THE HOTTEST PLACE IN THE EARTH

The Danakil Depression in Ethiopia is a truly challenging place to visit. 

Puddles of lime green water lie amidst an orange and rust colored crust riddled with strange mounds of pale blue salt. It's a palette of different hues that might almost suggest paradise, and yet the sun beats down relentlessly on the blistered earth, while the pooled liquid's beauty belies its extreme acidity. In a flash, notions of serenity evaporate in the face of nature's conditions at their harshest and most unforgiving.

The Danakil Depression in Ethiopia is a truly challenging place to visit. The terrain is difficult, much of it looking as if it belongs to some distant, inhospitable planet. The temperature is oppressive too: an average of 34°C (94°F) year round makes this the hottest place on Earth. And the heat doesn't only come from above.

Danakil is a bubbling cauldron of volcanic magma and springs rich in mineral salts. Yet it's not only the searing heat that makes this place unique: it also boasts one of the most bizarrely beautiful active volcanoes in the region, Dallol. At 120 meters (395 feet) below sea level, Dallol is the lowest-lying land volcano in the world.

The area has also spent significant periods of its past submerged under water. This last happened some 30,000 years ago when volcanic activity to the north created a natural wall, keeping out the Red Sea, which up until then had been periodically flooding the depression.

The hydrothermal field (as it is technically known) of Dallol is a pretty salty place. In places the salt deposits reach a depth of over a kilometer!

Some of the salt is the residue of the ancient seas that once flooded the depression, only to evaporate, leaving behind mineral deposits of sodium, calcium, magnesium, potassium, and a substance which was once heavily mined here: potash. In fact, this is one of the rare places on Earth where potash can be harvested above ground.

Newer deposits of salt and potash come from heated groundwater pushed up to the surface where it dries, often in beautiful and surreal patterns.

The water in these springs is not only hot but also highly acidic, as their fluorescent green color suggests. Definitely not the kind of hot springs you'd want to ease into for a relaxing soak — or even step in accidentally..

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