3-Day Erta Ale and Dallol Adventure from Arba Minch

Take an early morning flight from Arba Minch to Mekelle.

Depart at 7 AM and arrive in Mekelle at 8:15 AM.

From the airport, leave directly for Erta Ale Volcano via Abala-Erepti, following the new asphalt road to Afdera. About 30 km before Afdera town, turn left and continue towards the village of Kisrawad at the foot of Erta Ale. At Kisrawad village, collect the camels that will carry the supplies: food, water, camping and cooking equipment, along with the local guides and militia who will accompany you to the top of Erta Ale.

Set off up the volcano at around 5 PM. The ascent takes around 3-5 hours of hiking, depending on the fitness level of the travellers. At the top of the caldera, the Afar people have constructed simple stone shelters. There are no roofs, but the walls offer some protection against the wind, which makes it quite chilly in the early hours of the morning. The best time to see the lava pits of Erta Ale is at night - you can sit back at some distance and watch the lava bubbling like soup, with the occasional eruption throwing gobbets of lava into the air before subsiding once again.

Start your descent of the volcano at about 5:30 AM to avoid the heat. The descent is much faster than the ascent and takes around 2.5 hours to reach the base, where you will stop for breakfast.

Drive to Hamed Ela via Berahile, an attractive little town set among mountains. The road is much improved with the arrival of potash mining investors in Dallol.

Before leaving for Mekelle, make an early morning visit to Dallol, when temperatures are still low.

This morning, visit the salt mines, Lake Asale, and the strange, multi-coloured mineral formations around Dallol. Salt is extracted directly from the ground in great slabs, carved into blocks called amole, which was once used as currency in Ethiopia, and then loaded onto camels that carry the salt up to the highlands. Camel trains can be made up of hundreds, even thousands, of camels.

Arrive in Mekelle in the late afternoon for your return flight to Addis Ababa.