Ethiopia Part 2: Semien Mountains National Park and Addis Ababa

I am so excited to share these pictures with you all. Most were taken in Semien Mountains National Park, in the northern reaches of Ethiopia.  These mountains are breathtakingly beautiful. We spent three nights in the park, with two full days of hiking.  We camped in tents at various campsites the park has established.  It was definitely the coldest I've been in the last two years... my down jacket and winter hat came in handy!  

Even more impressive than the scenery was the glimpses we got into the life of people who live here in the highlands.  Their life is a difficult one - full of uphill climbs, a dry climate most of the year, few schools, and not much in the way of industry.  From what I could gather, many of the villages up here work communally and rely on each other for survival. Our guide, Amie, who grew up in this area, told us stories of climbing up cliffs to get to the next village - without ropes.  Many people are employed when tourists come through - cooking, renting out their mules for transport, guiding people through the park.  In fact, they have a cooperative for all the people that work with tourists, so local people all get an opportunity to work.  

Enjoy the photos, and if you can, book a trip!  It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.

Driving up to the National Park, we mainly traveled on long plateaus with fields of barley.  (Fields of gold, anyone?)

Amazing view from our first campsite. So peaceful, yet majestic. We drove directly to this site and stayed the night here. I'm glad I packed my down jacket and winter hat - I needed it that night (and the nights to come.)  Made a Minnesota girl pretty happy to be cold. :)

Golden light. Chiseled mountains. Beauty.

View for most of the morning of our hike on day 1.  We walked along an escarpement and looked out at all these amazing rock formations.

Walking through fields of gold. (aka barley.)  

Mid-morning we came across a man sitting along the trail playing a masinqo and singing.  He even wished us a Merry Christmas!  

Our guide, Amie, wearing lichen as a beard!

We were required to hire a scout to accompany us - for protection from animals, mostly. This is Tzazu.  He was very kind and protective of us.  

A fun sunglasses picture. (Kerry and I's reflection in Douglas' glasses.)

After lunch in a river valley, we climbed up to a village and into more barley fields.  This is a pretty inventive fence in the village.

The thatched roof you see tops a house in the village.  People were really friendly and welcoming as we walked through. The colors were incredible.  

Just beyond the village we reached our camp (Gich) for the night.  

Here is our cook with Christmas Eve dinner!  Yum!

He even made us Christmas dessert: a pancake with nutella writing! 

Three silly teachers (grade 3, 2, 1 - left to right.)

Amazing sunset. 

Sun rays over the mountains.  

Hiking, day 2. This is on our climb to a 13,000 foot peak on Christmas day.

View from the peak on Christmas day.  

High on a mountain top....

Amazing cliffs covered with green and trees. So beautiful.

On our way down from the peak, and on the way to the next camp, we got a good view of some farms.  There were LOTS of goats, sheep, lamb, and mules.

I bought a gourd from these beautiful children.  They were selling many different types of crafts.  (You can see the baskets in their hands.)

Amazing light.

The high peak in the background of this photo is where we had descended from.  

Kerry and I's feet after a day on the trail.  (I was actually wearing tennis shoes, but I guess a bit of dirt snuck inside!)

A short walk from our tent were these guys: gelada baboons.  They look like lions, right?  These guys are endemic to this national park.  More info on them found here.  We also saw them on our climb up to the peak we reached earlier that day.  They were so fun to watch!

These are Walia Ibex, a type of ibex also only found in the Semien Mountains.  They were so beautiful and graceful - especially leaping through the fields!  More info on the walia ibex is found here.

Here are some gelada baboons, one with a baby on its back!

 After our adventure in the mountains, we headed to the city of Bahir Dahr, on the shores of Lake Tana.  We arrived here late in the evening and left early in the morning, so I didn't take any photos.  We did, however, take a nice walk around the city - visiting a HUGE market, buying some green coffee beans, and settling in for dinner at our hotel.  The next morning we were on an early morning flight back to Addis Ababa.

Kerry's aunt is a nun in Addis, and has lived there the past 10 years.  We got to visit the school where she teaches, and I even got to lead the class in a few acting exercises and hear some of the poems they had written.

Here are some of her students.

Lots of lunch boxes.

Here we are with Kerry's aunt, some of the other sisters, and one of their family members.  It was so wonderful to stay with them and explore a bit of Addis Ababa.