The Roof of Africa
Trip Start
Mar 01, 2012
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51
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Trip End
Jan 04, 2013
Debark, Ethiopia
Friday, June 15, 2012
Andre decided that buying beef from the local butcher was too expensive, so he negotiated for a live sheep which saw its end in the same courtyard that our vehicles were parked in.
After an early night we were awoken by what sounded like a call to prayer, but it lasted from 02:00 until well after we left for the Simian Mountains at 07:00! We found out that it was part of the local Christian celebrations for Saint Michael which kept us awake for the best part of 4-hours!
The 2-hour drive up to the Simians was not as tough as expected and te new Chinese road is more than 70% complete. We collected a local guide called Tess and our scout (complete with AK47) and headed another 40km into the mountains to an altitude of about 3300m.
The walk in the mountains was amazing! We managed to get up close and personal with the local Gelada baboons, as well as some antelope and birds.
We set up camp and Shawn rustled up a wholesome beef stew in the chilly mountain air. In line with the Ethiopian tradition, the rains came down in buckets at around 17:00 and we were lucky to have our awnings up or else we would have been drenched!!
Dinner was great and we were asleep early after some good walking at altitude.
It is interesting to hear how short your breathing is when the air is so thin. I woke up with a slight headache because my body isn't acclimatised to being in the mountains. I hope the up-down-up-down trekking up Mount Kenya in a couple of weeks helps me get over the headaches! Over 5000m awaits!
