Sunday, 20 April 2003
We got up at 5.30 am this morning to be in the airport at 7.10 am as the flight schedule was advanced. During the night Jørgen and Jesper were bitten well by mosquitoes and that made them worrying a bit as Bahir Dar is known as a malaria area. According to the guidebook six people die here daily of malaria in average.
They had nothing to do other than be careful taking their malaria pills as prescribed and be aware of any symptoms of malaria. We had extra pills to start treatment in case they were unlucky. At the breakfast they felt lucky anyway, as the restaurant had cornflakes with fresh milk for the first time in days.
Bahir Dar airport was a bit dull considered the size of the city and so was the experience at check-in. Jørgen who travels under the protection of corps diplomatique claimed as usual that he and his luggage should not undergo investigation. Usual this wasn’t a problem, but the staff at this little city felt themselves immune to supranational laws.
Just on principle Jørgen insists on claiming his internationally recognized privileges, which caused the staff to call for the manager of security. He insists on investigation Jørgen even though Jørgen forbearing explained that places like Copenhagen, Frankfurt and Addis Ababa international airports respected the international diplomatic rules, this security manager was obdurate on principle.
Jørgen was investigated under protest and he emphasized that he would file a report on the incident, as their alternative was that Jesper and I could fly, and Jørgen had to stay if not checked. Sorry to be present at an incident where Ethiopian authorities violates Danish rights when we usually have seen legitimate behavior.
When we got into the airplane the other passenger look wondering at us and it was a pity that we were unable to explain that we didn’t delay the flight due to slovenliness.
The landing in Gonder airport was tuff as the plane “skipped stones” over the runway. The airport was very nice and here we saw more travel organizers than used to in local airports. Everything seems to show that Gonder is used to tourists.
Our guide picked us up as agreed whereupon the drive went on in a large four-wheel drive minibus towards Gonder. The city is quite big approx. 100,000 inhabitants and characterized by the Italian occupation during Second World War. Here we saw a town center and Italian designed “Art Deco” buildings from 1940s.
We bought necessaries like chocolate and toilet paper before proceeding North on “Debark” the city that holds the National Park headquarter. The almost four hour drive on stony gravel road was a rough ride. We passed small villages where kids waved their hand and smiled. We felt we were very welcome and didn’t see any white people anywhere. Sometimes we passed large piles of relief supplies with corn from USAid and European Union. We could follow mules packed with the sacks as far as the eye could see. It was nice to see that the help arrives where it’s needed.
The city of Debark is a very tiny and poor village that mostly consists of small mud huts, a hotel and the “Simien Mountain National Park” headquarter. We had a short lunch at the hotel after which we were introduced to our “Ranger” an old khaki-dressed Ethiopian equipped with a Russian AK-47 semiautomatic riffle. We said hello and even though his English language skills was limited, we felt safe having him along us.
We continued to drive into the reserve and the many hairpin bends quickly lead us up in altitude. We could see vast canyons and beautiful valleys in between the very dry vegetation, rocks and dust. It must be green and vigorous in August when the rains are over and everything grows unrestrained.
Suddenly we passed by a group of Gelana Baboons. They ran over the road with their peppery cries. There were maybe 50 baboons and they seemed rather unaffected of us. Now the ideas with a mandatory-armed ranger seemed obvious to us.
We drove half an hour in the mountains and were dropped off when we were able to make out the camp in the distance. Today’s walk was estimated to 25 minutes, which we felt unreasonable after being in a car for more than 6 six hours total. So we agreed with our ranger to walk an hour instead.
The minibus continued with our cook and his helpers to the campsite, while we followed our agilely ranger off the beaten track and out to different viewpoints. What a view. We were in 3,200 meter and looked at mountains in the distance. Brown, golden and yellow colors reflected in the dry mist. The sun was high on sky and the temperature around 30-35 degrees Celsius. The air didn’t feel as thin as expected, but we could defiantly feel the altitude when climbing upwards the slopes.
At 4 pm we reached the campsite that was well located on top of a hill. Here we realized that our minibus replaced the mules on this trip. The campsite was sparsely and consists of two big fireplaces with stone benches and covered with thatched roof. Here the cook and his helpers lived and worked during our stay and this where also the place to eat. Behind a shrub there was an outhouse with a nice built edge around the hole that added a very little conformity. Fortunately we didn’t saw any flies or mosquitoes here in 3,200 meters altitude.
We put up the tents on the dry stone free ground and I must realize that I was overtaken by altitude sickness. Immediately I got dizzy, got headache, felt queasy and had to lie flat on my stomach, almost on the verge of tears while the week of sickness last year in the Andes pass in review. Altitude sickness and diarrhea is a very unpleasant mixture when hiking in the mountains. I took a “Diamox” pill, drank lots of water while I by turns cursed my destiny and missed my girlfriend who knew what I was going through.
The pill helped a lot so all of us were able to enjoy the nice dinner composed of soup, spaghetti and pineapple dessert. We had to give our compliments to the cook when he served coffee and tea afterwards. After this meal we didn’t expect to go hungry on this trip.
The sunset was at 8.30 pm and we enjoyed the astonishing starry sky before we turn in, well wrapped up as we expected a cold temperature during nighttime.