On a side note, the photos which help
tell the story will probably have to wait until I get home. I may have already mentioned the bandwidth issue. It takes long enough to upload them on a comparably super-fast connection in Toronto. Well,
that extends the life of this blog a bit: after these written chronicles, you will probably get photo posts with explanations.
This day was slightly different than
the others: instead of visiting a few things, I would spend most of
my day doing one thing. After an early breakfast, a rugged looking
vehicle pulled up near the hotel reception; I was about to go to
Simien National Park.
Driving to Debark
The physical gateway to Simien is the
town of Debark. The total drive from Gondar to the park interior took
a few hours, and much of that was on rough unpaved road. I am told
the route has come a long way, and much of it is part of a
huge road improvement project. I experienced slowdowns due to rough parts of the road and detours around construction. If you decide to visit this place in
the future, chances are you will be treated to a nicer ride. In the
meantime, I would spend much of the way cradling my camera and trying
to smooth out the shocks of the road.
I believe the ride there is part of the
attraction. You get a picture of life in rural parts and in smaller
towns. You see people walking by the roadside with baskets or plastic
water jugs, or diligently making sure their livestock don't wander in
the path of your car.
Once I reached that entry office, I
signed in and met the rest of the group. The first addition was a
guide who knew some history, names of flora and fauna, and who could
translate for me when I bargained with people who live in the Park.
The second person was a scout with a gun who would look after the
trekking party.
A walk in the Park
The driver let us out near the
beginning of a path. I was given two options: a two hour trail or a
three and a half hour trail. Given that I had slept poorly and was
jostled a bit by the ride over, I went with the two hour trail.
I almost immediately encountered one of
Simien's best known attractions: Gelada baboons. As the group made
its way down the hill toward a cliff, my guide pointed out these
mellow primates and I readied my camera. In order to get the best
shots, I needed the other two guys to hang back while I slowly and
quietly approached the subject. You can get fairly close to them if
you're careful, but once you get within a certain distance they will
glance at you and slowly move away. The best example to my mind of how peaceful they are is my ability to approach a mother who was suckling her child, without anything bad happening to me. If the guide had not said I could do this, I might have hesitated; approaching the young of a species can often run you afoul of the mother. Given that there were a good dozen or so baboons around me at the time, I would not only have been concerned about an angry mother.
It's good that the baboons are mellow
because people still live traditional lives inside Simien; there are
groups of people looking after horses and cattle and goats. It would
be more challenging to live that way if these particular baboons
behaved anything like what television and movies have taught me to
expect.
I mentioned cliffs. There is an upper
area of the park where I trekked, and a much lower campsite which is
visible from up high. The view from the upper area made me think of
the Grand Canyon, except this place was greener.
You sometimes encounter groups of
people who are prepared to do business. For a sum of 150ETB (divide
it by 17.25 to get an idea of the value in dollars) I got a
traditional cup and two different group photos. It's possible to
haggle for lower prices, but I was spending so little to begin with
that I didn't see any point to bargaining for less.
There were different cliffside views;
flowers; poisonous fruit which is used for a traditional soap; birds
such as Lammergeyer eagles. There were no mosquitoes at that
altitude.
After the walk was finished, the driver
brought the group Debark where we parted ways with the guide and scout. Everyone shook hands, and
I had a two o'clock lunch in town before the driver brought me back
to the hotel.
Agenda for tomorrow/Getting
around
On the 15th, my plan is to
visit the local marketplace and then another palace. The day was
originally intended for Fasil Ghebbi, but I went there on the
whirlwind 13th.
Getting around has been simple because
the hotel referred me to a man who organizes tours. All I needed to do was ask how a trip to Simien might be arranged, and now I have my itinerary secured through Lalibela; everything I have written about in Gondar has involved some of the man's planning. He has in fact
been handy enough to arrange city-to-city ground transportation for
the Bahir Dar and Lalibela parts of the trip. That latter booking is super important because it is a long distance and I was not sure I would be savvy enough to swing it on my own; the text on my itinerary reads something about catching one bus, and having to get off and connect with the very last bus bound for Lalibela. I no longer have to worry about that. If you are not confident about finding your own way around in a manner that gets you good value for the money, these guys can be tremendously useful. It helps if you are referred to them through a trustworthy source such as the front desk of a hotel; the Goha is probably the most established hotel I have booked on this trip.
With established tour
companies, you get drivers and guides who are experienced
knowledgeable and trustworthy. You also get slight discounts because
you are giving the same guy a lot of business, and he is working in
agreement through affiliates who might offer him better rates.
D. Madeley
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