The Afar, Salt and their Land.

Surreal landscapes of yellow green acid ponds, iron oxide and salt deserts plains, the remote area of Dallol is the heart of the Danakil depression, middle earth of Afar territory. For centuries the Afar are extracting salt bars in the desert plains around Dallol becoming the only supplier of salt in Ethiopia and beyond. Today, the extraction of salt remains a lucrative business. Aware of the significant economic importance, the central government has facilitated alien investment and promised the implementation of programs aimed at bringing ‘development’. Today the`white gold’, is shipped out of the region without returning in any form to the indigenous Afar community.