Simien Mountains

The Simien Mountains rise to 4,550 metres in northern Ethiopia and form one of Africa’s most dramatic highland landscapes — massive basalt towers, deep valleys, and rolling alpine meadows above the clouds. This is the only place on earth to see the gelada baboon in its natural habitat — troops of hundreds grazing the high meadows, their distinctive red chest patches gleaming in the morning light. The Ethiopian wolf, Africa’s rarest canid with fewer than 500 remaining, hunts the alpine moorland. Walia ibex, found only in the Simiens, navigate impossible cliff faces. Multi-day trekking routes traverse the full escarpment.