One nice feature of the free wordpress blog platform is the stats page, where I can see things such as where the readers of this blog come from. and what those folks seem to be reading. Well, by far and away, my most popular post is the one I did on my trek through Ethiopia’s Simien Mountains (here). Unfortunately, I lost the majority of my photos from Ethiopia and the trek when my computer was stolen in Goa. However, I was recently cleaning out my e-mail account when I stumbled across a few that had been sent to me by other members on the trek, so I thought I’d share them:
JD, myself and our guide looking out over a canyon on our first day.
Tea, coffee and popcorn at camp after Day 1. For some reason in Ethiopia, it’s customary to serve popcorn with coffee and tea. The popcorn also tastes a bit different there as it’s made with sugar (just a little), so it’s sweet as opposed to salty and buttery…
Dinner time in the cooking hut (Day 1 I think). Notice we’re all bundled up even near the fire… it definitely got cold.
More spectacular scenery…
Same day as above…
One thing about Ethiopia was that no matter how remote you thought you were, there were always people living nearby, which meant there were always, always, kids everywhere. Here were some kids selling baskets by the side of the road.
The young village boys were always out and about as shepherds for the animals. These boys would often sprint up and down the mountain to come say hello, ask for food/candy/money/water or to try an sell you something (usually a basket). They also would sing to each other from across the hills, which you would hear while walking from time to time.
Me taking a picture of something… animals, flowers, shepherds? I honestly don’t know. At least it must have been something interesting judging by everybody’s focus.
The morning of Day 4. Sure, it’s beautiful in this moment, but all of us (trekkers, guides and porters) spent the night in the cooking hut in the middle because it rained and hailed all night (soaking through our tents, as it had the previous night as well).
Male Gelada Baboon… one of the best things about this trek is that you can get pretty close to troops of these animals.
Nice shot of some of the mountains as well as our armed scout (a requirement while trekking here). He did have a rifle, but I could never get him to show us if there were actually any bullets in it.
Goats among the flowers. Day 4 I believe…
Stopping in a village coffee house for lunch Day 4. You’ll notice the flat metal try on the table, which is the way most Ethiopian meals are served. No utensils as everything come with a hard-to-describe spongy flat bread called injera, which is used to pick up everything else (generally meat, beans and vegetables).
You can see a bit of trail on the right of the stream. From here the trail went down the canyon, forded a river at the bottom, then went back up the opposite side in the ravine you can see across the way. Obscured from this shot, Ethiopia’s tallest mountain, Ras Dashen, is (way) in the distance.
More tea, coffee and popcorn at camp on Day 4. Despite the smiles, JD’s expression on the left sums up most of what we’re feeling because it’s pouring rain outside at the moment. We know that if it doesn’t let up we’ll be sleeping in the cooking hut for the third night in a row. The other problem is that the cooking hut is the building where we’re sitting in this picture (I’m sure you can see why we wouldn’t want to sleep there). Luckily, after dinner, the rain let up and didn’t come back all night (so we were able to sleep in our tents until morning). It’s pretty cold here, but I was saving my jeans for the evening as I knew it would be even colder then.
Some of our crew, along with some ladies from the nearby village, the morning of Day 6.
Kids selling hats and baskets on the trail (which you can see to the left). There was a constant refrain of “you want basket” most anytime we passed kids (baskets were 90% of what they were selling). The galoshes are actually a genius move considering the climate in the area. And you know it’s cold when even the little kids are bundled up.
Richarding 