Ethiopia: Visiting the Hottest Place On Earth

opinion

From the Salt Lake situated more than 100 meters below sea level, to the Mars-looking landscape in Dallol to the most active volcano in the world, the Danakil Depression is indeed a very interesting, and exhausting place to visit, writes Mads Oddershede.

Ethiopia is a very diverse country with a large range of geological and cultural wonders. A number of these geological wonders are located in the north-eastern part of the country in the Afar region, to be more specific in the Danakil Depression. This is the hottest place on earth with an average temperature of around 35 degrees. The region is not only extremely hot with temperatures sometimes going above 50 degrees it is also very inhospitable, as you need to bring food, water and camping gear yourself. This makes the journey pretty tough. Additionally, an incident occurred in 2012 about 30 km from the Eritrean border. Gunmen killed five tourists, wounded two and kidnapped four as well. This doesn't really make the Danakil Depression seem very welcoming. I decided to go there anyway, not by myself, of course, but on a guided tour, as the possibility of seeing the world's most active volcano, and thus seeing real lava, was simply too tempting to resist. I must admit that before the trip I hadn't done much research on the Danakil Depression. I knew that the Erta Ale volcano was located there and that there was a Salt Lake, but I wasn't prepared for the extreme temperatures. I also hadn't given any thought to what our accommodation in the desert would be like and the extensive distances.

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