Lac Abbe Djibouti

Africa » Djibouti
April 14th 2006

Published: April 18th 2006

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hawas

Parts of planet of Apes was filmed there

She came out of nowhere. A hot an sulphuric atmosphere

I have kept these paper pictures with me for about 20 years.

I used a camera Canon T70 at the time and they really came out nicely.

The only trouble is that these photos don’t last eternally, they deteriorate with time.

For the first time I will publish them on my newly open travelblog and on my computer at the same time.
I hope you will enjoy them as much as I do.

LAKE ABBE, DJIBOUTI. A Hot and Sulphuric atmosphere

The lake is located west of the country on the Ethiopian border at about 200 kms (150miles) from the Capital Djibouti.
Thousands of years ago (appr. 7 to 8000) the river Awash was forced away by the volcanic activities nearby. The Lake dried soon after on most of the surface. Under the dried crust of 20 to 50 cms thick the soil is mud, the temperature can reach 80 degree Celsius. People get burnt there, no doubt about it, Geysers and hot sources run under.

Our car is trap sucked in the mud to the chassis and nothing can help pulling it out but some kind of winch that most of 4x4 possesses. We

towards the lake

tried everything possible to drive it out by ourselves with few things at hand; sand plaques, timbers, pushing it hard, more digging and all in vain.
Our Land cruiser got stuck as it drove out of the visible tracks for a large u-turn; surely we were not the first ones to whom that happened.
Amazingly help came from the locals who rushed out towards us to assist. They came from nowhere in a matter of minutes, pretty surprising. Were they seeing us long before? It was ok we were four strong young guys able to defend ourselves in the event of a bad turn. But still, we were not on our territory and felt that it was a very isolated place to hang around unaccompanied.
They came with the desire to help but they were attracted by food and "baksheesh." Their help was of no use but much appreciated indeed. We spare them some tins and choc bars.

Sometime earlier, on our way to the lake, we noticed a Land cruiser parked in the nearby village As-Eyla. Our motorcycle rider equipped with an Enduro 500cc made the run to the village and sent for help. They came back a

apocalyptic

moment later drawing us out of misery with their built-in winch and in a flash. We gratefully thanked our saviours.

Out of trouble and with peace of mind we can finally appreciate this hostile lunar look alike site spectacle, take some memorable pictures and conduct even a little experience on those limestone chimneys. The air temperature is high and humid, a strong odour of sulphur reigns.
Some chimneys can stand as high as 40 to 50 metres and they puff out steam in the manner of a lung. Indeed these chimneys seem to breathe, their aspect reminds us of a sponge with thousands of pores breathing air in and simply breathing out steam.
The air is sticky and the weather is threatening with thunderstorm. We take a few shots and head back to As-Eyla for the night.

Additional photos below

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