Lake Assal and the Salt Caravans

Lake Assal (Bahr al Assal) in Djibouti is Africa's lowest geographic point, it lies 515 feet (155m) below sea level. It's a fascinating salt water lake, with beaches literally made of pure salt. Some of the salt banks are over 200 feet (65 m) deep. Lake Assal is saltier than the Dead Sea, you don't have to swim a single stroke - you can just float and read a book. Salt cakes everything along the shores of this lake, loose vegetation that has been blown here from far away, dead birds -- everything is crystallized in salt. And not surprisingly, no vegetation grows here. It's a very bright and very hot place.

You may have heard of the salt caravans that cross the Sahara, there are also salt caravans that travel from Lake Assal into the Ethiopian Highlands. The Afar, a nomadic tribe, have been cutting slabs of salt from this lake for centuries and continue to do so today. Only the top crust can be used and it takes skill as well as strength to cut correctly. Slabs are shaped into rectangles that weigh around 7kg and are hoisted onto the backs of camels. Each camel can carry twenty blocks of salt. Hundreds of camels and their owners make this trek every week. Check out this excellent image gallery about the cycle of a salt caravan taken earlier this year. Volcano Discovery offers a unique tour in Ethiopia that includes witnessing the salt caravans firsthand.

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