▲The Danakil Depression in Ethiopia is an alien sight to see, but experiencing it is another story. The lowest point in Africa, the Danakil is widely regarded as the hottest place on the planet, as its annual average temperature exceeds every other place on earth.

The area, where three tectonic plates join, is home to an active volcano as well as the Afar people, generations of whom have hauled blocks of salt—a form of currency—along harsh camel caravan routes from the depression back to their towns. But what does that actually look like, beyond the tourist photos and under the beating heat of the sun? Click through to find out.

▲It may look like another planet, but the Danakil Desert is in Ethiopia, with parts in Eritrea and Djibouti.

▲It's one of the hottest and most inhospitable places in the world, with volcanoes, lava lakes, deadly hot springs, and geysers blowing steaming hot water out of the ground.

▲The sun scorches the earth, sometimes at over 60°C (140°F), as the dry air sucks the moisture from your lips.

▲Though it may seem like an impossible place to live, it is inhabited by people who mine the landscape for its abundant salt.

▲The harsh environment has an average annual temperature of 34.4°C (94°F).

▲Reaching 410 ft (125 m) below sea level, it's one of the lowest places on the planet as well, and it only receives 100 to 200 mm of rainfall per year.

▲Its dazzling multicolored hydrothermal fields are a result of a combination of mud, iron, halophile algae, and, most importantly, salt.

▲For centuries, merchants have traveled into the depression with caravans of camels to collect salt from the surface of the vast desert basin.

▲Caravans set out into the Danakil Depression to find salt, extract it, pack it, and bring it back to town.

▲Caravans of camels are taken out to the salt pan.

▲Berahile, in Afar, is one of many towns in Ethiopia whose economy revolves around the salt trade. Camel caravans spend the night in the center before the next day's journey.

▲Salt merchants and their pack animals rest in a canyon, preparing for their journey into the harsh environment.

▲Residents of the area have adapted to the weather, so they need less food and water than most other people, the BBC reports.

▲At dawn, in the relatively cooler hours, the caravan starts its journey.

▲Many generations have walked their camels through the Danakil Depression in search of salt.

▲Workers cut and pack as much salt as they can before starting their two-day journey back.

▲And in an unforgiving heat.

▲The more they extract and bring back, the more money they'll make, and the later they'll have to make another trip out.

▲The slabs of salt are beautiful, but surely they seem a bit less beautiful if you're the one hauling them home.

▲The slabs of salt extracted give a distinct geometry to the organic earth.

▲The camels get a chance to relax while the men extract the salt.

▲Camels are loaded up with salt and sent on their way.

▲The caravan takes two days to arrive at the town of Berahile, where it will unload and sell the product.

▲People are shaking salt onto their food without blinking an eye.

▲Pictured is Abdu Ibrahim Mohammed, a retired salt merchant, who worked as a salt merchant for 25 years before passing the business onto his children.

▲Workers tirelessly unload slabs of salt from camels back at the town of Berahile.

▲Slabs of salt are seen stacked in the Berahile Salt Association warehouse in Berahile.

▲Merchants get their pay from salt associations.

▲Workers then prepare bars of salt to be sold in the market in the city of Mekele.

▲

To a handy single bar you can buy at a shop in town.

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TRAVEL Curiosity

The Danakil Depression in Ethiopia is an alien sight to see, but experiencing it is another story. The lowest point in Africa, the Danakil is widely regarded as the hottest place on the planet, as its annual average temperature exceeds every other place on earth.

The area, where three tectonic plates join, is home to an active volcano as well as the Afar people, generations of whom have hauled blocks of salt—a form of currency—along harsh camel caravan routes from the depression back to their towns. But what does that actually look like, beyond the tourist photos and under the beating heat of the sun? Click through to find out.