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Hike to 4,430m Altitude at Mount Bwahit

On our second day in the Semien Mountains we drove two hours to another campsite. Upon arrival Andrew and I did our truck duty of filling up jerry cans with water which we use for hand washing, dish washing, etc. Since there was no water tap at the campsite we filled them up in a small river. Some more guys helped us to carry the jerry cans back to the truck since they are quite heavy when full with water.

After an early lunch we went on another hike to the peak of Mount Bwahit the second highest mountain in Ethiopia. On the hike we went up by 800m to an altitude of 4,430m. It took us four hours to reach the peak and return to the campsite.

In comparison to my negative experience with altitude sickness in die South American Andes I was absolutely fine this time which made me optimistic for my hike on Mount Kilimanjaro planned for end of December. I only felt the thin air which makes it harder to breathe when exercising in altitude but no headache, vomiting and such. While I was not suffering from the altitude this time a number of my fellow travellers did. Therefore, only some people went on the hike and others stayed back at the truck or went on smaller hikes. Two people also gave up during the hike because it was too hard for them.

Although I’m much more into beaches and water sports I started two year ago to enjoy trekking in high altitude as well. Probably I like the challenge to reach the peak of a high mountain. I’m also considering changing my itinerary to also include a journey from Xi’an to Kathmandu leading to the Mount Everest base camp but I’m not yet sure.

The night was even colder than the night before since we have gained additional altitude. I heated myself up on the campfire before crawling into the tent. However, I woke up in the middle of the night because I was cold and put a fleece jumper on top of my thermals. When I woke up the following morning around 7am it was +5 degree Celsius in my tent and there was also some frost outside.