My second trip to Ethiopia was to northern Ethiopia’s Afar Depression, part of the Great Rift Valley of East Africa. This region was home to “Lucy” the Australopithecus, a hominin and forerunner of homo-sapiens – whose fossils were discovered in the area. Some paleontologists suggest that the Rift Valley was the cradle of the evolution of humans.
At the northern end of the Afar Depression is the Danakil desert; Dallol in the Danakil Depression is one of the hottest places year-round anywhere on Earth. Hot, forbidding and cruel to man, beast and vegetation – and yet one of the most beautiful places on earth. Danakil contains vast salt flats, Sulphur springs and rumbling volcanoes.
The salt miners are the biggest traders in that area. Day after day the Afar people hew away at the salt crust, under the burning sun, earning about 20 US cents a day. Others load the salt slabs onto camels and trek for days, with the caravan, to market towns where the mineral is sold.
The scenery changes from magnificent to marvelous and touches on a half dozen other superlatively beautiful expressions - but watching these poor people working so hard for so little made me realize how fortunate I was for having been born somewhere else.
In conclusion; Ethiopia is a very beautiful country and there is still much to see and do - - looking forward to Ethiopia Trip III.
Information about the Album ...
Title: ETHIOPIA-II
Photographer: Deniz Bensason
Width: 33 cm
Height: 22 cm
Number of Pages: 67
Cover: Hard cover. Cloth covered spine.
Additional Information: Printed on high quality gloss paper. Laminated in matt silk to maintain maximum protection for the album.
Design & Layout: Nili Glick Studio.
An album of a voyage to Northern Ethiopia.
Primarily pictures of Volcanos, deserts, salt-flats and nomands.
Excerpts from the Ethiopia II Album
Front and Back Covers
Pages 6 - 7: The Salt Flats
Page 10: Wheat Harvest
Page 11: Salt Caravan
Page 14: A study of a Banana Peel and Flies
Page 15: Straight from the Camel's Mouth
Page 16: Harvest
Page 17: Harvest - Wheat and Chaff
Pages 20 - 21: Children of the desert
Pages 28 - 29: Bridging the River
Pages 30 - 31: Erta Ale Volcano
Pages 36 - 37: The Narrow Alleys of Harar
Pages 40 - 41: The Green Walls of Harar
Pages 46 - 47: Dankil Desert Colors
Page 50: Salt
Page 51: Sulphur
Page 56: Life along the Caravan Route
Page 57: Caravan Convoy in the Distance
Page 58 - 59: Faces
Pages 64 - 65: Markets