Aksum, April 19
Castle
Gonder is populated by unemployed youths who harass tourists, but its heritage is worth the detour. The castle, built with the help of the Portuguese, gives the impression of something straight out of Europe in the Middle Ages.
As for the Church of St. George, the only saved forty-two burned by Sudanese invaders in the seventeenth century, has a beautiful ceiling decorated with figures of angels, whose eyes are lovely busy counting our sins for the Last Judgement.
Trekking in the Simian
But the big thing for the region, but not Gonder Simien Mountains. According to some, it would be the most beautiful hiking tours in the world. So I go catch my bus to the city of Dayparc, departure city, the bus station through which passes also livestock. Pending the departure of my bus, I see through the window a scene that reminds me how good it is not being an animal in this country. A shepherd is trying to advance his goat, while his back leg is cut short. He insisted and still insists, without malice but without compassion, looking unflinchingly dislocated leg bend against the ground until the goat lies down on the side to avoid the pain. So Finally, he takes her by the hind legs and maneuver like a wheelbarrow.
short, I get to where I organize the expedition Dayparc with two young American biologists who come to spend a year in another mountainous area of Ethiopia to observe Gelada baboons. A year in the tent, rain or shine, without washing for weeks to review carefully all the doings of a group of monkeys. Two lighted.
We earn base camp by car, spend the night in tents and leave the next morning, flanked by two guards armed with Kalashnikovs (I always ask why), after entrusting our tents and food to a mule. We walk along a ridge overlooking an extraordinary succession of mountains, canyons, cliffs and precipices, the remains of intense volcanic activity.
Throughout the walk, we passed on trays of yellow grass horses to lean flanks marked by beatings, donkeys visibly scarred resistant to abuse, fat cows not well either and dozens of Gelada baboons beaucoupp fittest.
This little world is no problem sharing the same territory. Baboons are nearly 4000 in the park and as they are not shy, you can approach a few meters. My two biologists explain to me that they evolve in groups of four or five females to one male, show me females who are pregnant or are ready to get pregnant so that maneuvering approach bachelor males, the m'interprètent gestures and sounds of each other, it's exciting.
And my comfort?
But that's the cool part of history. Looking at it from another angle, we must walk 20 km a day by swallowing a series of vertical exhausting that we carry around between 3000 and 4000 meters. Following the passage of clouds, he alternately scorching sun and freezing cold fanned by a breeze traitor. That evening, I have to sleep in my sweat without taking a shower, which quickly becomes unbearable, especially as dirt causes an allergic reaction causing itching which keeps me from sleep. And when at last I can, I am awakened by the cold and damp with no problem entering my sleeping bag built for warm climates. Having tasted the most lousy hotels in India, I'm able to survive the worst housing conditions. In fact, I realize that I want my creature comforts. So when I pass a car on the third day at the mountain, I do not let the opportunity pass to return to the civilized world.
If tells you to see a little more, here's the video that my two Americans taken from their week of trekking:
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