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After leaving Lalibela, we had to fly back to Addis Ababa to connect to Mekele. Thankfully, we just hung out in the domestic terminal, even though we did have to go back through security again - strange set up. Other than that, fairly smooth flight to Mekele, a proper city of around 300,000 people. We were picked up from the airport by the owner of the travel company who drove us to Homeland Hotel, our place for the evening. We were checked in fairly quickly and then we all met for a dinner at the hotel to discuss the next phase of our trip. The owner told us that we would be picked up early the next morning and, due to security concerns in this area still recovering from the Tigray war, just to do what our guides said as they had the route and paperwork planned.
So, we were taken right on schedule, and basically just told what to tell anyone who asked. There were quite a few checkpoints along the way, but I never felt unsafe. Our next two days was busy and it just turned out that with this route, we would save six hours driving through
bumpy roads and hot conditions. I was cool with it.
We drove south and then east, going through a few small villages and some mountain passes with amazing views. Soon, I noticed we were getting into an area with somewhat recent (in geological terms) volcanic activity. I could see a couple of possible volcanoes in the distance. Amazing. I wondered which one was ours.
First we drove through a village after going through the final security checkpoint. From here, we switched vehicles, from our little mini bus to two 4WD SUV's (4 of us road in the cockroach vehicle...... we all had nightmares about this). L rode in the other vehicle with the driver, guide, cook and any security person who accompanied us. Then, we went to
Lake Afrera, a salt lake, and through clearly salt mining operations, though we were told that there is not a lot of commercial impact for the country on this - it's generally local and even they import salt in most places. We parked near a few palm trees and I was so hot and sweaty at this point, I did not even bother with my bathing suit, just going in my
moisture wicking shirt and undies. Honestly, it was quite nice! I think we were all surprised it was proper hot springs, with areas of heated water entering this huge lake. It was very, very hot in some places, but if you went out just a bit further it was quite nice. We only stayed in the water for about 15 minutes, but it was a fun experience!
Then we headed back into the little village where we stopped by this random tin covered large hut thing, mostly open air. I was hesitant about what to expect.... what I did not expect was a huge TV playing an internation futbol game! It was kind of nice actually. Extremely basic, but at the same time, familiar. I actually found our lunch to be delicious! It was pasta with a very spicy tomato-based sauce. I may mention this a few more times, but this area reminded me of Djibouti. So, I imagine it is a lot of canned food, but here they really knew how to add spices for great flavor. I also had a nice cold beer, which was so refreshing. There were a bunch of neighborhood kids that were curious
about us and A took some photos with her polaraid camera, giving them to the kids. They loved it, but the older people in the restaurant kept kicking them out to stop bothering us. We also noted about 2 or 3 other tour groups here and we wound up running into them multiple times over the next couple of days. Also, an Indian couple living in Saudi Arabia that we met in Lalibela were here, but I think just for today.
Then we drove for about 90 minutes toward the volcano. Yay!
Erta Ale is a basaltic shield volcano, located in the
Afar Depression or Afar Triangle, which is a sunken area caused by rifting between three tectonics plates that have resulted in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and the Rift Valley of Africa. (Geology nerd alert). It is one of the rare volcanos in the world with a lava lake and is distinct with the oldest current lava lake since 1906. It is over 600m in elevation and has a huge lava field surrounding it, which was super impressive. Previously, you had to hike well away from the crater and hike about 3 hours each way.
Now, there is a small group of huts located just a 30-minute hike from the crater rim. This meant we were able to hike at sunset and sunrise!
It took just under two hours to get from the village to the little camp, where we encountered the fellow tourists again. There are small stone huts found in a small, cleared area of lava rock, some had roofs, some did not. The three girls were put into one with a roof while the two guys slept in the open hut. It was pretty hot and windy when we arrived, and I had my last cold beer for the next 36 hours.
We rested for only about 30 minutes before starting our sunset trek up. It was fairly easy to hike and soon we reached more little huts, that I think you can sleep in if the gases from the volcano are not potentially dangerous; at the moment, they were abandoned. Maybe it was more of an option when you had the longer hike. Just before the top, our guide got excited because someone told him an eruption was happening. Sure enough, there were two small, bright, gaseous vents to
the right but just off to the left was lava spewing from a small vent. We made our way down into the crater and got closer to the eruption. T had seen a guy step on some lava rock and fall through; a very short distance and he was unharmed, but it hammered home that this is not Disneyland. The older rock we were walking on was clearly older and gray in color. Soon, you got to much more recent black crusted lava rock with the vent not too far away. Our guide led our group to the vent, telling them to step exactly where he did. T and I figured we were close enough. It was so hot on our feet where we were standing, I cannot imagine what it was like closer. And it was mainly just the heat from the cracks in the rock warming the rock we were standing on. Amazing!!!!!! Thankfully, our group returned safely just at the tail end of the sunset.
We walked back up to the rim and continued hiking along the edge because our guide said he believed the lava lake would be nice and visible. Just another 10 minutes
and it was so, so worth it. Just incredible. With the sky dark now, you could see red glowing cracks in the lava lake spread out in front of us. I could not believe I was here! It was quite windy and we kept our headlamps off, so I tried to limit any movement and just admired the beauty of an active lava lake. I'm still in awe just typing this!
I think we stayed up here for about an hour before returning back down to our camp. The hike down was fairly easy, but you just had to pay a lot of attention to where you stepped, so my neck was sore! We had a decent dinner of chicken and veggies, but I think I was still full from lunch. I tried to set up my gopro to capture the stars and the red glow of the volcano; it did not turn out as well as I had hoped. Soon, we got ready for bed in our hut, falling asleep to the sounds of the wind.
The next morning, we were woken early for a hike to the rim before sunrise. This time, it seemed only a
few of the other tourists were willing to make the second trek up. So we had the views to ourselves. It did not seem quite as active, but the steam rising against the sun was just beautiful and peaceful. In awe for the second time.
We walked back down where we had probably the best camp breakfast I've ever had. Of all my trips. She did an amazing job. We had crepe like bread with peanut butter and Nutella, fresh fruit.... but the best of all was the shakshouka! It was delicious. We were all blown away. We had very good food out in the hot, desert, but this was incredible.
After this, we packed up and stated the drive to the next location. For the first 2-3 hours, we drove through an extended lava field extending a long a wash riverbed, use of the 4WD very necessary. The lava seemed relatively recent, like within the last decade. It was very neat to see. When we stopped to pee, the hot sun and black lava rock was just excruciating. I could not believe people lived here. It was an interesting but long drive.
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I enjoyed reading your post. Looking forward to more content from you. Your ability to engage readers and hold their attention is impressive. Can't wait to see what other topics you'll explore in your future posts!