SALT FROM HELL 

ETHIOPIA 2015 © Massimo Rumi 

If you think your job is tough spare a thought for the men who dig for salt in one of the hottest places on Earth, the so-called 'Gateway to Hell'. The Danakil Depression in northern Ethiopia has been mined for centuries for its salt but it is an unforgiving place to work.This area is up to 300 feet below sea level and acts as a giant cauldron with the heat being intensified by active volcanoes which pockmark the landscape. Temperatures during the day rarely drop below 50 degrees Celsius and frequently hit 60 degrees. So the workers choose to start work before dawn in order to avoid the worst of the midday heat. Digging out the salt is only half the story. It is then loaded onto camels, who are led for three days to the town of Berhale, where the salt is traded to farmers in the Ethiopian highlands and in neighbouring Sudan.