Dec 26 - Simien Mountains - trekking to Chennek

After a cosy night in our borrowed down sleeping bags (don't rely on the company's bags - Ethiopians don't appear to feel the cold - our ranger slept outside under one thin blanket in 3 degrees Celsius!) we savaged an excellent breakfast and set off to a nearby waterfall.  That's an 800 meter waterfall viewed from a narrow rock platform perched over an 800 meter drop. In any other country, this would be world-famous, but it's Ethiopia so no-one's ever heard of it. 

Click on the photos for a slide show...

On route to the waterfall.



A heart-in-mouth shot taken on a sloping ledge above two thousand feet of fresh air.
The waterfall is just visible in the dark gully.  It was the dry season so not a lot of
water was coming over the top.  But in the wet season.....!!



Gelada baboons - I could have watched them for hours. (Actually, we did!)

Are those the coolest side burns or what?

Walia ibex

Bush buck

The view from Chennek camp

The camp is just visible on the plateau to the left.  You'd have to go
a long way to beat the sheer drama of this location. Lammergeiers circle
effortlessly in thermals all day, sharing the sky with dozens of vultures,
while baboons scamper along the escarpment,shrieking their disapproval
at their mischievous offspring.  What a place.