Ethiopian Simien Mountains National Parks

The Simien Mountain  massif is a broad plateau, cut off to the north and west by an enormous single crag over 60 kilometers long. To the south, the tableland slopes gently down to  2,200 meters, divided by gorges 1,000 meters deep which can take more than two  days to cross. Insufficient geological time has elapsed to smooth the contours of the crags and buttresses of hardened basalt.

Within this  spectacular splendor live the Walia (Abyssinian) ibex, Simien red fox and Gelada baboon - all endemic to Ethiopia - as well as the Hamadryas baboon,  klipspringer and bushbuck. Birds such as the lammergeyer, augur buzzard,  Verreaux's eagle, kestrel and falcon also soar above this mountain retreat.

Twenty kilometers  north-east of Gondar, the Simien Mountains National Park covers 179 square  kilometers of highland area at an average elevation of 3,300 meters. Ras Dashen,  at 4,620 meters the highest peak in Ethiopia, stands adjacent to the  park.

The Simien escarpments, which are often compared to the Grand Canyon in the United States  of America, have been adopted by Unesco as a World Heritage Site.