In this corner of Ethiopia all the volcanic activity produces hot pots, boiling sulphur water and startlingly colorful pools. Not that a soak in a hot springs is on the agenda; unlike at home serious heat is the norm here and a cool pond would be more welcome. The Danakil is said to be the hottest place on Earth; temperatures regularly reach over 50c – that’s about 122f, if you don’t have Goggle open. November is the “cooler” month; there is a breeze to evaporate sweat, plenty of water to drink, and all in all it is not so uncomfortable for us tourists.

It is in this stifling heat that hominids evolved with a cooling system unique in the animal world and it started with rising up on two legs. Standing up gave us the advantage needed to become the most important mammal species on the planet. We don’t know the details – there’s that pesky 11 million years missing in the fossil record between an arboreal primate and an upright striding hominid – but we do know our cooling system works. Near Danakil in the hellishly hot Harar region Dr. Johanson discovered the famous Lucy fossil, she who stood on her two legs three million+ years ago. Her upright stance kept the sun’s radiation to a minimum and exposed more of her body to the cooling breeze offering her the opportunity to forage in the day’s heat while predators languished in the shade. Subsequent evolutionary adaptations gave us different hair – we have as many hairs as chimpanzee do, but ours are short and fine. They don’t inhibit sweat from reaching the surface where the breeze will cool us. Humans can survive in this cruel landscape but I wouldn’t want to do it naked like Lucy.

In the very early morning light we arrive at the Colorful Place, a fairly recently formed sulphur springs area. Quite small compared to the size of Yellowstone, these pools and yellow/green/orange colored rocks are far more accessible. Or maybe it is just that there is no authority in the area, you are allowed to tramp around and get close. Guards motion people away from known dangers but there are no signs, no barriers and no warnings. Like a lot of Africa, you are responsible for yourself. The morning light is picture perfect and more than one person said “I can’t stop taking photos!” – it is that spectacular. With no preamble the guides lead us to what appears to be another hot pot, bubbles popping up and spreading slowly about the 20ft square pool. But then the guides reach their hands into the pool – how crazy is that! The pool isn’t filled with water, it is full of oil. Magnesium in the rocks mixed with who knows what else has created a pool of warm light oil. It runs nearly clear off our hands; some people fill bottles with it and we rub it on our wind-dried legs. I want to jump in, it is so amazing. I hope we don’t come back here one day and find an expensive spa at this magical pool.

Salt used in laser technologies is mined here using archaic but common techniques. Long camel caravans travel days across the desert carrying blocks of salt carved right from the ground, then they return for more. Salt is mined in likely the most arduous and lowest paying work in the country. Men chop a sizable section from the salt pan using axes then they pry it up using a long beveled pole polished smooth with use.  A special tool is used to break up the big section into the correct size block (about five kilograms); blocks are stacked up to be loaded on the camels and on it goes. The men are whippet-thin, wearing sunglasses and colorful socks to protect from the constant exposure to the element. As we are leaving the breeze became a wind and sand begins to fill the air. The relatively comfortable conditions decline rapidly. We were fortunate to have seen this place so easily but the salt miners will stay through any circumstance and as our guide Haile said, they never complain. The camels do, they bawl and honk and  spit, but as a beast of burden in this unforgiving place they are unsurpassed.