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Lake Assal
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Author:  Cyrus Rex [ Thu Mar 27, 2008 3:40 pm ]
Post subject:  Lake Assal
Tonight several of us loaded up our trucks with food and water. We are heading to Lake Assal early tomorrow morning. We are told it is a 1hour 45 minute drive.

Lake Assal is 500ft below sea level, the lowest point in Africa. It is an aquatic wilderness surrounded by dormant volcanoes and black lava fields. There are no rivers flowing out of the lake, it is ten times saltier than the ocean, 34.8 percent more salt than the Dead Sea, it is the most saline body of water in the world. Lake Assal sits at the top of the Great Rift Valley in the Danakil Desert where summer temperatures reach 152°f. To the right of the lake is a glistening white plain which was once part of the lake floor. The lake has now evaporated to leave a vast expanse of salt.

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I will post pics when I get back
Author:  Rocklar [ Thu Mar 27, 2008 4:12 pm ]
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Sounds like an awesome trip - looking forward to hearing more and seeing pics!
Author:  Arindel [ Thu Mar 27, 2008 4:20 pm ]
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Just bring your glasses, dip at the bottom of the evaporated lake, add margaritas and enjoy :)

In all seriousness, that sounds pretty cool, but I'd just bring lots of water, gatorade, and plenty of refelctive/white clothing. 152 degrees, that sounds really dangerous...take care of yourself.
Author:  Xenus [ Fri Mar 28, 2008 4:45 am ]
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i think with that much salt, you could trow a brick in there and it will float

i dont think you will have a brick nearby to try it though, its a bad idea to carry bricks with that heat
Author:  Angelus [ Fri Mar 28, 2008 10:23 am ]
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Take care Cy. Look forward to the pics when you get back. Very cool.
Author:  Tetran [ Fri Mar 28, 2008 2:07 pm ]
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Wow, looks neat! I'm a little jealous you get to go. All that place is missing is a quest hub!

Cant wait to see the pics
Author:  Cyrus Rex [ Sat Mar 29, 2008 9:57 am ]
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We had an awesome time. I’ll defiantly go back before leaving Djibouti.

The trip started well, Jason and I had planned and packed everything the night before. For the locals we packed 10 cases of bottled water, 1 shopping bag full of M&Ms, 1 shopping bag full of Oreos, 1 shopping bag full of chips, 1 shopping bag full of assorted cookies and candies. For ourselves we packed supplies to last a few days incase we ran into trouble. We had numerous sandwiches, huge ice chest full of water and Gatorade, first aid kits, military radios, and many other provisions for an unplanned few days stay.

We were attacked just on the outskirts of town, passing through the Somali refugee camp area called Somali-land. Youths, late teens early twenties launched stones at our vehicles. They all missed the lead truck, only one stone scored a hit on the second truck, putting a fair sized dent in the front passenger door. We were out of the area minutes after the attack, the lead truck did not even know it had happened until we radioed it in to them. I think the locals did not have time to get ready for the lead, but they were cocked and ready to fire at our second truck.

The ride up was wild, so much made me feel like I was in a game. We saw dust devils that went all the way up to the clouds, like tornados. There was easily ten or twelve of them in different stages of development filling our field of view. Later we passed through wastelands of volcanic rock for as far as the eye could see. Then when we got to lake Assal it reminded me of the shimmering flats in WoW. We even found some monkeys outside a soccer field and took pics feeding them.

I took over 500 pics, the guys with the other two cameras shot less than 100 each. I will sort through the pics and upload the best ones. It will take a while to upload these pics… I will post them asap.
Author:  Cyrus Rex [ Sat Mar 29, 2008 11:01 am ]
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Here is a teaser:

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Author:  X2-PB [ Sat Mar 29, 2008 4:11 pm ]
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First, what's Oreos? Don't think we have them here.

Second, who's who in the pics?
Author:  Azzameen85 [ Sat Mar 29, 2008 4:28 pm ]
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A form of a cookie... 8)
Author:  Cordalis [ Sat Mar 29, 2008 4:33 pm ]
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Amazing pics! It really does look quite alien there...like from those Mars sci-fi movies...

X2-PB wrote:
First, what's Oreos?


You don't have OREO's?! They are cookies, and you I can't believe you don't have em. You gotta go get some...
Author:  Angelus [ Sun Mar 30, 2008 11:21 am ]
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Get the mint or the peanut butter Oreo's. They are my favs.
Author:  Talon1977 [ Sun Mar 30, 2008 1:56 pm ]
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Cordalis wrote:
Amazing pics! It really does look quite alien there...like from those Mars sci-fi movies...

X2-PB wrote:
First, what's Oreos?


You don't have OREO's?! They are cookies, and you I can't believe you don't have em. You gotta go get some...


Translation for Chris: They're chocolate flavored biscuits. Two of them sandwiched together with a thin layer of vanilla cream in between.
Author:  X2-PB [ Sun Mar 30, 2008 3:46 pm ]
Post subject: 
Talon1977 wrote:
Translation for Chris: They're chocolate flavored biscuits. Two of them sandwiched together with a thin layer of vanilla cream in between.
I know that Cookies = Biscuits!
Author:  Cyrus Rex [ Sun May 18, 2008 10:28 am ]
Post subject: 
Man this is long overdo. Here are a hand full of pics with captions. I will get the rest up sometime later.

Here is Wakely feeding the monkeys. We stumbled on these guys by accident. As we were driving thru Somaliland youths with rocks attached our trucks. My truck was hit hard, several minutes our truck started making weird sounds, so we radioed to the lead truck to pull over at an upcoming soccer field with a camel on it. The camel ran, we checked out the truck, then soccer field valley. In the distance we spotted these monkeys.
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Here is another pic of the monkeys. This guy was the alpha male, he made a lot of noise and hogged all the food. We started feeding from the monkeys from two locations far apart just to give the other monkeys a chance at the food. At first this guy ran back and forth between feeding spots, but then he realized he was loosing out so he staked out one feeding spot.
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We took many pics of the monkeys. Here is another pic of the Alpha male
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As we drove towards Lake Assal we passed miles and miles of old lava fields.
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The salt flat was huge and flat. It was so strange to me. It seemed to go on forever. This is a pic of Bill Kadlec, our electrical engineer, walking off into the distance. Many of us claim this as our favorite pic because bill is such a loner, and this pic captures his personality.
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Here Jason is following Bill.
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This is what The ground looks like. It is all salt crystals
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More of the ground
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More of the ground
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Us posing at the salt flat waters edge.
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Some locals trying to sell crystals. I have some good pics of crystals that I will post next time.
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This is a shot looking back towards the truck. Right to left is Jason Edwards our Superintendent, next in the background is Mark Anderson from New Zealand our Construction manager, then on the right is Wakely Westcott our Project Accountant.
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We climbed up a plateau of sharp broken crystal fragments. From a distance it looked small, but once we got on top it was much bigger. Here is a pic of Jason on the far end of the plateau. The wind was so strong it was blowing us over.
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Back on the beach, there are large clusters of salt crystals.
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Everyone like this series of pics. The water back here was very rough. The wind is blowing like crazy. Jason swam out a ways and took this pic of me against the rock formation, and the volcano in the background,
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I thought this place was a canyon like the Grand Canyon in the States. However it is really a volcano. This camera is great, but it does not convey the depth of field. This place was scary.
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Coming back to town we came up behind a truck load of camles. I thought you guys would like this pic.
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This is us taking a photo break at the first pit stop. Starting on the left is Mark Anderson the construction manager, Me, Bill Sheedy the program manager, Jason Edwards the superintendent, and Bill Kadlec the electrical engineer.
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I have several more pics to post later.
Author:  Talon1977 [ Sun May 18, 2008 6:06 pm ]
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:shock: Wow. That canyon shot looks like the Jundland Wastes.
Author:  slugeater [ Tue May 20, 2008 7:06 am ]
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I was about to make the same comment, I definitely agree. :)
Author:  Cyrus Rex [ Fri May 30, 2008 12:17 pm ]
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Here are some more pics form my Lake Assal Trip:

The locals have many tables set up do display and sell crystals which grow around Lake Assal. They don’t take no for an answer.
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We followed a small canyon deep into the mountains. Soon we discovered it was all coming from a hot spring The water was very hot, close to boiling.
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I’m not sure if you can see it in this pic, but the water is seeping out of the rocks in this picture. The say the water from the Red Sea works its way through the mountains and comes out here.
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In a pic earlier I mentioned us climbing a plateau. Here is us approaching the plateau. The salt crust was weak in the area, with mud underneath.
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Jason on the edge of the plateau. The wind is very strong, blowing us over.
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Jason on the edge of the plateau from a different angle.
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Wakely and Jason wash their hands is a pool in the middle of a salt flat.
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As we approach the beach we see an island.
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Salt crystals on the beach.
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Another pic of the salt crystals on the beach.
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Another pic of me against the rock formation.
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This is what the salt I am standing on looks like.
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A local took a picture of our whole group.
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Back on the salt flat the guys took this pic. Looks like a truck commercial.
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Another truck commercial looking shot. I like this one because it attempts to show how vast the salt flat is. Those dots in the background are us at the waters edge.
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Here are some more pics of the Monkeys we discovered at the beginning of the trip. Wakely is feeding one. Can you see the baby clinging to her chest?
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Here is a close of the baby clinging to her chest.
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Another pic of the group at the volcanic canyon.
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Author:  Ravage [ Fri May 30, 2008 1:03 pm ]
Post subject: 
awesome pics cy, thanks.
Author:  Romsuiag [ Tue Jun 03, 2008 4:15 am ]
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Wow. Unbelievable stuff. Thanks for sharing.
Author:  Deak Almar [ Mon Jun 09, 2008 7:25 pm ]
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Really amazing!
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