Simien Mountains National Park (Buyit Ras)

Yesterday when I arrived here I was put together with a young German tourist who also wanted to do a tour tot he “Simien” mountains. We spoke together and decided to go together the next day because alone was too expensive. First we wanted to start deeper into the national park but you need a jeep for that which is too much money for our budget.   

The next morning I have breakfast together with John, my German companion, and then the problems start; John finds out that not all his stuff fits in his bag and that he has to rent a bag. With this larger bag it does not fit well yet and a carrier has to be arranged. After that we have to buy bread and fresh vegetables such as garlic, onions, cabbage, potatoes and carrot on the local market.

We’ve got the feeling we lost a lot of time and it’s necessary that we hurry up and start our trip to the National Park. I carry all my own stuff and we are accompanied by a cook, a porter (for John) and a guide with gun. First we have to leave the village behind us and we pass the market again where we buy some water. We see some football-tables standing outside next to the dusty mainstreet of the village before the houses stop and we leave civilasation behind us. This is the spot where the real hike starts and we have a beautiful view of the valley that looks pretty green.

We also see some thatched huts surrounded with fences with thorns to keep their cattle inside. Groups of cows, goats, sheep and many children who call us from places you never paid attention to. The huts are called "tukuls" and are usually round and there are no windows or even a chimney.

The smoke escapes through the reeds and prevents insects from entering. Sometimes such a cabin is divided in two; a part for the cattle and the other for people who are kept warm because of the animals. This way it is protected and even provides extra heat. 

We walk over some stones and rocks over the creek and I already feel the height, the heat and the heaviness of my bag which is especially heavy because of the food I got with me. We talk with our scout "Naughty" who is our guide with a Klashnikov, our cook Jaju and our carrier "Ghazze" who walks around on his broken plastic slippers. Of course we hope to see the Ethiopian wolf today but the chance is small - he is timid and even our African friends have never seen this beast in real life although they’ve done several tours to the mountains. There seem to be only 600 wolves left and these live only in the highlands of Ethiopia. Usually they live in a group of about 10 to 15 wolves as a close family that cares for each other. Only if they go hunting do they prefer to do this individually.

The trip is hot and very dusty; sometimes we have to be on the side of the path for a group of donkeys or horses that pass our way. And we are constantly being called by children who, as a shepherd, keep the goats together "hello mister, plastic or pen of money". It is much heavier than expected and after passing three hills in the valley we arrive at a mountain that we unfortunately have to climb. Broken, out of breath, completely covered with dust we arrive at the top of it and decide not to walk to Sankaber today but to stay in Buyit Ras. We can already see the camp, but it is still quite a bit of walking through the second valley until we reach a large open dry field/ grassy site where a mud hut rises out of nothing.

The whole is surrounded by a wooden fence and behind the house is a stable and a stone building which contains a smelly hole in the ground that serves as a toilet. We drink a cup of tea at Tamara who is pretty much the manager of the house and we also see that we could easily sleep in the house as they have two separate rooms with beds. I decide to camp with my little tent in the “garden” while John and the guys use the rooms. You can also buy tea, coffee, beer and soft drinks here and we decide to stay here and drink a cup of tea. 

When we arrived at the hut we saw the large group of baboons already sitting on the mountain but after we have finished our tea they are gone and we decide to follow them. On the other side of the hill we meet this 200 counting group. Our guys tell that this is just an average group of baboons – there suppose to be a group of about 800 one of them – can you imagine?

The males are a kind of big hairballs with lots of fluffy hair and it seems that they have about 7 to 12 females. They no longer migrate so much and eat the grass on what they scrape from the dry ground. They also flea each other and occasionally there is a fight going on. My experience with baboons was not so positive but here they are afraid of you and stay at a distance while you can just walk through the group. Maybe it's because it's actually not baboons at all. They are therefore another species; Gelata and they are vegetarian.

These monkeys have a very special social bond with each other; the women choose the boss while the young men hang around in groups looking for a female. The older males take care of the young ones like a grandfather for his grandchild. The skin on the chest is seen as the social status of a male; here is his reproductive skin - you can see how many females he has and his sexual ambition and experience. We spend a lot of time with the monkeys and then walk back to the house where we dine - soup and then spaghetti. 

In the evening we pitch our tent in the garden and there is a campfire outside to heat us because it has become quite cold. Not so strange we’re in the mountains. We chat a bit about the monkeys and the unnamed and unseen Ethiopian wolf. Our guide says there are still about 40 to 50,000 baboons like this in Ethiopia. Nowadays the monkey is charged for everything if the police can not find a "real" perpetrator. He would besides that he trampled the crops also responsible for many theft, bribery, rape and even murder. After a few hours talking we break up and I'll go into my tent.