Whenever visiting new places people attach wonders with that new experiences, which will be etched on their memory to stay with them for the rest of their lives. The experiences could be appeasing, exotic or just horrific. Whichever the case maybe, the memory remains indelibly printed to remind them the places and moments they spent on that specific place.
With so many wonders in the world, old and new, it is hard keeping track of most suggested, visited and famous places of the earth. There are some must-see spots of the world such as the Danakil Depression that travellers want to visit but admire from far because of the touristic spots’ disagreeable weather, topography or lack of information for safety to wonder about.
The Danakil depression is among the strangest natural wonders where visitors might feel as if they have landed on another planet.
Tsidena Abadi 27, a Sociologist based in Mekelle, has toured through Danakil depression more than once. She remembers every detail that runs the gamut from all shapes and colours to the sound of boiling water beneath every foot fall she made, all the dead birds and insects lying everywhere and all the oily hot springs which she didn’t figure out and have still chills from, just like it happened yesterday.
‘‘First time I went to Afar was in 2015. I only got to see the Berahale in the Danakil depression. I truly felt like I was in another planet. There, we got escorted by a military car for it was still considered an unsafe location due to kidnapping cases that happened once.’’
That was back when the route was difficult to travel and where security was an issue and traveling alone was not safe. Now, tranquillity is the characteristic feature of the area. The planet’s most surreal landscape has opened up. Regular tours now visit the route via Ethiopia’s city of Mekelle, then on to the parched northern Afar State.
‘‘We went there in February one of its coolest seasons. So, my first time at the hottest place on earth wasn’t all that hot. Although, I did still get tan lines of my shirt despite the cloudy weather’ ‘she said.
‘‘I recently went there in August through tour agencies. They set up for us our tour packages and had everything planned out there. We had an assigned chef that works for the tour company. He was preparing breakfast, lunch and dinner and so for us. Accommodation was not that a big issue. The place was pretty dangerous, so a lot of people may choose to stay home or to go to other destinations, but it’s worth the risk’’
According to Tsidena when visiting the Danakil Depression, there are cautions and precautions to take since environmental dangers could be stationed in every corner. Hence, for various safety reasons, it is highly recommended that visitors pay homage to it through tour agencies than visit it on their own.
“On the first day we basically drove all day from Mekelle and went straight to Erta ale. The road was asphalted till we got to the location where we had to get off road to go to the volcano. That basically looked like those action-packed movies, where they just drive through the desert in no clear road, where the driver is trying to find a better path aka making his own oath as we go, and just driving crazy. No living thing was in site. But we got to the bottom of the mountain just before sunset and while taking a break we enjoyed when the sun blushed. Soon as it set, we started going hiking to the mountain.’’
“And so, we started hiking in the dark with our
flashlights and phones not knowing where to step. And when we reached at a
certain level, we were told to wear our scarves around our nose to protect our
lungs because as we got closer to the crater the smell was becoming
unbearable.”
‘‘That night, we got to the place. I tuned to the strange and horrific sounds. They were nothing less than the growling of monsters one hear in movies. The exact ones were coming from the volcano. It was so weird. But, we couldn’t see anything as it was very smoky although we were finally able to see the fire via a crack it makes to eventually gush out via a hole. The guides told us since the last time the volcano erupted, a few years ago, which they don’t remember when, they have not seen any sign of it up until the night we visited it. We count ourselves lucky. Anyway, we decided to go back down, have dinner and sleep and come back at 3 Am because the smoke will clear up and go to different direction then.”
‘‘Anyway, we had dinner, were given sleeping bags and slept on the bottom of the mountain just watching the stars. Our sleep was cut short due to the noises of mosquitoes. So, all of us woke up grumpy. But what was amazing was we were able to see the glow of fire coming from the direction of live volcano. It was visible from where we were and we were excited to go and check it out and at about 3:30 or 4, we already started hiking back up the mountain’’ she said laughingly
‘’So once we got there we were all amazed to see the crack that we left earlier had gotten bigger. Also there were many more cracks accompanying the growling sound which was much stronger at that point.’’
‘’Just like water streams down a river, we watched as the river of fire burst out of its pit and flows back down through a stream I couldn’t understand where it began and ended. This may sound a hyperbole but I truly cannot put it into better words. It defies description’’
‘‘After we warmed up our hands in heat of a volcano fire we took a nap until about 6, as we were so tired. And then when we woke up, it felt like I was in another planet! Imagine huge big flat rocks of coal in the whole surrounding. We watched the sunrise from the mountain top and we decided to get back down before it gets too hot. We enjoyed our view every step of the way,” says happily.
‘‘When we finished with our breakfast, next destination was Afdera. First of all, it was this amazing spot with salt lake and hot springs I did not know about. And it is so close from Mekelle. It was so beautiful. I just had a beautiful time just soaking and relaxing. Probably would have been much enjoyable had it been in the evening though, with a cooler weather just chilling on the sand. However, we were running by the tour agency’s schedule. So we had to move to eat lunch somewhere else. Also this one lady in our group needed to catch her flight in Mekelle so we left. We had lunch at a nearby village and went to our resting place for the day. We had the rest of the day off to just catch our breath and complain about the heat while catching up with our travel mates. We had dinner and were told to sleep early because we’d be waking up at 3 next morning.’’
‘’So we woke up, on our last day of our tour early and went to Berahle town to have breakfast, continued our journey afterwards. It was about 8:30 when we got to the Danakil depression. Other groups were already done with their tour and leaving .We were told we got there late. We were advised to finish up early before it got too hot,’’ she said
The Danakil Depression is not only one of the hottest places on Earth (it can top 50ºC) it is also the lowest point in Africa -155 metres to -550 ft below sea level.
“And then, we started hiking a mountain, imagine this is my second time coming here but my first time it was cloudy whereas this time around it was so sunny and hot just like nothing I remember. It was a completely different setting for me! We were walking around in groups until one by one we started to get separated lured by the beautiful things abounding in the area! Like all the colours and landscapes. A sole reminder one is still on earth is the humans next to him/her! It is truly extraordinary. But the smell was awful.’’
‘‘It is like the fresh earth that you step on. I don’t know how to explain it but you know that it has the smell of fresh bread when one breaks it, it is even more delicious! Yeah like that but, this smells like chemicals. A lot of them. And there are different types of unsafe hot springs. We were informed to not touch anything. They even told us a tragic story about a lady that lost her finger because she dipped it in one of them (I did not check whether the story is real one or made up to scare us)’’ she laughed.
‘‘All and all it was an overwhelming and spectacular experience for me. To put it in to words It feels like, when an exquisite instants of terror turn in to exhilaration! I recommend all to visit it at least once worth the risk and discomfort,’’ noted Tsidena.
The Ethiopian Herald Sunday Edition 5 January 2020
BY FASICA BERHANE
