Assale Lake in Danakil Ethiopia | Travel Storytelling

120 meters below sea level, Lake Assale (or Lake Karum) offers one of the most beautiful sunsets in all of Ethiopia. The sky and the salt reflect one another, chasing each other as two lovers.

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Lake Assale, also known as Lake Karum, is a salt lake in the Afar region of Ethiopia, northeastern Dancalia. It is located 120 m below sea level and is surrounded by a vast salt plain. People work all day to extract it manually, under the burning sun, and transport it to the village by camel caravans.
Temperatures are extreme and reach 50 degrees.

We drove in our jeep to the lake, which in the dry season is only a few centimeters deep. We were promised a truly amazing sunset. While my friends are taking pictures at the sky reflecting on the ground, I approach two English tourists holding professional cameras. We chat a bit and place our cameras in front of the best panorama ever. We do not want to miss any shade of color. ”

As soon as the sun sets over the mountain, all this orange will fade into violet. It’s a matter of seconds,” says one of the two girls. ” Where are you from?” asks the other. “Rome”. ” Oh, Rome. I’ve been there. It’s very hot in Rome”. ” It’s very hot here!” I reply. ” Yes, I passed out a little while ago”, she chuckles happily. No wonder. Even fainting is special on the edge of the world. The skies are turning pink and fuchsia: one sky is real, the other is salt. If you bend down, you can touch it.