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Published: April 28th 2006
Roadside View
One of the valleys that we drove past enroute to Lake Asal. Very stark.This will be the last entry into our travelblog. More deathless prose. We decided to make the 6 hour drive to Lake Asal today, and arranged for an Embassy driver and vehicle to take us to the Tadjourah district. Lake Asal is a salt lake, and is the lowest point in Africa. It lies 153 meters (502 feet) below sea level.
Surprisingly, the road to Lake Asal is in pretty good shape. There are spots where the road had been washed out (can't imagine when that happened since there hasn't been enough rain to wash out a road for a very long time). Road maintenance seems to be at a minimum (read non-existant). We also encountered rock falls along the way, which partially blocked part of the highway. However, all in all, the drive went smoothly.
Lake Asal lies approximately 70 miles from Djibouti, in Tadjourah district. The capital city of Tadjourah district is Tadjourah. The country of Djibouti has a capital city named Djibouti. It doesn't seem that a lot of imagination went into the names in this area. Anyway, Lake Asal is all that we thought it would be. A great salt lake that is receding, through
Phil Overlooking Lake Asal
A view of Lake Asal from the road leading to the beach. evaporation, leaving behind a large salt beach extending several hundred feet from the water. The temperature, however, was a bit more than we expected. Since we arrived at 11:00 am, the temperature wasn't at it's peak. Our driver told us that the temperature was 53 degrees celsius (127 degrees fahrenheit). Now that's HOT!. I don't know how long anyone could last in that heat, but there were local vendors on the beach selling salt encrusted crystals, and they didn't seem bothered by the heat like we were. I guess it's just a matter of getting used to the heat (although I don't think that we could ever get used to it). Yes, we bought a crystal.
By going to Lake Asal, we performed a "hat trick". We have now visited the three lowest spots on earth, on three different continents. The lowest spot, the Dead Sea in Jordan, is 411 meters (1,349 feet) below sea level. The second lowest spot, Lake Asal in Djibouti, is 153 meters (502 feet) below sea level. The third lowest spot, Death Valley in California, is 90 meters (300 feet) below sea level.
I have included some pictures trying to capture how impressive
Monica on the Salt Beach
A view of the extent of the salt beach. the scenery is. However, you would have to see it in person to really appreciate it.
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carol
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WELL DONE AND THANKS FOR ALL THE INFO
we have a contract in Djibouti and were scouring the net for info. Was very grateful to read your blog. THanks again. Happy travels ps what was the Bellvue hotel really like! ??? Thats where we are staying.