Lake Assal, the Lowest Point in Africa
In Djibouti, a lake lies 155 metres below sea level, ringed with blinding white salt. Its water is saltier than the Dead Sea.
What was reported
Lake Assal, in the centre of Djibouti, lies in a depression about 155 metres below sea level, the lowest point on land in Africa. It's surrounded by black volcanic rock and a vast shelf of white salt.
Its water is about ten times saltier than the sea, saltier than the Dead Sea, and in the intense heat, its shore is crusted with salt formations. Afar people have long carried its salt by camel caravan to Ethiopia.
Explanations offered
The lake lies in a rift where the Earth's crust is being pulled apart. It's fed by seawater seeping underground from the nearby Gulf of Tadjoura, which evaporates in the heat, leaving the salt. Its eerie landscape has been used in films.
- When
- A real place
- Where
- Lake Assal, Djibouti
- Witnesses
- Visitors and Afar salt traders
- Status
- A real place
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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