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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.
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