Hell’s pretty at this time of year

I just came across this photo in National Geographic‘s site. Actually this is just a detail — do visit their site for the full monty, and for a wallpaper-sized version.

It’s captioned, “Sulfur, salt, and other minerals color the crater of Ethiopia’s Dallol volcano.”

Now I hadn’t heard of volcanos in Ethiopia, which just goes to show that adopting a child from a country doesn’t make you any kind of expert. And a ten day visit to a small region of that country isn’t the same as really knowing it.

Dallol, I discovered, is in Afar, which is in the extreme north. It’s not a safe place to visit, as far as I’m aware, because of border disputes.

It’s also hellish hot. According to Wikipedia, “Dallol currently holds the record high average temperature for an inhabited location on Earth, where an average annual temperature of 34°C (94°F) was recorded between the years 1960 and 1966.”

I read that and couldn’t believe my eyes. An average temperature of 94°F for an entire year! In fact that was the average temperature for six years running! And the area that includes the volcano is presumably even hotter!

Still, the formations are very beautiful. It kind of out-Yellowstones Yellowstone.

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