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A travel photographer took incredible shots in Danakil Depression
24 November 2022
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I was lucky enough to receive an offer from CNN Arabic in order to talk about my experience in Danakil Depression, Ethiopia. They asked me some questions about the trip, what led me there, what I liked the most and the difficulties I encountered on such an extreme territory. Here are my answers. You can find the original interview here (in arabic language of course).
Can you introduce yourself to our readers? And where are you from?
I am a professional photographer based in Rome, Italy.ย
How was your beginning in the world of travel photography? And what are you most interested in capturing?
I always loved to travel in faraway places, where the landscapes and the habits are different than mine. After my trip to Danakil, I decided to publish my photos online along with some anecdotes. The experience I lived there was so unique I felt the need to share it with others. The respone was great so I just continued. My travel blog has millions of views and my photos have been published on several magazines. It is a great result and I am not referring to personal fame at all. I take pictures to establish a connection among people. I think empathy could solve most of the issues we are facing globally. How does it feel to walk in someone else’s shoes? Beyond our differences we are all equals, we are all the same. Photography is a great way to show this. I hope my photos help people to connect with social realities they have never heard of before.
Can you tell us about your trip in the Danakil Depression in Ethiopia? And when did it take place?
I visited Danakil Depression in april 2018. It wasn’t the best time of the year to go, since temperatures rise to 50 degrees, but I wanted to see what it was like for its population to bear that kind of heat. I felt I needed to share their discomfort to understand them better.
How did you learn about this location? And what encouraged you to visit it?
I was camping in Botswana for my 40th birthday. One night, we were chatting in front of a bonfire in the savannah and a woman told me Danakil was the greatest place she had ever visited. She described its scenery, the colorful geysers, the salt flats, the high temperatures. Danakil is one of the world’s most inhospitable places. Yet, people live there and have chosen to build their houses there. I was really interested in seeing how men can adapt to any situation. My motto is: any place is home. Men are able to fill with love their lives and the places they live in. How could this be possible in such an extreme environment? I needed to go see it with my eyes. And I did.
What was your first impression of this location? Did you have to take any precautions due to its harsh environment?
Everything looked otherwordly. I never knew if I was actually seeing it or just dreaming it. The heat made me feverish, so I sometimes felt like I was hallucinating!
Precautions were necessary all the times. The food got easily rotten, especially vegetables, so we had to check it carefully. The heat is so intense you barely eat anyways. Of course you need sunscreen, sunglasses, large hats and appopriate clothes.
Ethiopia have faced civil wars over the past years as there are 84 different tribes speaking 85 different languages. They all have different traditions and specific needs and requests. So, for safety reasons, the government made it mandatory for us to be escorted by armed bodyguards. It was weird to take pictures with two young guys with rifles watching me.
Can you describe the scenes you captured and what it shows? What fascinated you the most?
The first pictures are taken in Dallol. It is a cinder cone volcano in the Danakil Depression. The term was coined by the Afar people, it means dissolution or disintegration, describing a landscape of green acid ponds and iron oxide, sulfur and salt desert plains. Temperatures reach up to 50ยฐC. If Hell was a place on earth, it would definitely be Dallol.
The second setting is in Ahmed Ela, a 100-meter-below-the-sea-surface depression which was once covered by the Red sea. When the waters disappeared, they left a thick layer of pure salt. It reaches a depth of 800 meters. In this area of Danakil’s desert, everywhere you turn to you find salt. The miners work it all day to extract blocks of salt. First, they break the ground with pickaxes and wood sticks; then, they shape it into large bricks. At sunset they load them on the back of camels and make their way back to the village. It takes them hours to go back and forth from the village to the mines and it must require a lot of tenacity to lead this life. It made me think of the difficulties in my life from a whole different perspective.
How did people react to the scenery from your trip? What do you think was eye- catching about it?
People were amazed. Most of them had never heard of Danakil or seen its unusual scenery. The pictures that were most commented were the ones concerning Dallol, definitely. A Dante’s Inferno kind of a scenery.
Did you face any challenges during your visit to the depression?
When I first landed in Danakil I felt the need to leave. The heat was indescribable. It really felt like hell on earth. The airconditioning on my jeep was broken so there was no releaf. It was exhausting. We slept in hammocks at the roadsides, with no toilets or water to wash. The sunscreen I put on my face mixed with dust gave me a skin rush. Yet, after a couple of days my mind calmed down. There was no escaping any of this inconvinience, so at least I accepted it as part of the trip. It was a great lesson to learn. I became resilient. I fell into a meditative state of mind. That was a great gift I got from Danakil.
What would you advise people who are visiting this location for the first time?
Choose carefully when to go. You do not need to suffer from all the heat as I did.
How long was your stay in Ethiopia? And did you visit other locations in the country as well?
I stayed for a week, then moved to Harar which is one-of-a-kind city and a completely different story. I fed hyenas with my mouth there!
Is there anything else you'd like to add that I didn't ask about?
Just be kind to the people you meet. Always. But especially when you travel.
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