Ethiopia: Harar and the Danakil Depression

The tour starts this afternoon in the eastern city of Dire Dawa, strategically located along the newly revamped railway line linking Addis Ababa to the coast at Djibouti Town. After lunch and a chance to rest we’ll have an introductory briefing before taking a wander through the town including a visit to the historic train station.

This morning we will drive up to the medieval walled city of Harar. Known locally as Jugal, the old town is enclosed by a 5m-high wall that effectively defined the whole of Harar until the Italian occupation. On our tour we will see mosques, churches, the house of the French poet Rimbaud, the Adere people’s traditional houses, the markets, basket productions and much more. In the evening we will also visit a man who continues an age-old tradition of feeding wild hyenas on the outside of the city wall – a spectacle not to be missed!

Today we will drive to Awash and although a full day in the vehicles, we’ll have plenty of opportunities to stop and see the impressive countryside we are driving through. We will visit the famous local qat market in the village of Awedae before heading into Awash National Park. We plan to arrive in time to take a late afternoon drive through the park, which has seen better days but whose main highlights still include its impressive bird population as well as the 150m-deep gorge, carved by the Awash River and its substantial waterfall.

Heading north today, we’ll follow the Awash River north towards Afar country and the small town of Semera, the gateway to the Danakil. Here we will obtain the necessary permission required to enter the Danakil region tomorrow.

This morning we’ll start making our way into the barren landscape of the Danakil Desert. All the while we will be slowly losing altitude and by the time we reach Lake Afrera we will be 100m below sea level. The road is asphalt all of the way, as the lake is used for salt extraction, so we will reach the lake in good time to set up camp and explore this fascinating but scruffy frontier town. Our camp will be on the shores of Lake Afrera, next to a hot spring which is perfect for an evening bath!

After a short walk back into town from our campsite through the salt extraction works, we leave the tarmac and head out over the sand towards Erta Ale Volcano. After several hours we reach Kuswarad, an Afar village where we have lunch and pick up our local Afar guides. We then continue through the desert where we reach the basalt rock formed by old lava flows. A slow and bumpy drive brings us to the base of Erta Ale Volcano. After loading up the camels we will start our trek to the rim of the volcano at around sunset, to avoid walking during the heat of the day. The trek will take about 4 – 5 hours, with the latter part of the walk taking part in the dark. The path is not that steep, but it is important everyone has a torch and sticks together. We camp on the crater rim, a safe distance away from the lava!

Erta Ale is an active volcano, which has one of only 5 lava lakes in the world. Today we have the full day to explore the volcano and its surrounds but due to the heat of the day, our explorations will be confined to the early morning & late afternoon with a long break in between.

This morning will be an early start as we leave camp before dawn. On arriving at the bottom of the volcano we will freshen up before driving to Dallol. The driving is all off road, through the desert. We stop at a palm grove for lunch and should have a chance to try some of the local palm wine. In the evening we will arrive at Ahmedela, a small settlement where the salt caravans meet before their long walk to Mekele.

Dallol is like nowhere else; a bizarre landscape of colourful mineral deposits, sulphur pools and geysers, where we’ll have the morning to explore this seemingly alien terrain. We will also visit the bizarre landscape of the salt canyons before making our way towards the town of Mekele, where en route we may get the chance to see the arduous work of salt being extracted by hand and loaded onto the camels. After the first chance in several days for a proper shower we’ll then have our final dinner and the opportunity to reflect on the remarkable adventure we’ve taken. Those on the suggested group flight will then be transferred to Mekele airport for their flight to Addis and beyond.