Lake · Djibouti, Ethiopia
Lake Abbe
Lake Abbe is a salt lake on the border between Djibouti and Ethiopia. Along its shores stand hundreds of limestone chimneys, some of them 50 metres tall, and steam puffs out of them.
Picture credit: Rolf Cosar (CC BY 3.0) · Cjulien21 (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Lake Abbe?
Countries on its shores: Djibouti, Ethiopia.
Largest lake of: Djibouti.
Middle of the lake: 11.17° N, 41.78° E
The story behind it
Lake Abbe lies in the middle of the Afar Depression, a place where three of the giant plates that make up the Earth's crust meet. The Awash River flows into the lake, but no river flows out. The water can only escape into the air, and the minerals stay behind, so the lake is very salty. The most amazing sight is the limestone chimneys on the shore. They form where hot water from deep underground mixes with the lake water, and some are up to 50 metres high, with steam puffing out of them. Flamingos wade in the lake, and Afar nomads let their camels, goats and sheep graze nearby. The lake has been shrinking: by 1984 it was only about two-thirds as big as in 1940. About a third of the lake, some 110 km², lies in Djibouti. That part alone is about twice as big as Lake Assal, so Lake Abbe is the largest lake in Djibouti.
Find it on the globe
Lake Abbe is there as a small blue dot with its name, right on the water. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.
It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.
Questions children ask
How big is Lake Abbe?
Lake Abbe covers about 320 km², though some sources say 340 km². Its size changes, and in the past the lake has shrunk a lot.
How did the chimneys at Lake Abbe form?
Hot water rises from deep underground and mixes with the lake water. Limestone settles out and slowly builds tall chimneys, some up to 50 metres high.
Is Lake Abbe the largest lake in Djibouti?
Yes. The part of the lake in Djibouti, about 110 km², is about twice as big as Lake Assal, which covers about 54 km².
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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