Racing to Save Ethiopia's Mountain Icon

This story is drawn from AWF's 2025 Annual Report—Seizing the Moment—which documents a year of groundbreaking conservation work across Africa. The report captures how AWF is embedding African leadership at the heart of conservation strategy, from policy dialogues with heads of state to the work of community rangers in some of the continent's most remote landscapes. Read the full report at https://annualreport.awf.org/

Perched on the jagged cliffs of Ethiopia’s Simien Mountains, more than 3,000 meters above sea level, lives one of Africa’s rarest and least-known animals: the Walia ibex. There are fewer than 400 of these striking animals left in the wild. Their horns, sweeping back in dramatic arcs, have become both a hidden treasure and a powerful symbol of the delicate balance sustaining Ethiopia’s highland wilderness and ecosystems.

In 2025, AWF marked a significant milestone in the effort to protect them: the development of Ethiopia's first-ever national Walia Ibex Recovery and Conservation Strategy and Action Plan, produced in close collaboration with the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority (EWCA). It is a document that matters not just as a conservation blueprint, but as a statement of national commitment to a species that has no other home on the planet.

The plan covers the period 2026 to 2035—a decade-long roadmap for recovery grounded in science, local knowledge, and government ownership. But the work does not stop at policy. In Simien Mountains National Park, rangers continue active patrols.

Despite civil unrest that has disrupted operations in northern Ethiopia, ecological monitoring in 2025 revealed concerning population trends in the Walia ibex. This prompted the creation of a Wildlife Ambassadors engagement program. Ambassadors, drawn from local communities, help sensitize their peers and collect valuable science data from areas outside the park—extending the reach of conservation intelligence into landscapes where rangers cannot always operate.

The park is also home to remarkable avian biodiversity. A bird diversity study completed in 2025 recorded 154 species during the dry season alone, including 15 classified as very rare—a finding that reinforces the Simien Mountains' value as a globally significant ecosystem. 

A thick-billed raven in the Simien Mountains landscape.

More recent updates show that the park hosts as many as 239 bird species, which is over a quarter of all bird species found in the country. This includes several species found nowhere else in the world, as well as many that are unique to the Horn of Africa. Some of these birds are threatened globally, while others are of special conservation concern, further underlining the park’s importance for wildlife.

Conservation here is inseparable from the community. AWF's support to Adsige School—part of a conservation agreement with the local community—has progressed with the installation of a greenhouse, kitchen garden, solar power system, and computer equipment, improving both the school environment and access to clean water for students and nearby residents. 

Through conservation clubs and school programs, AWF is shaping the next generation of guardians of Ethiopia’s natural heritage.

At the edge of the cliff, the ibex endures. So do those who protect it.