5-Day Lalibela and Danakil Depression Tour with Erta Ale Camping

• Arrive in Lalibela, transfer from the airport to town, and visit the rock-hewn churches.
• After checking in at your hotel, drive to the sites where you will find a concentration of some of Ethiopia's most famous rock-hewn churches, often referred to as "the living wonders of the world." These churches have stood here for at least 900 years and include an active Christian shrine, the spiritual center of the country's religious life.
• Then visit the northwestern cluster of churches, which includes Bet Medhane Alem, Bet Maryam, Bet Meskel, Bet Danagel, Bet Mikael, and Golgotha.
• After lunch, continue to the southeastern cluster of Lalibela churches - Bet Gabriel-Rafael, Bet Merkorios, Bet Amanual, and Bet Abba Libanos.
• Finally, visit the most famous of all the churches - Bet Giyorgis, a huge monolith in the shape of a cross, constructed in honor of St. George, the patron saint of Ethiopia.
• Overnight stay in Lalibela.

• Take a flight to Semera, the capital of the Afar Region, where you will be picked up from the airport by experienced drivers in an excellent 4WD vehicle with AC, accompanied by a team of experienced expert guides.

Overnight in Semera.

• In the morning, you will be picked up from the hotel and begin your journey with an excellent cook team, a local guide, a road leader from the tourism authorities, a police escort, and all camping gear ready for departure.
• Then head directly to Hamedela town in Dallol.
• Visit Lake Assale late in the afternoon to enjoy the sunset.
• Overnight open-air camping with clean beds, mattresses, pillows, clean bedsheets, and plenty of water for hydration - 6 liters per person per day.

• Early in the morning before sunrise, drive to the lunar landscape of the Dallol geothermal site for an amazing wonder seen nowhere else on the planet. A chemical reaction happens right in front of you, face to face with raw nature.
• From that moment on, you will revise your knowledge of colors.
• After this, drive to the salt and mud-formed mountain cave right underneath the Dallol crater.
• Another 10 minutes' drive brings you into a completely different world. Enjoy a picnic breakfast near this cave in a setting full of wonder.
• After the visit, drive to the vast salt plains, Lake Karum for a swim in its cold saltwater pool under the scorching sun, and finally visit the salt miners before returning to Hamedela for some rest. After lunch, continue driving to the active Erta Ale volcano.
• Reach your camping ground at the top of the caldera.
• Walk for 30 minutes to the summit crater lake, currently in its active cycle. Enjoy the wonder happening right in front of you, then walk back to the camping ground.
• Leave for the volcano around 5:30 PM in the late afternoon and walk back after the visit around 8:00 PM.

Overnight open-air camping on flat ground with a suitable mattress, pillow, clean bed sheets, and a quiet environment.

• In the morning, wake up with the sun and, after breakfast, drive to Afdera salt lake town. Have lunch in town.
• Enjoy a glimpse of the salt lake and a walk along the salt farms, then drive back to Semera and take a late afternoon flight back to Addis Ababa.