Danakil
(transboundary/brand name in Djibouti, Eritrea)

(most common name):
• Afar
local/other name (Djibouti, Eritrea):
• Adal
• Adali
• Keriyu
• Raya
local/other name (English):
• Dancalian (Djibouti, Eritrea)

The Danakil can be found in the steppe and semi-desert areas of the Afar Region of Ethiopia, along the southern Red Sea coast of southeastern Eritrea, and in northern Djibouti. This area is known as the Danakil Desert and is situated in a larger area known as the Afar Triangle.

The ‘Danakil’ name refers to the Danakil Depression (which is in the Afar Triangle and, by the way, has the hottest year-round average temperatures on Earth).

Mason (Encyclopedia 2016) gives an estimated count of 4,000–5,000 in Ethiopia for 2008.

The Raya Azebó is a larger variety of the Danakil selected for draught.

DAD-IS as of 2021:
• No longer lists the Danakil under Ethiopia, only the Afar (but with no population count).
• Both Eritrea and Djibouti are still relying on a curiously the same 1992 count of 680,590.

This page was last updated on: 2023-08-16

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