Lake Afrera

Lake Afrera, which is accessible by a long drive over the Danakil Depression, is also known as Lake Giulietti after the Italian explorer Giuseppe Maria Guillietti, who was slain on the lake's shores by a native tribe. The lake's surface size exceeds 100 kilometers, making it one of the larger lakes in the Afar region.

The super saline lake, one of the two major salt lakes in the Danakil Depression, arose during a period of severe seismic activity that caused depression. The indentation gradually filled with water as the succession of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions subsided, forming the lake that you see today.

The lake has helped fuel the local economy throughout the years, becoming one of the world's largest salt mines in the process. Despite years of continuous cultivation, some estimates suggest that there is still more than 290 million tons of salt here, and gigantic white rocks made up of salt deposits develop up on the lake's shoreline.

Lake Afrera, unlike many of the other lakes in the Danakil Depression, allows tourists to swim. Because of the lake's high salt content, anyone who enters floats weightlessly. A freshwater hot spring - a natural jacuzzi - sits adjacent to the lake, providing a nice reprieve after the long journey over the desert.