Dallol, Ethiopia
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 Dallol
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| Coordinates: 14°14′N 40°18′E / 14.233°N 40.3°ECoordinates: 14°14′N 40°18′E / 14.233°N 40.3°E | |
| Country |  Ethiopia |
| Region | Afar Region |
| Zone | Administrative Zone 2 |
| Elevation | -130 m (-427 ft) |
Dallol (Amharic: ዳሎል) was a settlement in northern Ethiopia. Located in Administrative Zone 2 of the Afar Region in the Afar Depression, it has a latitude and longitude of 14°14′19″N 40°17′38″E / 14.23861°N 40.29389°E with an elevation of about 130 meters below sea level. The Central Statistical Agency has not published an estimate for this settlement's 2005 population; it has been described as a ghost town.
Dallol currently holds the record high average temperature for an inhabited location on Earth, where an average annual temperature of 34°C (94°F) was recorded between the years 1960 and 1966. Dallol is also one of the most remote places on Earth. There are no roads; the only regular transport service is provided by camel caravans which travel to the area to collect salt.
Nearby is the Dallol volcano, which last erupted in 1926.
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[edit] History
A railway from the port of Mersa Fatma in Eritrea to a point 28 km from Dallol was completed in April 1918. Built from 1917-1918, using the 60cm-gauge Decauville system ("Decauville" describes ready-made sections of small-gauge track which can be rapidly assembled) it transported salt from the "Iron Point" rail terminal near Dallol, via Kululli to the port.[1]
[edit] Mining
Potash production is said to have reached about 50,000 metric tons after the railway was constructed. Production was stopped after World War I owing to large-scale supplies from Germany, USA, and USSR. Unsuccessful attempts to reopen production were made in the period 1920-1941. Between the years 1925-29 an Italian company mined 25,000 tons of sylvite, averaging 70% KCl, which was transported by rail to Mersa Fatma.[1] After the Second World War, the British administration dismantled the railway and removed all traces of it.[2]
The Dallol Co. of Asmara sold a few tons of salt from this site to India in 1951-1953. In the 1960s, the Parsons Company of the USA, a mining company, conducted a series of geological surveys at Dallol. By 1965, about 10,000 holes had been drilled at 65 locations.[1]
Dallol became more known in the West in 2004 when it was featured in the Channel 4/National Geographic documentary Going to Extremes. As of 2004[update], some buildings still stand in Dallol, all built with salt blocks.
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c "Local History in Ethiopia", The Nordic Africa Institute website (last accessed 1 May 2008)
- ^ Michela Wrong, I didn't do it for you: How the World betrayed a small African nation (New York: HarperCollins, 2005), pp. 149f
