The Great African Rift Valley...

The Great Rift Valley, a staggering 6.400 km in length, runs from Northern Lebanon, through the Sea of Galilee, the Dead Sea and the Red Sea, enters Africa in Djibouti, continues through Ethiopia, splits in an eastern and a western branch and runs south through Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Malawi towards Mozambique. The eastern branch of the rift runs through Kenya and Tanzania, forming Lake Natron and Lake Manyara. The western branch runs from Uganda to Tanzania forming Lake Tanganyika and some smaller llakes in Uganda. Lake Victoria is considered as a rift valley lake although it actually lies between the eastern and western branch. Both branches unite in Lake Malawi and the Rift Valley ends in Mozambique. Salt lakes, volcanos and hot water springs are typical for a rift valley landscape.

The rift valley enters Djibouti at the southernmost part of the Red Sea. The Afar triangle (part of Djibouti, Ethiopia and Eritrea) is the location of the "triple junction" , three tectonic plates, the African (or Nubian) plate, the Somali plate and the Arabian plate. The formation of the Rift Valley continues. The plates drift away from each other by approximately 2,5 cm per year. As a result of the plates drifting away, the earth's crust in the Afar Triangle has reduced from a normal 100 km thickness to a mere 15 km tickness. As a result there is a lot of tectonic activity going on in the Afar Triangle... In 1978, the Ardoukoba volcano in Djibouti erupted and the red sea parted about 1,5 meters as a direct result.

Lake Assal is the deepest point in Africa, 155 meter below sea level. Seawater runs through cracks in the 5 km wide landmass separating Lake Assal from the Sea and flows into Lake Assal. As there is no permanent river feeding Lake Assal the seawater in the lake evaporates forming a 80 m thick salt crust in about one third of the lake.

The water in Lake Assal measures about 380 grams of salt per liter water, making this the saltiest body of water on the planet. Lake Assal is the endpoint of our "Scorpions of the Desert" walking tour and a magical place to spend the last night, directly on the salt crust.

When in a million years the only 5 km wide landmass seperating Lake Asal from the sea breaks as a result of the continuous formation of the rift, the sea will enter Africa in Lake Assal, filling the entire rift and seperating East Africa from the main body of the African continent, just like what happened to Madagascar millions of years ago.

text and pictures: copyright: Bart Coudenys... mail me