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I will go to Mekele, try to join a salt caravan and with them I want to go to the Danakil Depression.

One Year Africa: Maybe the Hot Season

Maarten de Boeck
2006-05-01 17:15:05

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what I wanted, like I had seen on telly. I really expected it to be tough. Going there represented a real challenge.

Despite all this, my story about my journey to the Danakil Depression is not one of mind-melting heat nor extreme hardship. I must confess, there's still a tinge of disappointment because of that. Nevertheless I am happy to be one of the few foreigners who managed to penetrate in the heart land of the Afar people, the Danakil Depression.

Despite the lack of heat it wasn't easy. Especially in the preparations setbacks had to be overcome.

In Mekele I was about to learn the hard way. There was no way of going to the Danakil Depression without an official letter of the Afar authorities. I had read in my guide one needs permission to travel in Afar land, to be obtained in Assaita, the Afar province capital. But in my youthful naivety I think it won't be 'so' necessary in the far north, a mistake, which would turn out to let me lose a lot of time and some money. This permit could only be obtained in Assaita, two long bus journeys away, in the opposite direction.

I had spent a week in Mekele. I had come into contact with Solomon and Kebreab, two brothers running a photo shop, who decided to help me. Their generosity and hospitality were truly outstanding. They ordered and served me tea every time I came to the shop. They arranged translators for me. With them I went to markets to speak with people. I had found out how to get transport. I had bought supplies. After two days I even had been preparing to leave the next day to Bera Ale, but my translator's mother prohibited her son to travel with me to Bera Ale. Then the issue of the permit began to play. It became more and more obvious that I really needed it. Initially I tried to get it without having to travel to Assaita. Senay, my new translator, and I, we even travelled to a place called Shehet in Afar territory, hoping to get permission there. ...