That damn Sudanese or Chadese dust (wherever it comes from) was putting a major damper on the fine views that I was expecting from the Simien Mountains of Ethiopia. We had recently begun an eight-day trek and all I could hope for was a little rain to fall in the west and clear up those hazy dusty conditions. A few nights ago in a village called Cheneck my initial prayers were answered in the form of thunderstorms on the horizon. From a perch on the amazing escarpment it was like watching a movie screen as storm after storm wreaked havoc on the landscape. With each crack of lightning and rumble of thunder a jolt of excitement moved through my soul. Along with the fascinating scene came our first awe inspiring sunset to the west and a laxing of that damn dust.
Sunrise brought a touch of alpenglow to Imet Gogo (3926 m) and the surrounding escarpment and the towers and spines on the horizon beckoned our footsteps. We walked on toward Mt Bwahit (4430 m), Ethiopia’s second highest peak past troupes of the Gelada (the endemic baboon’s of Ethiopia) cleaning and preening themselves in a stunning setting above 2000 meter cliffs. We caught sight of our first Walia Ibex and the extremely rare Ethiopian Wolf.
Walking towards the village of Sona we moved off the rim of the escarpment and starting our descent into the lowlands of Simien National Park. The scenery gave way to fields of cultivation and numerous villages. As we dropped lower the clouds thickened and darkened with each step and temperatures plummeted. As we pulled into our camp we quickly set up our tent despite the spectacular views that lay across the canyon. The clouds were moving in but we had no idea what lay in store. Within seconds the rain hit. It was the rain I had hoped for but damn was it hard. It was true insanity. It was no pitter-patter, it came in buckets and was hard and mean. The ground began to move all around the tent and streams of mud moved in all directions. Then the thought came to me, “we are right above a sheer 2000 foot cliff”. A wave of fear filled my brain as I constantly peered out from the vestibule hoping I didn’t see a true mudslide.
The ruthless deluge turned into hail, the sound was deafening, Lauren was trembling. It didn’t stop for two hours. Finally it died to a drizzle, we survived, made a quick dinner and somehow made a fire. It’s amazing was a couple liters of kerosene will do to wet sticks.
As we zipped the tent for bed the rain found its rhythm again only this time kept up its pace until 5am. Both storms combined produced over 6 inches of rain overnight (we could tell by the amount of water in our cooking pot which was under a tree not even in the open). We came to find out it was the first rain of 2010 and one of the fiercest our guide had ever seen. Good news… it produced an amazing sunrise and the dust was gone.
To view the entire Simien Gallery visit: www.photoshelter.com/c/ryansalmphotography and click on the Simien link.
