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Situated in the middle of the hot and hellish Afar Depression, Lake Abbe stretches six miles in width and is covered in clusters of massive, steam-blasting limestone chimneys.
Although Lake Abbe is the ultimate destination for Ethiopia's Awash River, its dry landscape absorbs the water, and the area is a vast landscape of salt flats. Besides Mount Dama Ali, a small dormant volcano, the landscape is almost completely level, and the steaming, sulphuric vents lend the region an apocalyptic, and Tatooine-like look.
Some of the vents stretch as high as 150 feet into the air, and make the lake visible from miles around. Despite the hellish climate near Lake Abbe, nomadic Afar shepherds live in the area, along with a surprising population of flamingos.
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Published
January 26, 2012
