And you thought your job was tough…

The Danakil depression in Eastern Ethiopia is one of the lowest and hottest points in all of Africa. It’s at -127 meters and is dry, HOT, and salty. For centuries, the locals have mined the hot salt flats and exported blocks of salt to the farmers in the cool, green, Ethiopian highlands.

They still do it as they always have, entirely by hand. The salt blocks are cut out with wedges and axes and then finished with hand chisels. They are loaded onto camel caravans and shipped off to the farmers.

The miners work 8 hours a day, 6 days a week, 10 months a year. Did I mention it was hot?

The camels can survive the ten day round trip without water, but they need fodder. So they wisely bring giant bales of hay down from the highlands and stage half of it along the way, to eat on the return journey.

The 5kg salt blocks sell for 5 Birr (20 cents) in Danikil and 25 Birr ($1) in the highlands. There was an attempt to use trucks to move the salt, but the local leaders in the Danikil blocked it, as they think their community makes more money servicing the camel caravans.

Seeing the miners at work and the camel caravans was extremely striking. This felt like an unexpected glimpse into a very different world.

Camels coming down from the highlands, carrying hay.