Erta’Ale and Danakil Depression Tour

Danakil Depression:
Danakil Depression is one of the most inhospitable regions located 116meters below the sea level and with one of the most extreme climates on earth. The Danakil depression in Ethiopia has multicolored landscapes which look like from an alien planet.  These chemical discharges result in black, gray, green, pink, red, turquoise, yellow and multicolor white, deposits, which provide for a spectacular array of color across the landscape.    From steaming Sulphur lakes, to towering salt mountains, salt pools appearing like cracks in an icy landscape, Dallol is a sensory overload, especially when you see, firsthand, how the local people work here in the boiling sun, eking out a living by mining the precious white resource around them.The active volcano (Ertale) is a shield volcano in the Afar region of East Africa. Located in the Danakil Depression (or Afar Depression) in the Afar Region of northeastern Ethiopia, Erta Ale is one of the driest, lowest and hottest places on earth.

Erta Ale:
It is a remote and rarely visited volcano that is known currently to have an active lava lake in its summit crater. Known by the Afar as the “smoking mountain” and “the gateway to hell,” Erta Ale is a 2,011-foot-high constantly active basaltic shield volcano. It is one of only a handful of continuously active volcano in the world, and a member of an even more exclusive group: volcanos with lava lakes. While there are only five known volcanoes with lava lakes globally, Erta Ale often has two active lava lakes — making it a unique site.

Erta Ale was discovered in 1906, making it the longest-known lava lake. For a lava lake to exist, the surface of the lake and the magma chamber below must form a constant convicting system, or the entire thing will cool and solidify. Beneath the ground surrounding Erta Ale is an enormous pool of active magma. The lake goes through cycles and will cool, form a black layer on top, and then suddenly convert back into liquid lava. Occasionally, due to pressure, “fountains” of lava will form, spewing lava in 6- to 13-foot-high plumes.

Dallol:
Dallol is located in the Danakil Depression in North-East Ethiopia. It is dubbed to be the most colorful place on Earth and the hottest place in the world. It is one of the most inhospitable regions of the world, but is nonetheless spectacular, full of eye-catching colors, as in the Sulphur springs. The Denakil is amazing for some of the most unique landforms and physically features seen on earth. Dallol, at 120 mbsl, has an old volcano which simmers beauty the surface.

From the colorless views in Krum, the neon sceneries in Dallol to the black lava in Erta Ale, a trip to Danakil is a journey through an entire spectrum of colors that, every once in a while, will make you forget you’re still on planet Earth.

While Dallol is the visually most impressive spot in Danakil, Erta Ale is the most adventurous! Locally known as the “Gateway to Hell”, Erta Ale is Ethiopia’s most active volcano and one of the few places in the world where visitors get the chance to see a lava lake just meters away.