Rainy season trekking in Simien mountains

I went the other way in October / November 2006 from Sudan to Ethiopia and it was mostly dry.
Spent a month in Sudan and another month in Ethiopia and had about 2 days of rain in Ethiopia.

The roads are improving all the time with Chinese expertise and local labour.

I treked the Simien in the mid to late october for 3 full days. No rain but pretty cold at night.

Back then i paid exactly USD25 a day and this included transport from Gondar, the scout, giude and we supplied the food and cooked it ourselves. It wont have gone up much.
Generally you can get your pack transported to the next camp by minibus ready for you at days end.
The blokes even put up our tents which was great.

You will find both Ethiopia and Sudan really cheap. I spent USD 22 a day and thats for everything as an independant traveller.

Cheers.

By the end of October the rains should be well gone.

I was there in Jan-Mar 2009; I think you will find the prices significantly higher than the LP (which is really out of date). Many people had told me that some tourist-related fees had doubled in the last year. Its still quite cheap if you stick to local food, transport, etc ... what is costly are the excursions.

For our Simien trek, we paid about $50 per person per day; that price was all-inclusive, inc. food (very good!), mules, guides, etc ... and transport to/from Gonder (we were picked up from Chennak Camp so we didn't have to walk out) ... they did it all, we just trekked! That price was certainly not the cheapest, though some of the fees are mandatory now (the guide and scout, for example) ... I would suspect you could trim at least $10-20 a day off, though our trip was very well organized and highly recommended!

Hi there, a friend of ours did a 7-day trek in the Simiens earlier in the year and paid roughly the price you quoted, just under $20 per day but he was in a group of about 6 I think.

We are going next week (we would already be there if the Ethiopian ambassy in Khartoum wasnt deserted for the last week, hopefully someone will be able to grant us a visa on Wednesday!) and plan to do some sort of trek there. We plan to just head to Debark and organise it directly, we have our own camping and cooking equipment so I guess our main expenses will be guide, scout and entrance fees. We will let you know when we finish how much we paid and what the quality was like.

Thanks Alsch. Let me know how you get on.

Hi there,
OK, now writing from Addis.

We did a four day trek. The bus from Gonder costs 21.50 birr and leaves quite often, not only at 5:30am which is a rarity. dont listen to any of the touts in Gonder or the bored guys in Debark who want to be your guide and folow you around ad nauseum.

Simien Park Hotel (good place, rooms without/with private bath 70/180) is a good place to stay in Debark and they do good food and good draft beer.
If you head straight for the park office in Debark (about 500m back along the road away from town from then Simien Park Hotel) they can organise everything. The mandatory scout is 40birr per day and park fees are 70 birr for two days (inc. camping). if you want a guide he is 120 birr per day. we intended to take a guide but in the office they told us the scout knows the way and where the water is (there are actually showers at the campsites!) so unless we wanted more info we didnt need a guide, but they recommend. cooks are 75 and mules/muleteers are 35 each. the equipment costs around 30 birr for each piece per day. if you hire equipment there you will need a mule and handler as their equipment is very old and heavy, especially the cookers. You dont have to feed your staff but we shared tea/coffee, bread, dates and 'kolo' with our scout.

we had our own camping and cooking equipment and rather carry it ourselves than pay someone to carry it for us. It may be stubbornbut I couldnt help feeling like some sort of colonial lord if i would use a porter/mule if I cant make a trek with my own gear I would rather not go.
We trekekd to Imet Gogo and back over four days, like this:

Day 1 - Debark to Sankaber, about 30km, 9 hours, nice views over the escarpment and lots of baboons
Day 2 - Sankaber to Geech - 12km - 5 hours, more amazing views including one precipice.
Day 3 - Geech to Imet Gogo and Imet Gogo to Sankaber - 22km - 7hours, amazing views from Imet Gogo, well worth it.
Day 4 - Sankaber to Debark - slightly more direct route, no views but quicker, 6-7 hours

The fees cost 140birr per person and the scout 40 per day. Split between two of us it came to 440birr plus about 300birr for food and supplies (best bought in Gonder), because he had done what we expected a gudie to do we tipped him quite well (100birr, the average is 1days wage for every 3 worked). So 840birr between two people over four days works out at just under $10 per day. Of course if you want a guide etc it soon adds up. Also, we did not meet anyone else who walked out of Debark. most take some transport to Sankaber at least, and the charge for a one way trip is 800birr! I thought the walk was amazing although in the office they will tell you it is boring.

The trekking is not hard but carrying your own gear and food makes it slow going. If you are not at least used to some trekking you might find it tough.
Oh, and you can buy water purification liquid in Goha Pharmacy in Gonder for 4birr, just one drop per litre. The water from the taps at the camps looks crystal clear but you wouldnt want a dose of the trots three days walk from Debark!

We had rain on two evenings but nothing too heavy, I suppose it will get wose as the rains draw in more.

oh yeah, and if you have read that recent absurd post complaining about the trekking - remember these guys are used to taking out-of-shape tourists into the hills, they know we need to stop and rest and eat something. just because they dont stop, doesnt mean you cant stop. Just call out that you need a rest, or just sit down. I know it sounds obvious but apparantly some people didnt think so, they were waiting for someone to tell them what to do. it can be a little tough going even at this altitude so we had at least two 10-15min breaks in addition to our lunch break.

Cheers Alsch. That's an incredibly helpful post - glad you had a great time. I'll let you know how we get on if we make it that far...!!!