Simien mountains and gelada monkeys

A great night’s sleep - till the church loudspeaker started at 5.

After picking up the scout - an old one with few teeth - befitting a group a bit long in the tooth themselves - and armed with his AK47 - we headed into the Simien NP. What a great day we had. We had a lovely trek along the rim of the escarpment getting stunning views. Then the bus picked us up and we drove on to more viewpoints before stopping at a place where we were lucky enough to see a troupe of 300-400 gelada monkeys. We were old they’d ignore us and that it was safe to go close, which we’d not do normally with monkeys. They were totally unconcerned by our presence so we could watch them grooming, eating, playing, and we saw and heard, males seeing off other males approaching their mates too closely. It was fascinating and we stayed for 40 minutes. We had a picnic further on then had another walk over rougher ground for more views before heading to a swanky lodge for coffee. Back to base and hopefully a hot shower and eventually, maybe WiFi. An excellent day, especially after feeling so rough yesterday.