83 Danakil Depression

We made our way to Semara where we had the luxury of hotel rooms with air con. The funny thing though, why do they need to have the temperature down at 16 degrees! The reason for coming here, apart from heading back to Addis Ababa, was to visit the Danakil Depression. This was an area to the North of Semara, highly volcanic, and much of it below sea level. Volcanoes, salt flats and endless lava fields.
We left Florence (the truck) behind and were in four wheel drives with a guided tour. This was a relative luxury as we didn’t have to put up tents, cook meals, or wash dishes.
The trip took us into some of the harshest environments that we had encountered so far, with temperatures soaring to over 45 degrees. What was incredible was seeing the people in the rudimentary dwellings actually living here. They survive on camels and goats, and everything that those two give them, including meat and milk. These are the Afar people, and can often be distinguished by the marks on their faces. We had a young guard who was Afar, and not only did he have facial marks, but he also had his front teeth ground to points, as is the custom for many in this group. He may have been our guard, but he was only 18, and was just as excited as we were to see the Depression, as he had never been himself. It was amusing to watch him excitedly take photos as well.
On the way there we passed a salt truck that had overturned. There was nobody around, just the truck and bags of spilled salt. When we returned the same route two days later, a large group of local villagers were at work pilfering what salt they could.
We arrived at the large salt lake that was used for the commercial production of salt. This lay 115 m below sea level, and the whole Depression is the second deepest place in Africa, after Lake Assal where we had just been in Djibouti. It’s all part of the Great Rift Valley. Lunch there, then we continued further North. We were almost in Eritrea, just 10 km away. Late that afternoon, we arrived at a small mound which turned out to be almost completely made from fossilised coral. Here, in the middle of nowhere, where once the sea had access.
That night we slept under the stars. It was hot, so definitely a good idea, and no blankets needed. We were woken at 5 am to head out to the nearby salt flats to watch the sunrise and have breakfast. Then, roaring across the salt flats, which actually looked even more dramatic with the recent rain giving a covering of water, we headed to Dallol Island. This sits in the middle of the salt flats, and is an extraordinary place. Geothermal activity is right next to the surface, giving beautiful colours from the minerals, such as sulphur, spewing from beneath the ground. One thing I couldn’t get over was the fact we were able to walk anywhere, but you just knew that you were destroying formations that might take decades or more to form. This place needs better care!
Nearby was a hole cut in the salt, revealing the lake below. We were able to jump in and float around a bit due to its high salt concentration.
Our second major destination was Erta Ale volcano. This is a fully active lava volcano, and we ended up camping on its slopes, once more enjoying a night under the stars. We went up in the evening and then again in the morning to view the crater. But it is so deep and there is so much steam that we couldn;t see any lava. This wasn’t always the case, as this time last year there were three smaller craters much closer to the surface, but, apparently, they collapsed. The whole volcano is slowly collapsing in on itself, which gave me a real feeling of unease being so close to the rim. While we were there we heard loud noises, which apparently was more of the crater wall collapsing. Definitely not a place to hang around for long.
The road from the volcano was actually quite good, but the road North of the volcano was horrendous. It followed tracks through the sand at some points, and then at other times we would be crawling over volcanic debris. The whole area, as far as the eye can see, is nothing more than volcanic peaks, lava fields and sand dunes.
Near Semara, we passed a troop of baboons on the side of the road. We stopped to look and I had begun to wind my widow down when a baboon lunged at the window. At the front, our Brazilian friend who had joined us for this side trip had just about opened his door. These things are really nasty, and, dare I say, the ugliest baboons in Africa!
The journey to the Danakill Depression was a brilliant and memorable experience, but just as good was getting back to Semara, and the air conditioned rooms to escape the almost intolerable heat.
#oasisoverland #Ethiopia #danakilldepression #Afar