Transport

The Simien Mountains are 100 km north of Gondar. It takes about two hours to travel there, taking the main road north from Gonder. At the town of Debark, take a right turn and drive 22km to the lodge. This is where the scenery gets interesting.

Note that the park is open from 6 am to 6 pm. Sometimes it is possible to get an extension to these times, but not always, so it is important to arrive before nightfall. Simien Lodge cannot be held responsible for late arrivals or entry refusals by park staff.

Bookings may be made by phoning either our Addis office or the Lodge. We can currently only offer private shuttles in our Land Cruisers. 

Fly to Gonder with Ethiopian Airlines, which runs at least two flights a day to Gonder. Tickets may be purchased from any Ethiopian office.

Ethiopian Airlines runs a very modern fleet of Aircraft and has some of the most up-to-date facilities in Africa. Internationally, they operate 777-300s, and now they are Africa's first carrier to operate 787 Dreamliners (photo). The internal flights are operated by 737s and Bombardier Q400S. The Q400 serve most smaller internal destinations.

There are several charter companies operating a variety of small aircraft, from Beech 1900s to Cessna Caravans. Contact us for details.

Our director (Nick Crane) is an IFR pilot and can give accurate advice

Local buses run from both Gondar and Axum. However, the buses stop in Debark, which is 21km from the lodge. When arriving from the north, you will need to change at Shira, and often this can mean an overnight stay here.

If you would like to hire a personal car, we have specially converted 5-seater Land Cruisers with suspension tuned for mountain roads. We use them for trips all over the country, and we are happy to quote daily and weekly rates. We are the only company in the country to have these specially adapted vehicles. They have individual seats (no bench seats) with personal 230V and USB charging points for cameras and phones. The windows open wide for photography, and the driver sits lower than the passengers, so everyone has a good forward view.