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Adventures with Kinglsey Holgate - Afrika Outside Edge 10

Adventures with Kinglsey Holgate - Afrika Outside Edge 10

Author: Kinglsey Holgate
Date: 2017-06-23

The dangerous dash across the Nubian Desert is behind us now, so are most of the North African countries. Only Ross has visited Eritrea before so he has been entertaining us with stories of ice-cold beer, music and Italian food. Asmara, free and friendly, will make a change from the suspicion and bureaucracy we've had leveled at us of late.

It's not too easy to travel in this lamb-chop-shaped country repeatedly at odds with his neighbour and sworn enemy Ethiopia. Danakil to the southeast, known as one of the hottest and most inhospitable places on earth, is a narrow strip of volcanic desert running about 50 km along the outside edge. Its inhabitants are the legendary Afar people, considered to be one of the fiercest tribes on earth. For me, getting to Eritrea, is a dream come true.

The people are lovely and everybody is friendly but please, we must understand, we can't go anywhere without government travel permits, and they have to be checked out by military security. We're told again few foreigners visit the country these days, let alone try to follow the Danakil coast, because of the war and the closed borders with their archenemy Ethiopia. We need to be patient.

The Zen of Travel is with us again. Our travel permit is handed over; we Land Rover down to the port of Massawa. There's hardly a building that hasn't been damaged by bombs or grenades, virtually destroyed by Ethiopian bombing raids in 1990. Visible out to sea across the Massawa Channel are some of the islands of the Dahlak Archipelago. 'A fisherman's and diver's paradise,' says Ross over the radio, 'we launched the Cape to Cairo ducks and went out there in '94 - it was incredible.'

We go from roadblock-to-roadblock - it's all polite and friendly, but without our precious travel permit from the military in Asmara we wouldn't have made 10 kilometres.

Back on the outside edge the immense feeling of freedom is wonderful. Wild, mountainous and windswept, with occasional villages and camels, this is the famed Danakil. We camp where we end up on the dramatic mountainous Red Sea coastline of Danakil, It's hard to believe this is the same Red Sea that's been overtaken by tourists and hotels in Egypt. Here it is wild and totally unspoilt, kept pristine by war. Will keep you posted.