Travel Post By Indira: Cool parts of northern east Africa

My African Days - by Indira Palasubramaniam

An animal market in Mekele

It would be perfect, if I say “Cold parts” rather than cool parts of Africa. In my thoughts, the complete Africa’s weather was very hot until I decided to visit Ethiopia. I was surprised to see in my Google surveys which I did prior to my journey, that the temperatures are in between 25◦C (day) and 15◦C (night) throughout the year, except lowlands. Upon my arrival here in Ethiopia, I find it is cooler than I thought. I always needed a thin jacket or sweater for day out, additionally a cap (to cover the ears), scarf or shawl for nighttime’s cold wind and a blanket for bedtimes to face the cold.

Ethiopia is a mountainous country. Most of the lands are elevated between 1,000m and 4,000m above sea level. Thus temperature drops less than 15◦C in the highlands at nighttimes. There are about 25 mountains’ peaks reach above 4,000 meters high. Sometimes snowfalls occur in the Simien and Bale mountains, particularly on the mountain Ras Dezhen (4,620m), which has the highest point of Ethiopia.

The elevations provide this cool weather in most of the country, even though the Equator runs through the neighboring countries Somalia (in the east) and Kenya (in the south). The northern lowland is the hottest part of Ethiopia, which is known as Denakil Depression or Denakil Desert. This is 125m below sea level, and the temperature may rise from 33◦C to 50◦C. The Denakil Depression is also known for sparkling volcanoes, one with permanent lava lakes. Beside northern lowland, the temperature may increase in eastern, southern and western lowlands in dry seasons. Normally, the dry season is October – May, and the wet season is June – September.

Ethiopia’s north bordering country Eritrea also has this comparable cool climate influenced by elevation, except east and west lowlands. Ethiopia and Eritrea are situated in northeast Africa and known as Horn of African countries. Return to my position, currently I’m at Mekele city which is in the north and elevated above 2,200m. I witnessed 8◦C in a morning of January. In the month of February now, the temperature increases between 18◦C and 26◦C at daytimes, and drops between 10◦C and 14◦C at nighttimes. I can comfortably discover the African culture and environment with this cool weather.

Some of my Ethiopia photographs on Instagram: