resources make for the most striking impressions a visitor will have when trekking in the park and its surrounding rural area.
