Danakil Depression — Ethiopia
The Danakil Depression, the salt miners, and an active volcano
We traveled 15 hours to Mek’ele for good reason — to visit one of the lowest, hottest, driest places in the world, the Danakil depression. Located next to the border with Eritrea, it is where three tectonic plates meet, causing the depression.
In Mekele, we met our driver, Eyob, and another fellow traveler from Belgium, Stephane. We started the drive to Danakil. On the way, we stopped in a small cafe on the side of the road for some breakfast and coffee — we tried Foul with eggs and bread. So spicy and delicious, definitely one of our favorite meals so far.
We drove through mountains. Occassionally, we saw kids on the side of the road or people herding goats. The landscape was incredible, it reminded us of some of the views in the Grand Canyon. After driving several hours through mountains, we started driving down and the temperature started rising, from 21 degrees to 38 degrees! Finally, we arrived at the salt flats, at 100m below sea level.
The salt flats are beautiful. The salt forms a geometric pattern on the ground, expanding across a very large area, with mountains in the distance. We saw camel caravans carrying salt to the nearest town. With their heavy loads, the camels walk gracefully and slowly, usually with a donkey and a man leading the way.
The next day, we visited many different landscapes, formed from the salt reacting to volcanic minerals. I’ve been to Yellowstone and Iceland, but this was next level. We felt like we were on another planet.
Then we drove to the place where the salts are mined. They are mined by the Afar people, a Muslim tribe who lives and works in the Danakil depression. Using an axe, they cut the ground made of salt into very large pieces. Then, using a long stick as a lever, they lift the large pieces from the ground. They cut the salt into smaller, rectangular pieces, each weighing 5–7 kg. It is incredibly hard and manual work, especially under the hot sun.
The salt blocks are tied up and loaded onto camels for the long trek to Mek’ele. We also saw a truck loading salt blocks — trucks can carry a lot more salt, and it’s a lot less work for people, but we only saw a few trucks. Camels were the more popular mode of transport.
As we got back into the car, I overheard Arnaud chatting with our driver. “How long does the trek take to Mek’ele? (About a week) Would they be okay if a tourist joined the trek to experience it with them? (Probably, yes) Would they be okay if a woman joined? (Yes, but it is really hard and might take twice as long, so you wouldn’t want to do that) Has anyone ever joined? (No)” I knew where this was going, Arnaud wanted us to do the trek to Mek’ele with them! The trek takes 5–7 days, going through the mountains, not on a paved road or trail. It is long, hot, and hard. Not exactly something I was thrilled to do. So I joined in on the questioning, trying to find something out about the trek that would make it unappealing to Arnaud. That’s when we found out that the Tigrayans from the Ethiopian Highlands are the ones who do the trek. The Afar people mine the salts, but stay in their region. Arnaud is fascinated with following the Afar tribe, so he dropped the subject. Phew!
That night, we stayed in a guesthouse in a small town, Abaala. We spent the day relaxing, showering, playing cards, and having coffee and popcorn. Ethiopians LOVE their buns (coffee), morning, day, and night. Before dinner, we wanted to go on a quick walk to explore the town. We barely made it one block, before several kids from the town surrounded us. Smiling, holding our hands, asking us questions in Amharic, and speaking some English. One girl grabbed my hand, asking me to come to her house. Arnaud and Stephane were busy with other kids, so I told her to hold on, but she kept asking me, over and over again. So I went. She brought me to a small one-room hut. Inside were her two sisters, one older (15) and the other younger (probably 7 or 8). Her name is Salam, and she’s 13. I sat down, she showed me her small TV proudly, and Arnaud and Stephane joined us inside the hut. Our conversation was limited due to the language gap, but we learned that their parents were in Mek’ele for several days, that they go to school, and that they love watching soap operas. The older sister made us all popcorn and coffee, which we enjoyed, but we needed to get back to the guesthouse for dinner. Every time we tried to leave, they said we couldn’t leave until we had another coffee..until we had a chewing gum..until we try the dish her sister was preparing (which was delicious). We ended up staying for two hours! They were really sweet and generous, it was one of the highlights of the trip.
The next morning, we left for Erta Ale, the volcano! To get there, we had to drive through the desert on sand. I thought that was bad, our driver was swerving from left to right to get traction, but driving on the lava rock was much, much worse. Very bumpy, it seemed impossible that we didn’t get a flat tire. In the distance, we could see smoke rising from Erta Ale.
We got to base camp in the evening, had a quick dinner, and then started hiking to the volcano. Because of the heat, we hiked at night with headlamps. We got to the top in about 3 hours, and then started venturing towards the rim. The rock around the rim is fresh lava rock (less than a year old), so we had to be extra careful where we stepped. What an incredible and dramatic sight — it was red, glowing, and the lava lake at the bottom was bubbling and spitting fire. Arnaud said he’s never felt that close to hell, and that is a perfect description. Luckily, the wind was blowing the smoke away from us, but occasionally, the wind would shift and we’d inhale some of the smoke, burning our lungs. We spent almost an hour at the top, observing the volcano.
We slept outside near the top of the volcano for a few hours, before hiking back down. We reached base camp just after sunrise, exhausted but amazed by what we experienced.
Our next stop was Lake Afdera, a lake full of salt. It felt so refreshing to float in the lake, and then we rinsed off in the fresh water hot springs right next to it. Great way to clean up before the long drive back to Mek’ele.
