“It is the deformed wood that shows the best sculptor” – African proverb
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Summary itinerary (3D2N)
- Day 1: Semera – lake Afdera – Erta Ale
- Day 2: Erta Ale – Ahmed Ela – Lake Assale – Ahmed Ela
- Day 3: Ahmed Ela – Lake Assale – Dallol – Makele
- Conclusions
Introduction
The most inhospitable place on Earth. The Danakil Depression is so called by many for several reasons. It is a region that stretches between northern Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti, it is one of the lowest places on Earth (it reaches up to 135m below sea level!) and also for this reason the hottest, even more than Death Valley in the United States. In fact, temperatures during the sultriest periods (our Summer) consistently reach over 50 degrees, with all the possible health risks. In the “cool” months (like November, the one I chose) the temperature averages “only” around 40 degrees. In all months, it hardly ever rains.
The Ethiopian part, which is the largest and most beautiful to visit for the reasons I will describe in the following paragraphs, is characterized, among other things, by the presence of the Afar people, who generally live in abject poverty and at a semi-primitive state, I would even say without the “semi.” Rarely can one find locations with running water or electricity, while humans coexist poorly with nature, rendered on average an open-air dump. There are no hospitals, but “health centers.” About schools, it is better to gloss over, not least because if there are any, I have reasons to doubt that children actually manage to attend them. The region, like the rest of the country, was the scene of armed clashes during the recent Tigrean war, which officially ended in 2022, during which dozens of people from Europe were killed.
For these (and other) reasons, it is not possible to visit Danakil depression independently. Permits to visit the region are issued only to local agencies, which must provide everything necessary for travelers, including providing for the presence of an armed guard. Said like that sounds serious, actually our armed guard was a not very bright little boy armed with a tiny rifle that wouldn’t scare an insect, but I’ll get to that in the following story.
You will understand well, however, that this is not an easy trip, requiring a very good spirit of adaptation, as well as a willingness to try to empathize for a few days with those who live in those conditions on a daily basis. Danakil tours generally involve an itinerary of 3 days and 2 nights, at least if they are limited to the Ethiopian part. Therefore, having a few days to spare, one can add a visit to some other regions, as I did, but I will tell you more about that elsewhere. In this article, I will “only” recount what I saw in the 3-day tour, which, however, as you will read, is really surreal and deserves a separate treatment.
Summary itinerary (3D2N)
As mentioned, to visit Danakil depression you need to rely on a local agency, which provides everything you need, from food to transportation. I relied on Ethiopia Travel Tours, better known as ETT. The choice of this agency was mainly related to two factors:
- It is the largest agency of Ethiopia, which increases the likelihood that the tour can start on any day of one’s choice. Indeed, not all agencies guarantee departures every day, especially in cases where the number of participants is small. On my trip to Ethiopia, it happened to me in other regions even with ETT that my plans were modified in order to accommodate the needs of other travelers, but I will recount the details in other articles. As for Danakil depression, I shared the trip with 5 other people, whom I met locally.
- Since the likelihood of sharing the trip with other people is higher for the reasons mentioned in the previous point, ETT manages to keep costs down. I have found people asking for as much as three times what they charge. The only agency that offered me the same price is World Sun Travel. However, I opted for ETT because, in addition to being more reputable, it is headquartered in Addis Ababa (World Sun Travel, on the other hand, has it in Makele), and this made me think that communication with them in case of unforeseen events might be more convenient, having budgeted that I would be in Addis Ababa on several occasions. The cost of the tour, including transportation, “overnight stay,” armed guard and meals is 300 USD, excluding domestic flights.
Below is the itinerary in a nutshell, which considers the 4 main attractions of the tour, namely Erta Ale, Lake Afdera, Lake Assale and Dallol.
| Day | Destination | Night |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Semera – lake Afdera – Erta Ale | Erta Ale |
| 2 | Erta Ale – Amhed Ela – Lake Assale – Ahmed Ela | Ahmed Ela |
| 3 | Ahmed Ela – Lake Assale – Dallol – Makele | Makele or Addis Abeba |
Day 1: Semera – lake Afdera – Erta Ale
My tour of Danakil depression begins in Semera, the main town in the Afar region. Tours can also start from Makele, but given a choice, Semera is preferable because of its better location, which saves a few hours by car. ETT’s driver picks me up at the airport, where I meet the first of my traveling companions, a Finnish girl with a passion for more or less extreme travel, who had planned Danakil depression as the next stop on her trip to Iraq. Since we had arrived on an early morning flight from Addis Ababa, the driver took us directly to breakfast, to a place that hinted at what the rest of the tour would hold for us. The “place” had a kitchen that directly overlooked a lawn that had been converted into a garbage dump, with plastic bottles everywhere. Amidst the filth were several cats eating the raw meat of a deceased goat positioned next to the kitchen door, to the total indifference of staff and customers. Immediately outside the place, there was a rather empty street that gave the feeling of being in a kind of ghost town, if it were not for the few shacks in which people lived. There were very few cars, but on the other hand a few carts pulled by mules.
Breakfast was simple but all in all quite decent, consisting of omelet and hot tea.
After breakfast, we set out for our first destination, after meeting the rest of the crew as well. In addition to the Finnish girl mentioned earlier, the crew consisted of three ladies in their 60s from Bulgaria, and a retired Slovenian guy of the tough, boorish kind. One of the Bulgarian ladies was on her fourth trip to Danakil, which she thought was the most beautiful place she had ever seen, among the more than 100 countries she had visited around the world. There would be a lot to say about the Slovenian guy, but just to let you know how much it bothered him that there were people breathing the same air as him, I will just say that he constantly complained that he could not have gone alone, because “one person one problem, three people three problems, ten people ten problems!” On the other hand, the ETT team included two drivers (one in each car) and a very young boy who was our cook. One of the two drivers, who spoke excellent English, was also our actual guide. The other driver and the cook, on the other hand, knew as much English as I know Arabic, and I do not know Arabic.
The first spot we visited, which we arrived at after a couple of hours’ drive, around lunchtime, was Lake Afdera, a lake with a very high concentration of salt, from which in fact it is extracted. Adjacent to the lake are salt pans for harvesting. It is already about 40 degrees, the water is warm and allows anything but cooling off, yet we treat ourselves to a quick bath, partly because we are aware that it will be the closest thing to washing that we will experience during the three-day tour.
After the quick bath we have lunch, which we eat in a restaurant not too worthy of the name, although the meal is not bad. It’s also one of the few places that gets phone service, but forget about WiFi. As in Semera, the area outside the restaurant is typical third-world. I try to use the restaurant’s bathroom, but after opening the door and being assaulted by a swarm of flies, I instantly close it again, preferring nature. Fortunately, I was prescient and brought considerable amounts of disinfectant, because the chance of finding running water is the same as finding health in a hospital.
After lunch, we head to the Erta Ale volcano, which translated means “smoking mountain.” During the drive, the landscape changes dramatically, from the salt expanses of Lake Afdera to the scenery of cooled lava that gradually becomes more intense, until the volcano begins to come into view. The colors begin to become truly wonderful.
We arrive at the bottom of Erta Ale around dusk, after tackling a road that it would be reductive to call bumpy. Fortunately, however, it exists; in fact, until a few years ago, one could not get to the volcano by car, so one had to plan roughly an additional day to walk there and back.
Having arrived at our destination, we take possession of our lodging, which I show in the following photos. If you can’t see anything but the ground don’t worry, the roof of our 5-star super hotel is in fact the stars (you don’t even sleep in that sub-hut). The telephone line of course is absent.
Before dinner, we walk to the main crater. The ascent takes a scant half hour, it is not challenging, but because of the uncertain terrain hiking shoes are strongly recommended. Erta Ale is famous among other things because inside its crater is the largest lava lake in the world. Unfortunately, due to a recent eruption, the glowing lava lake is no longer visible because it is all covered by cooled lava. From what we were told, it will hardly be possible to see it again as it was until a few years ago. However, we are still lucky, as there is a small eruption going on, so we are able to see some lava pouring out and even get close to the fumaroles. Not everyone has our chance; in fact, in recent years, in most cases the crater cannot even be seen clearly because of the fumaroles that almost completely cloud the landscape. The spectacle is truly awe-inspiring. In addition to some water and a flashlight, it is strongly recommended to equip yourself with masks and if possible eye protection, in some sections the fumes are really substantial.
We then return to the foot of the volcano, where our dinner awaits, which apart from the decidedly overcooked pasta is quite delicious. We dine by torchlight; there is no electricity here. We thus end the day, taking possession of our space to get ready to sleep under the stars. We will all be in our sleeping bags as early as 8 p.m., the night will be rather breezy but in the end we manage to sleep a few hours of sleep. Despite the fact that there is nothing, or perhaps because of that, it is all pretty safe, although the guides let us know that sometimes mountain wolves approach to eat the travelers’ leftovers, in which case it can only be us.
Day 2: Erta Ale – Ahmed Ela – Lake Assale – Ahmed Ela
We are scheduled to wake up at 4:30, at 5 o’clock we are on our way again to reach the crater, which we want to see with the first lights of day. When we reach the top, we stay quite a while to enjoy the beautiful view and enjoy the scenery while we wait for the sunrise. Personally, I enjoyed the scenery more in the morning than in the evening. We take the same tour as the previous evening, getting as close to the lava flowing out as possible and lingering at all the viewpoints. The spectacle is outstanding, the colors are truly unique.
After watching the sunrise, we return to the foot of the volcano to regenerate ourselves with an excellent breakfast of freshly prepared hot pancakes, at the end of which we wash… or perhaps it would be better to say that we use a finite but large number of refreshing wipes, because in addition to no electricity, there is no water either. Unfortunately, even at the foot of the volcano there is the usual garbage dump, and the situation always gets worse because all the garbage is poured on the ground directly from the bags (not by ETT, but by the very few people around the camp).
We then continue on our way to Ahmed Ela, the “town” that we will use as a base for our visit to Lake Assale and Dallol. The road to Ahmed Ela is rather deserted and bumpy, the scenery, however, is very picturesque. We also pass through sand dunes and see several dromedaries, as well as the “white mountain,” which is a volcano whose tip appears to be snow-capped, although the white color actually comes from smoke. We have lunch in the middle of the sand dunes under concrete blocks to shelter us from the sun, surprisingly there is even a telephone line in some places. The temperature is desert-like, the heat is very intense.
We arrive in Ahmed Ela in the afternoon, overbearingly catapulting us into the Third World. Houses made of asbestos and wood held together by slush, people on the streets strictly barefoot in the dust, young boys sleeping under old trucks, children even at a tender age leading cattle to graze, total absence of water and electricity. And of course plastic everywhere, including the hut that the ETT team uses as a base for cooking. There is also a kindergarten, where children who are not on the street are surrounded by barbed wire. I’ll gloss over the detailed description of the only “toilet” in the village, just imagine what condition it can pour into in the absence of running water and being available to the entire population, to easily understand that again we all prefer to opt for nature. There are also ultra-rudimentary nets that we will use to prop up our sleeping bag.
In the second part of the afternoon, we visit Lake Assale, which we reach in a scant hour’s drive. Armed guards are needed here because it is close to the border with Eritrea, although the last thing you can feel is danger. Lake Assale is a vast expanse of salt, like the Salar de Uyuni (but probably not as vast). The water creates a really distinctive mirror effect with the land, the colors becoming more and more beautiful as the hour of sunset approaches. There is a tiny natural salt pool in the expanse, in which it is possible to bathe, floating in a particularly strange way due to the very high density of the water. We stay here until the sky turns dark, re-entering is not trivial because you can’t really see anything and you drive completely into the desert. Adding to our adventure is the car’s dead battery, so we illuminate the road with a flashlight as the headlights abandon us. All in safety.
However, we return safely to Ahmed Ela, have an early dinner, and by 8 p.m. we are all back in our sleeping bags. The night will be less windy than the previous one (against our expectations, because the area is generally more windy than Erta Ale), but on the other hand we are kept company by a few mosquitoes, fortunately not malarial.
Day 3: Ahmed Ela – Lake Assale – Dallol – Makele
Immediately after sunrise, we head to Dallol, which we reach in about half an hour. It is important to arrive early as the heat can get really dangerous during peak sunlight hours. Dallol is basically an expanse of salt that has risen to the surface as a result of volcanic activity, which also carries minerals of various kinds that color the crystals. There are also sulfur formations, to which it is best not to get too close. The landscape changes a lot at a distance of a few meters, but always maintains an intense coloration. Another peculiarity of the place is that since the volcanic activity is continuous, the colors change on a daily basis, so a few days apart the landscape can be very different, consequently what you see is always unique and unrepeatable. The colors are really surreal, you can really hardly believe you are on planet Earth. A truly magical place, definitely the most unique place I have ever seen, as well as one of the most beautiful. But I let the photos do some of the talking.
The visit to Dallol takes a good hour or so, at the end of which we make a final stop in a neighboring part that the guides call “the cave.” Here the colors of the salt formations are vaguely reminiscent of those of the rocks in the parks of the west U.S.. A truly wonderful sight here as well.
The visit to the caves is rather brief; once it is over, we head back to Ahmed Ela, where we make one last lunch stop, although lunchtime is still a long way off. It is in fact about 10:30 a.m., but we necessarily have to do so in order to allow some fellow travelers to arrive in Makele in time to catch their domestic flight to Addis Ababa.
The last landscapes we glimpse are therefore the ones that accompany us along the road. We also come across other groups of dromedaries and a few baboons.
Arriving in Makele in the afternoon, my trip will continue to the Tigray and Amhara regions. I discuss this in more detail in other articles.
Conclusions
Having to summarize the characteristics of this trip in a few points, the things that immediately come to mind are as follows:
- It is not a trip for everyone. It is important to have very good adaptive skills and to be prepared to lack running water, electricity, connection and more generally acceptable hygienic conditions, as well as to have a fair ability to withstand the muggy heat and not have too much trouble sleeping under the stars caressed not very gently by the wind. But above all, one must be well aware that one is in the Third World, which in some cases can be even much worse than one might expect. The conditions of extreme poverty in which one immerses oneself can be difficult even to observe for the most sensitive spirits unaccustomed to plunging into particularly uncomfortable situations. On the other hand, one should not be frightened, I must say that from the place defined as the most inhospitable on Earth I had worse expectations. After all, on a physical level it is not such a demanding trip (one has to spend quite a bit of time in the car and be prepared for the heat, otherwise there are, for example, no difficult treks or climbs of any kind), so with a suitable spirit of adventure it is all doable.
- However, all the discomfort mentioned in the previous point is more than compensated for by the indescribable excitement aroused by the sight of the wonders conceived by nature that are concentrated in this region. These are truly unique and at times surreal places (Dallol above all), which give one the feeling of being on another planet. Contact with the locals is then a source of discordant feelings. While it is not easy to empathize with the reality that the people experience on a daily basis, the enthusiasm of the children in seeing you and asking you to play with them, covered in dust as they walk strictly barefoot through the garbage, has something divine. If you are wondering if it is worth it, the answer is, without a doubt, absolutely yes.
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