
The Best of 2018
What did we, and our travellers, get up to in 2018?
Famously known as the hottest place on earth, the Danakil Depression is a surreal landscape of salt-pans and wavering mirages punctuated by bubbling volcanoes, steaming springs and psychedelic lava lakes. At first glance, you would be forgiven for thinking that nothing could possibly survive in this surreal, otherworldly realm – but you’d be wrong. The Afar people, famed for their ferocity, have long called the region home and the sight of them moving across the plains, digging for salt, is mesmerising. Danakil is the sort of place that takes everything you’ve ever known to the extreme, and whether you spend a week camping your way across the desert or simply visit for a day, it’s an adventure that you’ll never, ever forget.
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Venture into Ethiopia's Danakil Depression, a surreal landscape that feels more otherworldly than earthbound. Here, at one of the lowest and hottest places on the planet, you'll trek across vast salt flats that stretch to the horizon like a bizarre, crystalline ocean. Marvel at the kaleidoscopic patterns of Dallol's acid pools, where neon yellows, electric greens and fiery oranges create a natural canvas that defies belief. Join a camel caravan alongside the Afar salt miners, who've braved this harsh environment for centuries, cutting salt slabs from the earth using methods unchanged for generations. As darkness falls, camp beneath star-studded skies and watch the eerie glow of Erta Ale's lava lake bubble and spit in the distance. The heat is relentless, the terrain unforgiving, but the reward is experiencing one of our planet's most extraordinary geological wonders. Why not rise before dawn to watch the sunlight slowly transform the salt pans into a shimmering, mirage-like expanse that stretches as far as the eye can see?
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