ERITREA
Jalua To AfderaSeven miles south of the dormant Jalua Volcano, lying near the Zula Gulf in northern Eritrea (air-ah-Tree-ah), lies an ancient volcanic field. Shattered rocks and chaotic twisted shapes have created a grotesque menagerie suspended in a timeless sea of tortured lava rock. It is here in this wild and desolate landscape that one very clear, unmistakable image emerges…that of a beautiful, clear-eyed, white-feathered Ostrich with his keeper who stands behind him. The Ostrich measures 4,750 ft (1463 m) in size and reveals vividly detailed feathers created from sand and stony volcanic rock.
Ostrich are often referred to as Camel Bird’s, due to their ability to go without water for long periods of time and tolerate the high desert temperatures. They are also a valuable source of milk and meat and are prized for their beautiful feathered-plumes.
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45 miles south of the Ostrich, lies the 65 mile long, dark profile of a priest facing to the left, surrounded by the sandy-colored Danakil and Dallol Depressions. His tall hat is actually the famous rectangular Salt Lake of Assal, known as one of the Natural Wonders of Africa, at more than 509 ft (155.143 m) below sea level.
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The Danakil Depression, and the Dallol Hydrothermal Field are 52,000 square miles in size (83,685 km). The Dallol is considered the most grueling and desolate of places on earth, at 300 feet below sea level, with salt lakes and plains having temperatures as high as 145 degrees. It is home to the countries ancient salt flats, and said to be tens of thousands of years old and formed by evaporation of an inland sea.
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Local miners work cutting large blocks of salt in the deadly heat, each weighing close to 18 lbs (8 kg), Their camels are loaded down with the blocks and walk for days to reach the markets. At one time, salt was called “white gold” and was used as currency. Today, cutting large bricks of salt pays a paltry 20 cents per 17.63 lb (8 kg) brick.
If you wonder how people could live in a place such as this, it is the salt! “Muslim Afar and Christian Tigrayans gather to work daily, ten months out of the year to mine the salt and ferry it by camel, mule, and donkey to markets in Ethiopia's mountains and beyond into Sudan.” Salt merchants would fight anyone who would try to take their way of life away, “Its our corn, our gold.” -ngm.nationalgeographic.com
In the center of the priest’s head lies a prominent and unusual strato-volcano, that of Gada Ale, whose crater is filled with boiling mud. 27 miles (43.45 m) further south, in the “lower belly of the priest’s body” lies the Great Depression of Erta Ale, known to have had, in 1861, the largest historical eruption in African History.
“Hidden in the middle of Danakil Depression, Afar Region of Ethiopia – the Hottest Place in the World – stands volcano Erta Ale at 2,015 feet (614 m) high. What makes this volcano so extremely rare is the Lava Lake is hidden in the center of the volcano caldera. Volcanoes with lava lakes are very rare: there are only six of them in the whole world. Erta Ale is the one that has been permanently active during last 100 years. Erta Ale sits in Danakil Depression which is part of East African Rift Scar in Earth’s crust…that is slowly tearing Africa apart.”
- JerriVonDrak
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A priest stands above two lovers that lie below in this 100 mile long landscape. Perhaps this is a marriage ceremony, one large enough to be visible 300 miles above the earth. The couples torso’s measure 77 miles (123.91 km) in length. She is on the left and He the right. They lie so close that they seem to share the same breath. Resting between their foreheads is the vast green salt lake of Afrera, a hypersaline lake in the Danakil Depression.
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Just 47 miles east of the lovers, on the coast of the Red Sea is the strato-volcano of Dubbi. It holds at least 19 craters with the largest at 327 feet (99.6m). It is located in the Danakil Alps, a large volcanic chain rising 5331 feet (1625 m) above the western shore of the Red Sea. In this landscape scene, the great flows from the Dubbi Volcano have given birth to a beautiful flowing sculpture resembling a reclining feminine-like body, 4576 ft (1394 m) in length.
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- Ostrich image; Google earth
- white_ostrich.jpg; bigstockphoto-182836012
- ostrich_feather.jpg; bigstockphoto- 29484182 by dmitriyGo
- Priest/Erta Ale/Afrera Lake; Google earth
- Gada Ale in priest’s head; Lake Afrera
- lake assal.jpg; bigstockphoto-159291158
- volcano_dallol_danakil.jpg; bigstockphoto-160654370 by GenadijsZ; Dallol of Danakil Desert dallol depression:
- salt_blocks: bigstockphoto-159022622
- Erta Ale Cauldron: File:Erta Ale 491.jpg; own work-Rolf Cosar; lavasee inder Calde des Erta Ala
- erta_ale.jpg: bigstockphoto-156804365
- Priest and Erta Ale placement-Google earth Historical Imagery file -12/1994
- Dubbi Volcano sculpture; Google earth Historical Imagery 12/1994 of the reclining one