Simien Mountains National Park is the largest national park in Ethiopia. It is located in the North Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region and covers the highest areas of the Simien Mountains. The park includes Ras Dashan, which is the highest point in Ethiopia.

The park is home to several endangered species, such as the Ethiopian wolf and the walia ibex, a wild goat that lives nowhere else in the world. The gelada baboon and the caracal, a type of cat, also live in the Simien Mountains. More than 50 bird species live in the park, including the bearded vulture, or lammergeier, which has a wingspan of 3 meters (10 feet).

The park has an unpaved road that starts in Debarq, the park's main office, and travels east through several villages to Buahit Pass, which is 4,430 meters (14,530 feet) high. From there, the road turns south and ends at Mekane Berhan, a town located 10 kilometers (6 miles) outside the park's boundary.

History

The park was created in 1969 by Clive Nicol, who wrote about his experiences in From the Roof of Africa (1971, ISBN 0 340 14755 5).

The Simien region has been lived in and farmed for at least 2,000 years. Erosion started showing that the clearing began on the gentle slope of the highland valley and later spread to steeper slopes.

The national park was one of the first places to be named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978 because of its wide variety of plants and animals and its beautiful landscape. In 1996, it was added to the List of World Heritage in Danger due to serious drops in the numbers of some native species. After the populations of these species became more stable, the park was removed from the list in 2017.

Geography

Simien Mountains National Park is located on the western side of the Simien Mountains. It is 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the Gondar province of Begemder in the northwestern part of Ethiopia. The park is found within the Simien Massif, which rises above the northern highlands of Ethiopia. The highlands were formed by volcanic flood basalts from the Paleogene period, about 30 million years ago. The Simien Massif is the leftover part of a large shield volcano. Over millions of years, heavy erosion of the Ethiopian plateau has created jagged mountain peaks, deep valleys, and 1,500-meter-high sheer cliffs, forming some of the most spectacular scenery in the world.

The Simien area has a lot of perforated basalt and serves as an ideal place for collecting water. The Mayshasha River flows through the region during the two rainy seasons, moving from north to south through the national park. Because of this, the national park has plenty of wildlife and plant life.

Wildlife

The vegetation includes a mix of African alpine forests, wilderness forests, and alpine plants. High altitude areas have montane savannah and tree heath (Erica arborea), giant lobelia (Lobelia rhynchopetalum), yellow primrose (Primula verticillata), everlastings (Helichrysum spp.), lady's mantle (Alchemilla spp.), and moss (Grimmiaceae spp.). Lichen grows on the trees in the alpine area. Vegetation in the park is divided into three zones: montane forest (1900–3000m), ericaceous belt or subafroalpine (2700–3700m), and afroalpine (3700–5433m). In the montane forest, trees such as juniper (Juniperus procera), African redwood (Hagenia abyssinica), African olive (Olea africana), fig (Ficus spp.), and waterberry (Syzygium guineense) grow. Many shrubs, including cocona (Solanum sessilistellatum), Abyssinian rose (Rosa abyssinica), cowslip (Primula verticillata), and stinging nettle (Urtica spp.), are also present. The ridges and canyons have scattered meadows, forests, and bushes. St. John's wort (Hypericum spp.) forests once grew between 3,000 and 3,800 meters above sea level but are now nearly gone.

The park is home to 21 large mammal species, including gelada baboon (Theropithecus gelada), Ethiopian wolf (also called Simen fox, Canis simensis), Walia ibex (Capra walie), and Menelik's bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus meneliki). Many of these animals live only in the Simien Mountains and are found in the park. The Ethiopian wolf, gelada baboon, Menelik's bushbuck, and Walia ibex are mammals found only in the Ethiopian Highlands. Other rare mammals include Hamadryas baboon, colobus monkey, leopard, caracal, serval, wild cat, spotted hyena, golden jackal, and Anubis baboon. Small herbivores, such as rock hyrax, common duiker, and klipspringer, also live on the slopes of the Simien Mountains.

In 2015, scientists recorded 11 rodent species and two shrew species within the park. All of these animals are found only on the Ethiopian Plateau, and seven of them are observed only in the Simien Mountains. These include Arvicanthis abyssinicus and Crocidura baileyi. A possible new shrew species in the genus Crocidura may also have been discovered.

The park supports 400 bird species that live in the mountainous region. These include the Abyssinian Woodpecker, bearded vulture, Tawny eagle, Rüppell's vulture, Verreaux's eagle, Black-winged Lovebird, Ethiopian Black-headed Oriole, Eurasian kestrel, lanner falcon, augur buzzard, and thick-billed raven.

Conservation

Simien Mountains National Park was created in 1969 and is protected by the National Reserve Act. Park managers help protect the animals and plants that live there and work with nearby communities to reduce harm to the park. This includes helping local people grow more crops, reducing overfishing of livestock, and managing natural resources better.

Enough money is needed to support park management and help local people find other ways to earn a living. Park managers must create, carry out, check, and watch over the management plan. They also need to change the park’s boundaries if needed and involve local people in all decisions. Working together with local communities is important to use park resources wisely and help people live without harming the environment.

Money is also needed to move people living in the heritage area and teach better ways to care for livestock. These steps help reduce harm to wildlife. To keep the park’s special values, education programs are needed for people living near and far from the heritage area. Local people must also help manage the heritage site to protect it for the future.

Controversy

The movement of people from their homes was criticized as a form of green colonialism, which occurs when the traditions and ways of life of local people are replaced by an economy based on eco-tourism.

Gallery

• Simien Mountains
• Bushbuck
• Geladas
• Ethiopian wolf
• Lobelia rhynchopetalum
• Tawny eagle
• Thick-billed raven
• Cliff in the National Park