Gelada troops
Large, habituated and grazing in the open, which means genuinely close, sustained behavioural coverage: grooming, male displays, infants, the whole social structure. Sunrise on the escarpment edge is the shot.
Filming location · Amhara
Filming in The Simien Mountains
Simien is where Ethiopia's landscape does its most cinematic work: thousand-metre escarpments, cloud pouring over the ridge line, and troops of several hundred geladas grazing in the foreground with the drop behind them. For a natural history unit it is unusually generous, because the primary subject does not run away.
Short answer
Simien Mountains National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in northern Ethiopia, a massif of eroded escarpments and pinnacles rising to Ras Dashen at about 4,550 metres. It is one of the best places in Africa to film primates at close range because gelada baboons, found only in the Ethiopian highlands, live in large habituated troops and tolerate crews within a few metres. The park also holds the endemic walia ibex and the Ethiopian wolf. Filming requires wildlife authority permits, park fees and an assigned scout, and crews must plan for altitude, cold nights and rapidly changing weather.
- Region
- Amhara
- Altitude
- 2,000 to 4,550 m (Ras Dashen)
- Nearest airport
- Gondar Airport, then road to Debark
- Best time
- October to March, clearest in November and December
- From Addis Ababa
- Fly to Gondar, then roughly three hours to the park gate at Debark
What to film here
Sankaber, Geech and Chennek
The three main camps and access points along the escarpment, each opening different views and different wildlife. Chennek is the usual base for walia ibex and Ethiopian wolf work.
The escarpment and Imet Gogo
The classic viewpoint over the eroded pinnacles. Superb for aerials where permitted, and for time-lapse as cloud builds and spills over the edge.
Walia ibex
Endemic to Simien and found nowhere else on Earth, on the steepest ground. Needs long lenses, patience and a scout who knows the current territories.
Ras Dashen
Ethiopia's highest peak at roughly 4,550 metres. A multi-day trek with mules for equipment; only worth scheduling if the summit genuinely matters to the film.
From our shoots
Nearby and related
Other Ethiopian locations
Start a production
Filming in The Simien Mountains?
Send your dates and shot list. We will come back with the permit route, the access position, realistic travel times and an itemised cost — usually within a working day.