We had some time off work as Ethiopia was celebrating the new year on the 12th of September. They were just about to ring in 2012 although that sounded a bit optimistic to me, but it gave us a chance to get out of Addis. The main thing we wanted to do while in Ethiopia that we hadn’t managed to tick off the list was to visit the Danakil Depression, one of the lowest and hottest places on earth with a crazy extra terrestrial landscape. We tried to visit when we were on holiday a few years ago and even had a tour booked and paid for with Ethio Tour and Travel. However, when we rocked up at their offices in Mekele there was no tour. This company are useless but they basically run all tours into the Danakil no matter which tour company you book through so you may as go direct. At least this time I could go into their office in Addis and deal with their incompetence face to face.
We got an early morning flight from Addis to Mekele and against all odds someone picked us up at the airport and we were taken to an office to wait for quite a while for other punters to turn up. We were allocated a land crusier and of course we were plonked with a plonker of a tourist. He had been in the country for 2 days and yet knew more than the guide about Ethiopia. He didn’t shut up ever and even told the driver how to drive, grabbing the wheel at one point. Only saving grace was it was only Emma and I in the back and the guide seemed a nice chap. It was a long drive but the roads were much better than we were led to believe. After stopping for lunch and waiting hours for an armed guard to escort us into the Danakil we headed to an extensive salt pan. Here we saw that all the tour groups had joined together to make one large convoy. I guess it is a safety issue as we were close to the Eritrean border and quite a volatile area. The activity here was a dip in a swimming hole, well you could fit about 2 people in it so we gave it a miss and wandered about admiring the scenery. We then went to gaze at the salt pan and we all sat round in a circle and were given a pep talk by the guides and offered some local wine. It was disgusting but I was gutted when it ran out as we needed fortifying for our overnight accommodation. Basic would be over selling it. We slept on rickety beds with no mattress under the stars. There was no toilet or washing facilities and people went wherever, so you can imagine the state of the camp. It is not as if it was in the middle of nowhere, we were bedding down right next to a tar highway with trucks rumbling past all night. It was an early night straight after the carrot surprise meal but the next day would be better as we were heading to Dallol.
Dallol was incredible, the lunar landscape is hard to describe, have a look at the photos. We were gob smacked and thoroughly enjoyed this part of the trip. We had a short hike up onto the plateau where we were greeted with the most colourful rocky terrain with bubbling cauldrons spewing smoke. By the way, it was pretty hot but sure I have been hotter. The next part of the trip was the drive to Erta Ale volcano and again the road was much better than we had heard. In fact I think it goes a lot closer now and we arrived in the dark right at the foot of the volcano. We trekked up the volcano that night to see Erta Ale spewing out molten lava. Seeing lava has been on our bucket list for a while so this was a treat. We were also very lucky as it had been dormant for a couple of years so many recent visitors hadn’t seen the lava. I’m not sure it was the lava lake of old but we were very happy. Would still like to see a lava flow mind one day. Our accommodation for the night was even more basic, if that was possible. We slept In a sheep pen on rocks with no mattress. I really don’t understand how they can not build a camp with simple facilities considering the amount of tourists and money being spent. The camp site was awash with plastic bottles and rubbish too, there is no need. Take your rubbish home!
After a rocky night’s kip we were up early to climb back up the volcano to see the sunrise. It was great to see it in daylight and was very moody with all the smoke swirling around. The final day was basically heading back to Mekele as it was a long drive. We stopped at a ‘resort’ where we were invited to swim in a lake. No thanks, it was a complete dump so we headed into town early for lunch. The town was not much better unfortunately. When we got back to Mekele we had time before our flight for some food and a beer and found a great restaurant with a large garden, tasty pizzas and cold beer so a good end to the trip.
We are glad we finally got to the Danakil and the scenery on the way, Dallol and Eta Ale are a real highlight. Shame that the trips are not organised very well and the amount of rubbish strewn across such a beautiful landscape is a real environmental disaster.
