Day 137
Sleeping location: Asimba guesthouse, Mekele, Ethiopia
Distance (km today/total): 0 / 10494
Estimated climb (m today/total): 0 / 70200
Planet Dalol is on: unknown
Distance (km today/total): 0 / 10494
Estimated climb (m today/total): 0 / 70200
Planet Dalol is on: unknown
Day in three words: Colours are wrong
Sleep was terrible due to all manner of noises and disturbances and some lost earplugs, and we were woken up at 4am for some more driving. I was so very tired. We had breakfast about 90 minutes of dark bumpy roads (no sleep) down the road, then set off again in daylight, down through a valley of folded and twisted rock shapes onto a wide open plain. We travelled for an hour or so across rocky desert, then turned off the tarmac road onto sandy desert. Abruptly everything went white and we entered a vast salt plain. It was incredibly flat and uniform. Our driver Terry/Teday took this opportunity to drive across it at 120kph, not on any kind of defined track - classic Terry/Teday.
In the middle of the salt was a big rocky red mound called Dalol. We parked the cars and walked up onto it through a bizarre landscape of salt-covered red rocks. But this was relatively normal compared with what was to come. As we went further we started to hear hissing and bubbling from hidden vents, and loads of yellow sulphur and red iron appeared in strange stalagmite formations. There was a huge vent belching out sulphurous gases but we couldn’t go near it as it was too dangerous. Finally we came to a series of bright green pools of boiling, hyper-acidic brine, surrounded by more yellows and reds. There were vents everywhere, frothing and hissing and slowly building themselves up into bigger shapes. The whole thing was totally extraordinary and otherworldly. Safety didn’t seem to be of great concern as nothing was cordoned off, despite the fact that the active vents are constantly moving around and, as I mentioned, the liquid is BOILING ACID.
To one side of the red mound was a landscape of huge salt formations, tens of metres tall. At first I thought “nah that can’t be salt”, but I licked a few and indeed it was. By this time it was about 11am and already absolutely sweltering, which is no surprise as this is the hottest place on earth in terms of year-round temperatures. We drove back onto the salt flat and stopped to watch workers harvesting blocks of salt to be taken away by camel. I didn’t get out of the car as I felt a bit weird watching people do their job; I would be very put out if people all clustered around my desk and intently watched me doing spreadsheets. Finally we went to see a huge, very shallow lake sitting on top of the salt flats. It was beautiful, a shimmering white landscape under the bright sun. We went for a wade but it was VERY sharp on my foot cuts so I didn’t stay in for long. The number of incredible things we saw in these few hours, not to mention their incredibleness, was quite something and will live long in my memories.
After all this was the bump back down to earth of the long drive back to Mekele. We were all very sleepy and spent much of the journey trying to sleep although some (me) of us were less successful (got bumped around due to their long bodies) than others. At one point I was looking for my charger and noticed that Terry/Teday had the same one for his phone. I asked him if it was his or mine, and he matter of factly replied that it was mine and that I could use it. Classic Terry/Teday*. We were back at the Chris and Saba’s guesthouse by 3.30, but I had to go for a nap until about 6 just to feel remotely human. Then we went out to a fancy ish restaurant where we had wine and pizza and went a bit crazy with over ordering. Sadly I was still tired and my stomach was playing up, so I crashed big time about 10pm and went straight to bed when we got back. Rebecca and I decided to stay another night at the guesthouse even though it’s way out of our budget, since we probably won’t find anywhere this relaxing and homely for ages.
*We still gave him a pretty big tip at the end of the trip, as he was a total geezer
Sleep was terrible due to all manner of noises and disturbances and some lost earplugs, and we were woken up at 4am for some more driving. I was so very tired. We had breakfast about 90 minutes of dark bumpy roads (no sleep) down the road, then set off again in daylight, down through a valley of folded and twisted rock shapes onto a wide open plain. We travelled for an hour or so across rocky desert, then turned off the tarmac road onto sandy desert. Abruptly everything went white and we entered a vast salt plain. It was incredibly flat and uniform. Our driver Terry/Teday took this opportunity to drive across it at 120kph, not on any kind of defined track - classic Terry/Teday.
In the middle of the salt was a big rocky red mound called Dalol. We parked the cars and walked up onto it through a bizarre landscape of salt-covered red rocks. But this was relatively normal compared with what was to come. As we went further we started to hear hissing and bubbling from hidden vents, and loads of yellow sulphur and red iron appeared in strange stalagmite formations. There was a huge vent belching out sulphurous gases but we couldn’t go near it as it was too dangerous. Finally we came to a series of bright green pools of boiling, hyper-acidic brine, surrounded by more yellows and reds. There were vents everywhere, frothing and hissing and slowly building themselves up into bigger shapes. The whole thing was totally extraordinary and otherworldly. Safety didn’t seem to be of great concern as nothing was cordoned off, despite the fact that the active vents are constantly moving around and, as I mentioned, the liquid is BOILING ACID.
To one side of the red mound was a landscape of huge salt formations, tens of metres tall. At first I thought “nah that can’t be salt”, but I licked a few and indeed it was. By this time it was about 11am and already absolutely sweltering, which is no surprise as this is the hottest place on earth in terms of year-round temperatures. We drove back onto the salt flat and stopped to watch workers harvesting blocks of salt to be taken away by camel. I didn’t get out of the car as I felt a bit weird watching people do their job; I would be very put out if people all clustered around my desk and intently watched me doing spreadsheets. Finally we went to see a huge, very shallow lake sitting on top of the salt flats. It was beautiful, a shimmering white landscape under the bright sun. We went for a wade but it was VERY sharp on my foot cuts so I didn’t stay in for long. The number of incredible things we saw in these few hours, not to mention their incredibleness, was quite something and will live long in my memories.
After all this was the bump back down to earth of the long drive back to Mekele. We were all very sleepy and spent much of the journey trying to sleep although some (me) of us were less successful (got bumped around due to their long bodies) than others. At one point I was looking for my charger and noticed that Terry/Teday had the same one for his phone. I asked him if it was his or mine, and he matter of factly replied that it was mine and that I could use it. Classic Terry/Teday*. We were back at the Chris and Saba’s guesthouse by 3.30, but I had to go for a nap until about 6 just to feel remotely human. Then we went out to a fancy ish restaurant where we had wine and pizza and went a bit crazy with over ordering. Sadly I was still tired and my stomach was playing up, so I crashed big time about 10pm and went straight to bed when we got back. Rebecca and I decided to stay another night at the guesthouse even though it’s way out of our budget, since we probably won’t find anywhere this relaxing and homely for ages.
*We still gave him a pretty big tip at the end of the trip, as he was a total geezer
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