At 116 metres below sea level, the Danakil Depression in Ethiopia’s Afar region is one of the lowest and hottest places on Earth and one of the most strangely beautiful. Temperatures regularly exceed 50°C (122°F). Lava churns in an active volcano. Sulfur springs bubble in neon yellow and green. Salt caravans still cross the flats the same way they did a thousand years ago.
Erta Ale: The Smoking Mountain
Erta Ale is one of the world’s few persistently active lava lakes a window straight into Earth’s mantle. The hike to the rim is done at night to avoid the worst heat: a 4-hour walk across hardened lava fields by torchlight, arriving at dawn to peer into a pit of glowing red magma. It is one of the most dramatic experiences on the planet.
Dallol Hydrothermal Field
Erta Ale is one of the world’s few persistently active lava lakes a window straight into Earth’s mantle. The hike to the rim is done at night to avoid the worst heat: a 4-hour walk across hardened lava fields by torchlight, arriving at dawn to peer into a pit of glowing red magma. It is one of the most dramatic experiences on the planet.
