A salt lake at the lowest point in Africa
Lac Assal is a saline lake in central Djibouti and the lowest point on land in Africa, around 155 metres below sea level. Its turquoise water is surrounded by dazzling white fields of salt and black volcanic rock, and it is one of the saltiest bodies of water in the world, so floating is effortless. Camel caravans have long carried its salt to Ethiopia. The lake lies in the Afar Triangle, where the earth's crust is pulling apart, and the drive from Djibouti City passes the Ghoubbet al-Kharab bay.