Ever wondered what it’s like to walk around on another planet? The Danakil Depression in the Afar region of Ethiopia is probably as close as one can get. Endless sandy deserts, endless expanses of ancient and recent lava flows, endless salt flats, active volcanoes, and geysers filled with boiling, highly acidic water. It sits at 410ft below sea level and it’s the hottest place on earth when it comes to average year round temperatures in the 105-120°F range. It’s harsh, sometimes dangerous, and beautiful. Oh, and don’t forget, lots of dudes with AK47’s pretty much every where you turn.

My starting point for my three days in Danakil was the city of Mekele. We drove east out of town until there was no more road and then we drove on sand at crazy ridiculous speeds past the occasional camel to I don’t really know where, some settlement to get permission from the Afar authorities to proceed to our destination. After getting permission we head back across the sand until we reach a volcanic wasteland on bumpy roads carved out of hardened lava, black lava rocks piled up on either side, until we reach our base camp. It’s now early evening and after dinner and the sunset, we start walking in the dark to avoid the intense heat of day for about three hours to Erta Ale. Erta Ale is an active volcano and one of the very few permanent lava lakes in the world. Unfortunately, due to an eruption just last year that opened a new crater about a quarter mile away and changed the flow of lava, you can’t really see the lava lake anymore thanks to all the fumes that now fill the crater, but walking across last year’s lava right to the edge of a volcano is still pretty thrilling. The good news is I can now cross inhaling a big wiff of hydrogen sulfide gas off of my bucket list. One wrong step around here means simultaneous suffocation from those hydrogen sulfide fumes and bursting into flames when you hit that lava below. There’s no warning signs, no guard rails, no nothing, just you and an unimpeded gateway to hell. Awesome!

That night we camped near the rim of the volcano underneath the Milky Way, which was just awesome. Come for the volcano, stay for the stars, and leave because of the heat. We woke up at 4:30am, made the five minute walk back to the rim one more time to see if we would get lucky and see the lava (we didn’t) and watch the sunrise, then we hiked back down before the heat set in and had breakfast at base camp. Day two was basically a lot of driving, first back through the huge lava fields, then barren mountains to our guest house for the night near Abala. Along the way we stopped at the big salt Lake Afrera. It looks refreshing, but the water was super hot! I put my feet in and it was almost painful.

The next morning we were up at 4:30am again and headed north through the barren mountains and then over miles and miles of salt flats. There was about a foot of water over most of it so it felt like we were driving on a lake the whole time. Normally the Afar people are cutting the salt out of the ground in large cubes and loading them onto their camel caravans, but they weren’t when I was there because of the high water level. It was a really beautiful drive though.

Next we went to Dallol, which means colorful place, where super heated water bubbles up from the ground and deposits minerals, mostly sulfur, in a way that makes Yellowstone look like a sand dune. I feel like I’m exploring a planet that’s too close to the sun or one of Jupiter’s moons. This place is really incredible!

Finally, a stop at some huge spires of salt. I know because I licked one of them. Bleh!  The salt is initially mixed with sand, but the wind blew all of the sand away leaving these salty peaks behind. I’ve never seen anything like them.

Danakil is a really unique region of the world, albeit remote, hot, and desolate. It’s amazing to me that people have been living and surviving here for thousands of years. Anyway, after some new and really interesting experiences here, now it’s time to explore one last area before heading back home. Less than a week to go on this trip.

To see all the pics from the Afar region go here.