Volcano Hunting in Djibouti

So, for the next adventure I decided to do something different. We had been to Lake Asaal and Lake Ghoubet many times. Between the two locations is a vast wasteland full of sand, lava flows, gypsum and no shade. While ‘google earthing’ the area I came across a photo of a volcano. So, I spread the word that I wanted to find a volcano and didn’t know exactly where it was. That was enough, because I managed to convince 12 other people to drive for an hour and a half and wander across this wasteland in 100+ degree weather.

The plan was simple; I grabbed a couple GPS coordinates from Google Earth. One point of where to turn off of pavement and another point of the best idea I had for the ‘volcano’. We headed out and made our usual pee break at the Djibouti Grand Canyon. We waited for the third vehicle to catch up and were hassled to buy more geodes and obsidian. The third vehicle showed up and shortly after we were on our way.

After verifying that what I thought was the road was in fact the road (also known as turning around), we drove down and started our journey. I knew we would have to hike anywhere from one to three miles because I did not know the condition of the ‘road’ heading towards our destination. We made it about 300 yards before we decided that the van in our caravan should probably not have left the pavement.

So, we started on foot. To my surprise, a large group started down the road. The only thing they forgot was the person who studied the path on Google Earth and the guy with GPS. So, after grabbing one last bottle of water to compliment the three liters on my back and swapping the GPS batteries, the rest of us started the hike.

Once we got a higher view to compare with the printout I had. I asked Q what his GPS said we should do. We were both in agreement and we decided that taking the road was definitely not the fastest way to our destination. Of course the other group was about ½ a mile down the road at this point so we figured we would show them why it’s a good idea to wait for the guys with the map/GPS.

We headed over a hill and across a gypsum and sand flat. Once across that, our destination was easy to see. Not to our surprise, we arrived at the volcano long before the first group who had stopped and waited for us before finally realizing that we probably went straight there rather than following the winding road.

We toured the rim of the volcano and a few of us climbed to the bottom of the crater. After many photos and some lava scraped hands and knees, one of us had the idea to climb down the volcano and go check out this stuff a mile away. After some uneasy thoughts, everyone followed the lead like good lemmings and down we went.

The only flaw in our plan was not realizing that the 460 foot descent would be followed by a 460 foot ascent. Well…maybe there were several flaws if you add the heat and amount of water carried to it. Down we went and everyone explored some new areas. By this point we were around 230 feet below sea level. Though I do not know what the exact temperature was, we had two readings from 96 to 109F. My internal thermometer read: 'really f'ing hot you idiot!'.

We were finally ready to head back. We had made it about 4 miles to this point. Now all we had to do was hike back. That is where it started to get uncomfortable. The wind was probably blowing about 30 miles in our faces most of the way back. Add that it was 100+F wind full of sand and it was not quite ideal conditions. We made it up to about sea level before the first break. Though shade was nowhere to be found, there were plenty of hot rocks to sit on.

We made a few more stops along the way and ate some Nutter Butters and drank water…Lots of water. We made one last stop finding the only shade in Djibouti before making the final push. We chose the more direct return route and finally made it back to the vehicles. The last obstacle was getting the van out and heading back to CLUville. In the end it was a great trip and it turns out that we probably would have been able to make it a 300 yard hike by driving our Escapes close. But, it was a great way to spend a Sunday in Djibouti and burn a few thousand calories at the same time.