Atlas Obscura on Slate is a new travel blog. Like us on Facebook, Tumblr, or follow us on Twitter @atlasobscura. In the north of Ethiopia, hours from any populated areas, is a vast expanse of brutal ...

Life exists in extreme environments on Earth, from arid deserts and frozen tundras to thermal, toxic vents in the deepest reaches of the ocean floor. But it can’t exist on every inch of the planet and ...

Living beings, especially microorganisms, have a surprising ability to adapt to the most extreme environments on Earth, but there are still places where they cannot live. European researchers have ...

Few places on the planet look less like Earth than the Danakil Depression, a scorched, sunken stretch of northeastern ...

We haven't talked too much about volcanic activity in Africa lately, but that doesn't mean nothing is happening. I had a couple galleries of images come through my inbox in the last couple weeks that ...

Hydrothermal pool in the Dallol hot springs, Danakil Depression. Barbara Cavalazzi, Geologist - Europlanet expedition 2017 They are both found in the Afar Region of Ethiopia and are part of the East ...

For the first time, scientists have found living microbes in the blistering hot springs of Ethiopia’s Danakil Depression. In a surreal landscape of colours, dominated by luminescent ponds of yellows ...

Cavalazzi admits that birds and small animals cannot survive in the area, because of the toxic gases near the ground that is carbon dioxide rich and poisons wildlife. Humans are not susceptible as ...

We haven't talked too much about volcanic activity in Africa lately, but that doesn't mean nothing is happening. I had a couple galleries of images come through my inbox in the last couple weeks that ...