Danakil Depression

Both the Canadian and US governments recommend giving the Danakil Depression a pass. Tourists have been killed here in the past. It is a politically unstable region due to its proximity to the Eritrean border. There are also ongoing disputes with the indigenous people that reside here.
A long drive from Mekele brought us to the first big salt lake. 

We arrived in the late afternoon and it was starting to cool down. Out in the middle there was a rock outcropping and a small pool of very salty water. Some of the tourists hopped in. 
Nearby was a area where salt miners cut salt blocks and then transported them by mule or camel seven days into the interior.

We had dinner then out to the salt flat for sunset. We slept that night on crude woven beds under the stars. 
The next morning we were up at 0430 for breakfast and an early start. We arrived at the Martian like landscape of Dalal just as the sun was coming up. 


Another attraction nearby is an area where the salt pan has been pushed up over several hundred years creating a multi layered canyon.

Then we were off on a long seven and a half hour drive to an active bubbling volcano. In the moonlit night we walked four and a half kilometers to the crater rim to see and hear the lava bubbling below.

Then we slept under the stars just below the crater rim. Next morning back to the crater for sunrise, yawn. Then back down the mountain for breakfast. On the drive out we stopped at a salt lake for a swim and then rinsed off in a fresh water hot springs. It was very refreshing to get some dust off. On the long drive back through a stretch of desert we were lucky enough to see some ostriches.



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