The Danakil Depression- The land of Lucy our genetic grandmother

We are all Ethiopian. Lucy was unearthed here, her body 3.2 million years old. I don’t imagine much mixing has happened, relative to the rest of the world, since this time. Here today and for at least 5 or 6 centuries the Afar people have toiled in this arid land eeking out a living.

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The Danakil is in the Northeast corner of Ethiopia and borders former friend, Eritrea. It is up to 500 feet below sea level and reaches temperatures of 140F/60C.

map-danakil2  afar-depr 

Below are some migrant workers brought by the Chinese to work camps for either salt harvest or road building.  Chinese are now considered the “87th tribe” of Ethiopia with numbers near 1 million living there now.DSC01138 She is a buna girl.  Read more about the bun girl here! DSC01147  DSC01162  DSC01157  DSC01154Life is not easy here but everyone seems to find a way or reason to smile.

More about the Danakil soon…

Have you seen the video of the lake of lava where we spent new years?

How about the coffee ceremony?

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