I feel particularly comfortable not only in volcanic regions, but generally in hot and extreme places – cold and freezing, on the other hand, I can’t stand at all. Whereas the ice desert of Antarctica is nevertheless one of the most fascinating places on our planet
However, a scorching heat with temperatures gladly clearly over 40 degrees Celsius is clearly more my feel-good temperature. In addition, seemingly endless salt deserts, sand dunes to the horizon with unique structures up to the extremely dry and yet so colorful Atacama High Desert in Chile.
Besides Death Valley and the Namib Desert, one of my favorite places is the Danakil Desert in northeastern Ethiopia. It is considered one of the most inhospitable regions on earth and resembles, especially around the Dallol volcano, more an extraterrestrial than terrestrial world. Its hydrothermal vents provide unique shapes and colors and conditions in which even the most hardy creatures on earth – extremophile archeans which survive even in very hot, acidic or salt-saturated waters – can no longer exist: Acidic with a pH of practically zero, hot up to 108 degrees Celsius, and at the same time very rich in magnesium.
