To call this trip an adventure is an understatement. In early December I traveled with several friends to the northern region of Ethiopia with Erta Ale volcano as the ultimate goal. Fellow traveler Michael Reichmann of Luminous Landscape was a wonderful travel companion and he has written a very good travelogue. Needless to say, we did not make it to the volcano for a variety of reasons. In forty years of photography I can count on one hand the number of times I have been sick or just plain stymied on a trip, so I count myself supremely lucky.
I make my office staff very happy when I photograph in a new location. For the last few days of this journey in Africa, we traveled in the Simien Mountains in the Ethiopian Highlands, filming the highly endangered gelada or bleeding-heart baboon. They live in an extraordinary landscape with other fabled creatures such as the lammergeier or bearded vulture.
Wrapping up my month long trip in East Africa filming with Abe Joffe & I think I can say this has been a very productive trip. We spent a few days working with the Surma in Ethiopia’s Omo River Valley.
