Clearly visible from space to the first astronauts who walked on the moon, the rift valley forms one of Ethiopians most remarkable sights and among these places the Danakil (or Dallol) depression, which shares the Eritrean border to the east of the Tigrian highlands, is officially listed as the hottest place on earth with an average temperature of 34-35 oC. Much of this vast and practically unpopulated region lies below sea level, dipping upto-116m at Dallol, near lake Asale, the lowest spot on the African continent.

One of the driest and most tectonically active areas on the planet the Danakil is an area of singular geological fascination strange lunar landscape studded with active volcanoes malodorous sulphur -caked hot springs solid field black lava flows, lava lake (Ertale) and vast salt encrusted basins.

The Danakil is effectively a southerly extension of the rifting process that formed the Red sea, set at the juncture of the African, Arabian and Somali tectonic plates and its low lying surface was once fully submerged by saline water.