About this project
Simien Mountains photography book
£17,738
329
Limalimo Lodge and Ayaana Publishing are producing the high quality photo-book Simiens, showcasing the stunning Simien Mountains National Park in Northern Ethiopia.
This is the first-ever photography book of the UNESCO-listed park and features landscape, wildlife and portrait photography documenting the beauty and majesty of the dramatic mountain range. Alongside this, a series of vignettes provide an insight into the culture and livelihoods of the hard-working communities within the park boundaries.
Simiens promotes a stunning but unknown region of an often misunderstood country. Ethiopia is still widely known only for poverty; this book shows a different side of the country and is a lasting contribution that helps to promote Ethiopia.
To fund the production of this book, we are pre-selling copies through this Kickstarter campaign. We are grateful to every individual involved in backing this project, and enabling us to promote the Simien Mountains. Every donation toward our funding goal will go back into the production of the book (two photography trips, print of the first edition and shipping costs).
How do I pay for a book? To order your book you will need to sign in and pay with your credit card. A minimum of £20 (roughly US$30 or €28), shipping not included, gets you a book; with more you can get additional rewards. If we reach 100% or more of our target by June 12, your pledged amount will be deducted from your card after the campaign ends. If we do not reach 100%, the pledged amount will not be deducted from your card, and the book will not be produced.
Extra rewards: You can support this project by pre-ordering a book, or by adding an A2 sized (16.5x11 inches / 42x28cm) print of your choice, or a set of 5 postcards. (You can see the prints to choose from on our website: http://www.limalimolodge.com/kickstarter-preview.)
Production and deadline: Simiens is a 128-pages sewn-bound hard-cover book printed in Europe. The dimensions are 7x9.5 inches (18x24cm). The final design and production will start after a second photography trip to the Simiens in September 2015 (to document the park in a different season). The book is set to be distributed in January 2016. Postcards and and prints ordered during this campaign will be produced earlier and shipped in autumn this year.
The producers: Shiferaw Asrat was brought up in Debark, on the doorstep to the Simien Mountains National Park. He has dedicated his life to investing in sustainable tourism and was a mountain guide in the Simiens for over 10 years. Together with his team, he is opening Limalimo Lodge, an ecolodge inside the National Park that promotes sustainable tourism.
Philipp Schütz is a Swiss graphic designer and photographer based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He oversees the creative side of Ayaana Publishing, an Ethiopian-registered publishing house, and is passionate about story telling and creating print publications.
About Limalimo Lodge: Perched on the edge of an escarpment, Limalimo Lodge will be a beautiful place to stay for visitors to Ethiopia's Simien Mountains National Park. Guests will experience simple luxury and elegant design in a stunning setting. The lodge will promote sustainable tourism with minimal environmental impact, and provide new opportunities to the local community. Limalimo Lodge is due to open October 2015.
About Ayaana Publishing: Ayaana Publishing is an Ethiopian publishing house set up to produce affordable, locally sourced literature for the local population of the Horn of Africa. With projects like this photo book, Ayaana is on the way to becoming a sustainable social enterprise, subsidising low-cost literature for Ethiopia’s countryside by selling high-end books about Ethiopia.
Risks and challenges
If our project is successful, we will schedule our second visit to the Simiens for September 2015. The editing, design, layout, and production process will be completed after this trip, with printing taking place in late-autumn, and distribution in January 2016. Beyond these activities, we do not anticipate many obstacles. If the project is significantly more successful than we expect, shipping times might be delayed based on a larger number of copies printed than originally expected.
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Funding period
- (30 days)