An aerial view of camels walking along a road through the salt mines in the Afar Triangle (home to the Danakil Depression) in Ethiopia, one of the hottest places on Earth. About 2,000 camels and 1,000 donkeys pass through every day, transporting salt. Miners work in blistering temperatures that reach up to 140 degrees F. (Joel Santos/Barcroft Images)

It's been called the "Gateway to Hell," and has the distinction of being one of the hottest places on Earth, but the Danakil depression, located in the Afar Triangle in northeastern of Ethiopia, is actually the workplace of around 750 salt miners, who toil daily in the brutal environment, where temperatures can reach up to 140 degrees F.

The salt mines of the Afar Triangle stretch across 38,000 square miles and at their lowest point are more than 300 feet below sea level. The landscape is pitted with active volcanoes, sulphur springs and black lava flows, but it's also where the Afar people have made their living for centuries, by collecting salt ("white gold") from the sun-blasted earth before transporting it by camel to the town of Berahile, where it can be transported to the rest of the country.

The workers start early before sunrise (to avoid the extreme heat) in temperatures that rarely drop below 120 degrees F, crisscrossing on a four-day trek to and from the salt flat where theycut slabs of salt (called "tiles") out of the ground with homemade tools. They use camels and donkeys to transport the heavy tiles of salt (once used as a unit of money), which are sold across Ethiopia, many of them to farmers to , according to Reuters.

Photographer Joel Santos traveled to the area to capture the beauty of this brutal expanse of land and the miners who brave the harsh and inhospitable environment.

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"I felt the urge to tell the story of the salt miners," Santos said. "They work on the hottest place on earth and earn not much more than 100 to 200 Euros (around $113 to $226) per month. The locals live a harsh life, probably one of the toughest there is in the world."

But the miners are not alone in working this inhospitable land known asDanakil depression, specifically the area surrounding Lake Afdera where, almost 100 per cent of salt production in Ethiopia comes from. Approximately 2,000 camels and 1,000 donkeys pass through to transport salt tiles to Berahile about 46 miles away. Camels are preferred, however, because donkeys , according to The Daily Mail.

The work is incredibly exhausting for the miners. "You forget about the sun and the heat," said Kidane Berhe, 45, a camel herder and salt merchant, told Reuters. "I lost a friend once on the salt desert because he was working too much with no protection from the sun. Eventually he just collapsed."

Even with the dangers, thousands still come to the salt flats. But the local Afar people have a strict monopoly over the Danakil depression and guard the salt fiercely—every merchant has to stop at a salt-tax collector’s hut before they leave to pay a fee for each dromedary, mule and donkey in his caravan.

While Santos had to brave the extreme heat to document the workers of the Afar Triangle, he was grateful for the opportunity to capture the "rare beauty" of the harsh land. "While filming it, I learnt a lot," Santos said. "Especially when I had the privilege of meeting special people who live in such a hostile environment. I get the chance to grow as a person and value things differently."

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