Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Equipment
Mattresses (Birr40 per day), sleeping bags (Birr40 per day), two-person tents (Birr60 per
day) and cooking equipment including gas stoves (Birr50 per day for two people) can be
hired at park headquarters. Tents should be checked carefully and using two sleeping bags
ensures a warm night.
Supplies
Trekking foods such as biscuits, pasta, tomato sauce, milk powder, packet soups, tinned
tuna and Snickers bars are available in Debark, but Gonder is a better place to stock up as
Debark's shops sometimes run out. Debark also has a bakery.
Outside Debark, there are no shops, though you can buy eggs, chickens and sheep at
villages. If you don't have a cook, mule handlers will gladly kill, skin and roast a sheep if
they can tuck in too. Water is available during the trek, but should be treated.
Guides, Scouts, Cooks & Mule Men
Cooks, scouts, mules and guides are all organised at park headquarters. 'Scouts' (armed
park rangers) are compulsory (Birr75 per day). Guides (Birr200 per day) are only required
for people travelling with an agency, but highly recommended for their knowledge of the
mountains and command of English. Some trekkers, unable to communicate with the
scout, end up regretting not having a guide along. They're trained by the national park on
courses established by an Austrian team. In general the guides are excellent. We've heard
that some try to rush their clients on the final day to get home sooner, though; should this
happen, refuse to play along and report it when you return. The guides work on a rota
basis directly with the park, but you can request a particular guide if, for instance, you
hear a good report from a fellow traveller.
Cooks cost Birr120 per day (cooking for one to six people), a welcome luxury for
some. Porters aren't available, but mules (Birr60 per day) with handlers (Birr70 per day)
are. Two handlers can handle three mules and each mule can carry 45kg. If you plan on
covering two days' worth of trekking in one, you'll have to pay your team double for the
day.
Guides, scouts, cooks and mule handlers should bring their own food and they usually
do when the trekkers aren't hiring a cook. Regardless, you should make sure the park offi-
cial organising your trip and/or your guide ensures the team is not going to look to you for
sustenance. Or, just bring extra packets of rice etc and make the team happy.
See
Click here
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or post-trek tipping advice.
