Far from reality in the Afar Region

Over the course of my life, I have had the chance to visit some truly incredible places. However, if I had to pick the most surreal place I've been to, there is no doubt that the Danakil Depression would be it.

Sadly, I lost all the pics I took of my trip when my phone was stolen in Addis, so I'm relying on the photos taken by my travel buddy, Zsofi (check out her blog here). Deep north in the Afar region of Northern Ethiopia lies the Danakil Depression at 125 metres below sea level. It is one of the hottest, and most inhospitable places on earth. Yet, the Afar people have lived in this region for centuries, mining the precious salt deposits by hand, and also, briefly in the 19th century, facilitating slave trade to the Arab world. Today, camel caravans still carry mined salt, although infrastructural developments (including by the Chinese) might disrupt this way of life eventually.

This area has been of interest to geologists and scientists, and it's not hard to see why. The Danakil Depression lies at the juncture of three tectonic plates - the "Afar triangle", and at the heart of volcanic activity. As a result, fractures and fissures, mini geysers, colourful sulphur and mineral springs and lakes, thermal vents, salt pans and all manner of geological marvels can be found in this part of the world. The region sits on a lake of magma that reaches a network of active volcanoes but also boasts an undersea ridge...which can be observed on land. Thousands of years ago, the Red Sea flooded the region, leaving salt deposits, and in the very distant future, the plates will push the Horn of Africa off Africa and allow the Red Sea to flood in, connecting it with the Indian Ocean.

It is mind boggling that people could survive in such an inhospitable, extreme environment, but what is even more fascinating is that, until recently, the most ancient early human was found here. In 1974, the skeleton of "Lucy", or Dinkenesh as she is known to Ethiopians, was found in the Afar region, leading many to call this place the Cradle of Humanity. If you're visiting Ethiopia, the two must-do trips are to Lalibela and to the Danakil Depression. I finally took the plunge, thanks to Zsofi, and we visited the place just before the pandemic reached Ethiopia, option for a 3-day circuit. Arriving in Mekele quite early in the morning (and after downing a mandatory avocado juice for the road), we were pooled with a few other visitors, and assigned our jeeps (4 people in each). We had a very nice driver (I think his name was Mihretab) and a well-worn jeep, and set off - we would end up spending several hours on the road over the weekend, driving through arid landscapes, past camels and dusty mountains.

The Afar people have their unique customs, and tend to be wary of strangers. There were a few checkpoints on the way, and one of the tourists in our car almost had her camera taken away by the army when she tried to take a picture of a random building in a village.

After a pit stop in a nondescript village with nondescript food, we drove into the salt pan area. It was like driving into nothingness as the horizon, sky and land desaturated into an endless canvas of matte white. If it hadn't been for the extreme heat and occasional dust devils, you could be fooled into thinking you were driving across a snowy landscape.

After driving across the salty landscape, the row of jeeps halted by some red rocks and we found - a natural pool! It was tiny and heart shaped and shone bottle blue and emerald like a jewel… and was packed with people. Any hope of taking 'grammable photos was dashed but we couldn't resist the urge to get in. The water was deathly salty and we got in gingerly, to avoid shredding our skin on the solid salt crust which had crystallised on every surface. Every tiny scratch on our body stung, and our butts were floating, unable to sink due to the sheer saltiness.

Our tour guides came to hand us bottles of cold beer, and I will never forget this moment: when I was in the incredibly conservative country that is Ethiopia, drinking beer in a bikini in the middle of a desert with my fellow Shaper Z.

The best part was - they had a portable shower that we could use to quickly rinse off the white crust of salt on our bodies, before setting off to the actual salt pan. Our surroundings were shades of white and pale brownish-gray, and dotted here and there were cut blocks of grayish salt and wooden sticks, which the Afari people use to dig up the salt blocks.

We drove towards Asal, close to the Djiboutian border. The line of jeeps driving into the white nothingness cut an impressive sight.

As we stopped, it was eerily quiet, with the exception of the dry, dusty wind blowing into our eyes. The sun was starting to get low - I think I was struck by the lack of colour in the sunset, and this would be something that would fascinate me over the next couple of days. It was as if the extreme conditions of this part of the world had washed the very colours off the sun, to emphasise its otherworldliness.

We walked for almost fifteen minutes in the lake, the water never getting past our ankle, and the sentiment of being on another planet persisted. Or maybe I was in a movie which had been desaturated. The only pop of colour was Zsofi in her red dress, everything else was a haze. The Interstellar soundtrack played in my head.

We gathered round for a few drinks by the jeep, getting to know the other travellers. Everything felt muted and oppressively desaturated.

Before setting off, Z and I peeled away from the pack to sit down in the quiet and meditate. Here, in the middle of nowhere. The moon was out, so we simply lay on our backs and contemplated how grateful and amazed we were to be here.

Time to head back to the camp where we'd stay the night, which turned out to be a set of bamboo cots outdoors fenced in by the cars (to keep the wind out - a theory which failed) and a ramshackle wooden hut for dinner.

Of course, the barrage of cars didn't do much to keep the wind out (we found out the drivers cleverly slept in the cars!) but we were treated to the most incredible view of millions of stars in our galaxy stretching above our heads.