4 days Danakil depression

Day 1:  Mekelle – lake Afdera

• 220 km, – Accommodation: Camping ;
• Meals Included: LD;
• Transport: 2016 Model Toyota Landcruiser

Day Notes: Danakil Depression is a spectacular most inhospitable region of the world. Drive to Afdera via the small village of Eribt. Afdera is a town in the Afar Region of Ethiopia. It is named after the saline Lake Afdera, located in the southern part of the Afar Depression. One can swim on the salt lake and enjoy the hot spring near the lake. Outdoor camping near the lake.

Day 2: Afdera – Ertale

• 70km – Accommodation: Camping/local shelter;
• Meals Included: BLD
• Transport: 2016Model Toyota Landcruiser

Day Notes: This day before departing, visit the salt miners (local people pumping salt water out of the lake and evaporating it). Drive to Dodom at the base of Erta Ale. Dodom is about 8.5km from Erta Ale. The trek to the crater takes about 3 hrs. Have an early dinner around 17:00 hrs and trek up to Ertale at 20:00 hrs. Camels transport all the camping materials and food to the rim of the volcano, where you spend the night watching the dramatic action of boiling lava. You will sleep in a local shelter on the top of the mountain. Erta Ale ranks as one of the most amazing and physically challenging natural attractions anywhere in Ethiopia. It is a shield volcano with a base diameter of 30 km and 1km square caldera at its summit. Erta Ale contains the world’s only permanent lava lake. Erta Ale is 613 meters high, with a lava lake, one of the five in the world, with two craters, north and south. The north is noted for being the longest existing lava lake, and the south crater is the most active lava lake.

Day 3: Ertale- Hamedela

• Accommodation: Camping at Hamed Ela;
• Meals Included: BLD
• Transport: 2011 Model Toyota Landcruiser

Day Notes: Wake up early for the sunrise and visit the north crater. Descend from Erta Ale around 07:00 am. Drive to Dodom where you arrive at 09:30 am at the camp. After breakfast relax until 10:30 then drive to Hamad Ela (100km) having a picnic lunch on the way in the shade of palm trees. Reach Hamad Ela at 16:30. Hamad Ela has a total population of about 500 people. Note: if by chance there is rain in the highlands to the west, crossing the desert to Hamed Ela may not be possible, in which case you will drive about 2 hrs longer via Abala (Sheket ), a mostly asphalt road.

Day 4:  Hamedela-Mekelle- Addis Ababa

• Accommodation: none;
• Meals Included: B;
• Transport: 2016 Model Toyota Landcruiser.

Day Notes: In the morning while it is still cool, drive to Dallol and visit the different landscapes formed by geothermic and sulfuric activity as well as the salt canyon. Drive back to Ragad (Asebo), the place where the locals mine salt and load their camel caravans. This area, about 1200 km2, is covered by salt. You will observe the methods by which salt is carved from the ground. The locals cut it into rectangular pieces and loaded it onto their camels. Following your visit here, drive ahead to Hamedela where the camp is packed up and you proceed to Makele. Overnight hotel in Mekele.