THE SEMIEN MOUNTAINS - Ethiopia's Stunning Highlands

We are on the way to the Simeon Mountains right now, and these guys just joined. Welcome to the Simeon Mountains in Ethiopia. I just got here, and we're gonna be hiking along here for the next two days. These are my guides slash guards. They have rifles and AKs. Gonna be walking with them and the group for the next two days through the Simeon Mountains. Salaam. Ooh, not bad, that. I love my life! So, we're starting right now at 3,250 meters. Actually, the whole of Ethiopia is pretty high up. Even Addis is 2,500. And though we're starting at 3,200 now, the campsite we're finishing at today is also 3,200. So, we're going up and down along the ridge, and then we're camping at altitude. For those of you that have been to altitude before, like this, it does get kind of hard when you're going uphill. You just get a bit shorter of breath, and it's just a bit harder to walk. But with views like that, it's completely worth it. Right, I just asked about the security guards here, and it's because of two things. One is because of bandits, just in case people came to rob tourists. It is a national park here, and the other reason is just in case of leopards or wolves, which they do have here. But really, it's for employment, and it's to give these guys a job. The guides said in 15 years, nothing has really happened. But by having the guides here, it protects the animals. By having guns here, it protects the tourists. And it's just like, it makes sense for everyone. It's a good spot. Look at this. Right, we made it. About three hours later, and we're at the campsite at 3,200 meters. There is an epic view there, where we're gonna get the sunset, have some food, and have a bit of a campfire. There are also baboons, ibex, and leopards and wolves up here, but we haven't seen any yet. We're still doing another trek in the morning. So maybe, but you have to be pretty lucky to see them. So we'll see. For right now, we're gonna wait for sunset and have a bit of a campfire. I love treks and I love hikes, and I wanna do more of this stuff. And I think for next year, I'm gonna plan to do quite a few. I just, I really wanna do more of these things. And so if some of you guys are interested in doing them as well, then we can try and set up like a group doing them together, because I just love it. I love it. I think it's a great way of seeing a place. I like the achievement of getting to somewhere new. I like the fresh air. I like being away from the phone and ending up with an epic view. It's just something that makes it such a nice experience. Anyway, campfire. Order, order, order, order. Gin was a good purchase. Now I want it. So some of you guys will know, I've been doing this one year, no alcohol thing, about a month and a half in, and I'm still doing it. Tonight is like the first night really where I'd love to be drinking. Like everyone else is drinking there. We've all got like spirits and beers and whatever, and it's just a nice thing to do when you're camping. But I'm really committed to this, so I'm not gonna do it. And yeah, I'm just gonna chill with the epic nature anyway. Still staying strong. Anyway, we've got this campsite and dinner now, and I'll see you guys in the morning. It's 6 a.m., and I woke up kind of early to try and get a bit of a sunrise. Where we are is in a bit of a dip, so the sun's over the hill. I'm just trying to walk up the hill now to see if I can get any kind of view. We just started walking, and not even 30 minutes out. Look at that view. This is just everywhere here. You could do like five and six and seven day treks right through these mountains, and eventually get to a 4,500 meter peak. We're only at 3,200 now, and you still get this epic view. We've now arrived to the tallest waterfall in Ethiopia. It's 530 meters down, straight into this valley. I guess we're quite a bit above it, so we're probably 1,000 up right now. Yeah, wow. Didn't expect to see that. I had no idea we were going here, but there it is. Look at the size of this guy. What a way to finish. We're just on the way back, and there was a group of about 20 baboons. There's another one just there. I think he said gimelot, something like the gimbari. Baboons, I'll flush it up, but yeah, they're here in the Simian Mountains, and actually seemed, you know, baboons can have a reputation of being quite aggressive, but these guys actually seemed all right. I got pretty close. That's not advice, by the way. Well, this is genuinely amazing. There's like 100 baboons around. They really don't care that we're here either. Just here, there's a mum with her baby. So cool. We've made it. Two days in the Simian Mountains done. This is our bus, and it's about a three-hour drive back to a place called Gondor, Gondar. It sounds like Gondor, and that's where we're gonna spend tonight. So I'll see you there. What are two days? That was really cool. I'd never heard of the Simian Mountains, but another epic experience, and I think if you are coming to Ethiopia, then definitely think about getting there because those baboons at the end, even besides the epic scenery we saw, kind of made the whole thing. I'm back in Gondar now, but in the morning, heading to a place called the Danakil Depression. It's the hottest place on earth, and I think it's gonna be incredible. So check back for that video. For now, thank you for watching, and I'll see you then.