We present an ensemble Monte Carlo study of the thermalization and relaxation of photoexcited heavy and light holes in gallium doped p-type germanium for doping densities of1×1016and7×1016 cm−3. We analyze recently published data obtained by picosecond excite-and-probe absorption spectroscopy in the mid infrared, i.e., with excitation energies of 124 and136meV, and at lattice temperatures of 30, 80, and300K. The Monte Carlo simulations contain all types of intraband and interband hole–hole and hole–optical–phonon scatterings, as well as free-carrier-induced ionizations of neutral acceptors and captures of free holes by ionized acceptors. Good agreement is found between the simulated and the measured absorption changes as functions of time. Quite generally it turns out that the initially created nonthermal features in the heavy- and light-hole distribution functions persist to times of typically twice the pump–pulse duration, thereby noticeably contributing to the initial nonlinear response. For longer times, the practically thermalized distributions give absorption changes which exclusively reflect the cooling dynamics of the heavy holes. ©1997 American Institute of Physics.