Ardoukoba Volcano

In November 1978, the ground between the Ghoubbet's trapped bay and Lake Assal split open and Ardoukoba built itself in a week - a fissure eruption stacking a fresh black cone and pouring lava fields that still look poured yesterday, barely softened by four decades in this rainless place. The site is geology without metaphor: here the Arabian and African plates are separating, the Great Rift running ashore from the sea, and walkers cross gaping fissures, ropy pahoehoe and cinder slopes to the young crater's rim with the turquoise Ghoubbet on one side and Assal's white salt shining below on the other.

The landscape

• The 1978 cone and crater - the young summit's raw cinder rim.
• The fissure fields - open rift cracks striping the lava plain.
• The Ghoubbet narrows - the almost-closed bay the rift is prising open.
• The Assal panorama - the salt lake's white blaze from the heights.

When to go

November to March only for comfort - the black rock doubles the heat of any sun; early morning gives shadowed textures and mercy. It slots naturally into the Lake Assal day from the capital.

Things to know

There is no infrastructure whatsoever: no paths beyond use-trails, no shade, no water, and lava that eats boots and punishes falls - proper footwear, excess water and a guide who knows the approaches are all non-negotiable. The cone is modest in height; the meaning - standing on a plate boundary's newest seam - is the summit.

Nearby

Lake Assal's salt shores, the Ghoubbet's devil's islets and the road back east.