Debark is a highland market town of about twenty-odd thousand people, high on the northern Ethiopian plateau at roughly the height of a Swiss mountain village, and it exists, in practical terms, because of the mountains behind it. The Simien range rises just north, and Debark is where the national park has its headquarters, where visitors check in, pay their fees and, if they plan to walk, pick up the armed scout the park requires. Riders arriving by road will mostly be coming from Gondar, about a hundred kilometres to the south-west, along a tarmac highway that climbs steadily through terraced farmland, eucalyptus groves and villages where the road doubles as the main street.
The riding in is a lesson in Ethiopian traffic. Goats, donkeys, cattle and children share the carriageway with minibuses and trucks, and nothing, ever, is in a hurry. Surfaces are generally decent on the main route but can break up without warning, and rain turns the shoulders to slick mud. It is a place for steady speeds and a lot of horn. Mornings are cold at nearly three thousand metres, so pack a warm layer, and the dry season from roughly October to March gives the clearest skies and the safest going.
The town itself is plain and busy, with a main road lined by cafés, small hotels and shops, and a market that draws farmers from the surrounding hills. Coffee is the thing to look for, served in small cups with a lot of ceremony, and injera with spicy stews if you want a proper meal. Fuel is generally available in a town this size, but supplies can run short in Ethiopia, so fill up whenever you see a working pump and carry what you can. Gondar, with its seventeenth-century castles built by emperor Fasilides and his successors, is the larger service point behind you.
What makes Debark matter is what it opens. The Simien Mountains were among the first places on Earth to be given UNESCO World Heritage status, in 1978, for their enormous escarpments, deep gorges and rare wildlife, including the walia ibex, found nowhere else, and the gelada baboon. Ras Dashen, Ethiopia's highest peak at around 4,550 metres, stands in the park. Debark is the last place to sort out supplies, cash and permissions before you go up.