Sulphure rock formations of various colors, Dallol, Danakil Depression, Ethiopia
The last afternoon, the usual dead silence in Hamed Ale was disrupted by yelling and shouting. A truck full of soldiers stopped, picked up villagers and off they drove towards the sulphur fields of Dallol. Eventually we understood what caused this disruption: an Italian tourist was somehow responsible for starting a smouldering fire in Dallol. It spread below the surface and could not be stopped. Speculation went wild until we met other tourists who were there at the same time: it was not a burning cigarette thrown into one of the millions of cracks, as first speculated, but this idiot had tried to light sulphure to see if it would burn. Continue Reading →
