Botany

The Simien Mountains are graced with exceptional botanical phenomena that are unique, abundant and rare: Olive’s cedar, Abyssinian rose, junipers, giant heather, giant lobelia, Erica and hundreds of species of flowers and shrubs.

On our trek we will pass through many different botanical regions. At the lowest altitude up to about 3,000m, the land has been cultivated and grazed by cattle, sheep and goats. This area was once covered in forest, but little is left of this indigenous vegetation.

Above this level and up to 3,600m, in ancient times there was a forest of giant heath. Today this area has also been deforested, but remnants of the original vegetation can still be seen.

Above 3,600m the mountain grassland begins. It’s also graced with an abundance of flowers, including the most spectacular plant of this region, the giant lobelia with flower stalks up to eight meters high. At the highest altitudes, on the summits of the peaks, the vegetation consists mainly of mosses and lichens. In the lowland valleys on our return journey, extensive forests with more than 20 species of trees will be found. The plants of the Simien mountains may be summed up as being both cosmopolitan and unique, both strange and very beautiful.