4 Days Camping tour itinerary for Addis Ababa, Dallol & Mekele: Venture Inside Danakil Depression To Reach Erta Ale

• Take the 7 AM flight to Mekelle. 

• Your Ethiopia tour guide will pick you up at the airport. Then, embark on a drive to Mekelle-Afdera 220km. The spectacular yet inhospitable of Danakali Depression begins here.

• Drive to Afdera via small village of Eribt.

• Go swimming in the salt lake and enjoy the hot springs near the lake. 

• Set up camp by the lake.

• Start the drive to Afdera-Dodom (70km). 

• Encounter the salt miners near the lake.

• Drive to Dodom (at the base of Erta Ale), about 8.5km from Erta Ale which takes about 3 hrs trekking. 

• Have an early dinner around 17:00 hrs and trek up to Erta Ale at 20:00 hours. Camels transport all the camping materials and some food (sleeping materials like light mattresses and water) to the rim of the volcano, where you spend the night watching the dramatic action of the boiling lava. Erta Ale ranks one of the most alluring and physically challenging natural attractions anywhere in Ethiopia. It is a shield volcano with a base diameter of 30 km and 1km square caldera at its summit.

Overnight camping on the top of the volcano

• Wake up early for an enchanting view of the sunrise.

• Travel to the north of the crater. 

• Descend from Erta Ale around 7:00 am.

• Return to the campsite in Dodom around 9:30 am.

• After breakfast time to relax. 

• At 10:30 drive to Hamad Ela (100 km).

• Enjoy a picnic lunch on the way to shed. 

• Reach Hamad Ela around 04:30 pm. Here,  you will see lots of camel caravans and behold the sunset look by the shallow salt lake of Assale.

Overnight camping at Hamad Ela

• In the morning, drive to Ragad (Asebo), which is a salt mining region.

• Observe the miners breaking the salt from the ground, cutting them into rectangular pieces and loading it on camels.

• Proceed to Dallol and visit the diverse landscape formed by volcanic activity; Dallol + Lake Assale + salt canon. 

• Enjoy camel caravans and then drive back to Hamad Ela for lunch.

• Proceed to Mekele to catch the flight to Addis Ababa in the evening at 7 pm.