6-Day Erta Ale Hike and Danakil Depression Tour from Addis Ababa

• Arrive in Addis Ababa and transfer to your hotel.

• Depending on your arrival time, go on a sightseeing tour in Addis.

• Visit the National Museum, where you can see Lucy, the fossilised skeleton, as well as the Ethnological Museum, Trinity Cathedral Church, Entoto Hills, and Merkato.

Hotel: Adotina Hotel

Meals: Breakfast

• Early in the morning, after breakfast, transfer to the airport and fly to Mekele. Meet your guide on arrival.

• Take a short break at coffee bars in Mekele.

• Continue driving to Hamed Ela.

• Enjoy a picnic lunch at Berhale and finalise the permits and police escort.

• In the late afternoon, reach Hamed Ela, where you will be camping for two nights.

• On the way, see local Tigre and Afar tribal villages and camel caravans carrying salt bars to the nearest local town.

Overnight camping in Hamed Ela.

• In the morning, drive to Dodome.

• Here, arrange camels to transport your luggage and water.

• Start hiking to the Erta Ale Volcanic Hills (613 meters above sea level), a 15 km one-way trek.

• Walk to see the spectacular volcanic eruption.

• At night, camp near the rim of the crater above the active lava lake.

Overnight camping in Erta Ale.

• Climb up to the rim for sunrise.

• Drive to Hamed Ela.

• Visit a camel caravan in the late afternoon.

Overnight camping in Hamed Ela.

• After an early breakfast, drive to the salty Lake Asale and visit the salt workers and merchants.

• Head to Dallol/Danakil Depression, which straddles the Eritrean border to the east of the Tigrian Highlands and is officially listed as the hottest active place on Earth's surface, with an average temperature of 40-50 degrees Celsius. Most of this vast and unpopulated region lies below sea level at 116 meters.

• Drive back to Mekele.

Hotel: Axum Hotel

Meals: Breakfast

• In the morning, after breakfast, transfer to the airport for a flight back to Addis Ababa.