The Simien mountain massif is a broad pleatu, cut off to the north and west by an enormous single crag over 60 kilometres long. The tableland is divided by gorges up to 1,000 metres deep, that can take more than two days to cross. Here live the Walia (Abyssinian) ibex, Semien red wolf and Gelada baboon – all endemic to Ethiopia – as well as the Hamadryas baboon, Klipspringer and bushbuck. The lammergeyer, Augur buzzard, Verr eavx’s eagle, Kestrel and Falcon also soar above this mountain. The Semien Mountains National Park covers 179 square kilometres of highland area at an average elevation of 3,300 metres.
Ethiopia’s highest peak, 4,620 metres Ras Dashen, stands adjacent to the park. The scenery is spectacular. The vegetation is principally Afro-Alpine, mountain savannah and heather. Temperature drop below freezing at night. Ethiopia, in fact, has a recorded list of 242 land mammals, of which 28 are endemic. The Semien Wolf is endemic and confined to mountain plateaux with dense tree heather and thickets, intermixed with bogs and swamps with sedge glass and giant lobelias. Semien Mountain’s found 150 kilometres north-east of Gondar.