Djibouti

Djibouti City — the capital and only city of Djibouti (a tiny country of 23,000km² at the mouth of the Red Sea, population 1 million, 90% urban — the most strategically important port location in Africa, commanding the Bab-el-Mandeb strait through which 20% of all global trade passes) with the Central Market (the finest frankincense, qat and spice market in the Horn of Africa) and the French Quarter (the colonial legacy of French Somaliland — administered by France 1896–1977).

💡 Djibouti hosts the largest concentration of foreign military bases of any country in the world — France (the former colonial power, with 1,500 troops), the USA (Camp Lemonnier — the largest US military base in Africa, with 4,000 troops), China (the People’s Liberation Army’s only overseas base, established 2017), Japan, Italy and Germany all maintain military presences. This is a direct result of Djibouti’s position commanding the Bab-el-Mandeb strait — the narrow passage through which oil tankers, container ships and naval vessels transit between the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.

Lake Assal (155m below sea level — the lowest point in Africa and the third-lowest on earth after the Dead Sea and Lake Tiberias, a salt lake in the Afar Triangle with 10x the salinity of the ocean — the salt crystallises on the shoreline in white formations and the water is an extraordinary blue-green against the barren black lava fields of the Afar volcano zone, the most otherworldly landscape in the Horn of Africa).

💡 Lake Assal (155m below sea level, 10x saltier than the ocean — salt concentration of 34.8%) is the saltiest body of water in the world accessible to visitors, and the lowest point in Africa. The lake is fed entirely by underground seepage from the Gulf of Tadjoura; the water evaporates in the extreme heat, concentrating the salt. The surrounding landscape of black basalt lava from recent eruptions is the visible surface of the Afar Triple Junction — where three tectonic plates are pulling apart simultaneously, the place where a new ocean is forming.

The Whale Shark snorkelling of the Gulf of Tadjoura (November to February — the highest density of whale sharks in any enclosed sea in the world, feeding on fish spawn in the shallower western end of the gulf, approached by boat in groups of 3–5 swimmers at a time — interactions of 30–90 minutes with whale sharks 6–12m long in 5–20m of clear water) — the finest whale shark encounter accessible to snorkellers anywhere on earth.

💡 The Gulf of Tadjoura whale shark aggregation (November–February) is the largest and most accessible whale shark gathering in the Indian Ocean region — the combination of deep cold upwelling water from the Red Sea meeting the warm shallow gulf creates conditions ideal for fish spawning, which attracts whale sharks in numbers exceeding 50 individuals in a small area. The interaction is conducted by snorkelling (not scuba) to minimise disturbance.

Day Forest National Park (the last remnant of the ancient juniper forest that once covered the Goda Mountains — a highland green oasis at 1,000m above the desert, dramatically cooler than the coast, with the Djibouti spurfowl (Pternistis ochropectus — one of the world’s rarest birds, with fewer than 3,500 individuals, endemic to this single forest) and the wild olive trees) and the Goda Mountains plateau.

💡 The Djibouti spurfowl (Pternistis ochropectus) is one of the rarest birds in the world — fewer than 3,500 individuals survive, all in the Day Forest. The species was only described scientifically in 1952 and has never been kept in captivity. The Day Forest (originally 15,000 hectares, reduced to approximately 400 hectares by charcoal cutting and overgrazing) is the only habitat; the species will become extinct if the forest is destroyed.

Lake Abbé (a large salt lake on the Ethiopian border at 240m altitude — surrounded by a field of limestone chimneys up to 50m high, formed by hot spring venting through the lake bed, with steam rising from the vents at dawn — the location used as the alien landscape in the original Planet of the Apes (1968) — flamingo colonies on the lake shore and hot springs accessible by foot at low tide).

💡 Lake Abbé’s limestone chimneys (formed by hot spring venting through the saline lake bottom, depositing calcium carbonate in conical structures up to 50m high, still actively steaming) provided the landscape for the final scenes of the original Planet of the Apes (1968) — director Franklin J. Schaffner chose it for its genuinely alien character. The lake and chimneys look like no other landscape on earth; the combination of steam, pink flamingos and the lunar basalt shore is extraordinary.

The Gulf of Tadjoura (an 80km-long arm of the Indian Ocean opening into the Red Sea, with walls dropping to 200m and resident populations of spinner dolphins, bottlenose dolphins and hammerhead sharks — the finest diving in the Horn of Africa, with excellent visibility (30m+) and the coral gardens of the Maskali Islands Marine Reserve) and the town of Tadjoura (the oldest town in Djibouti, with 11th-century mosques and the finest traditional architecture in the country).

💡 Tadjoura (the oldest continuously inhabited settlement in Djibouti, with mosques dating from the 11th century and a history as the main terminus of the slave trade routes from the Ethiopian interior to the Arabian Peninsula) is the most historically significant town in Djibouti outside the capital. Its architecture — whitewashed coral-stone buildings with carved wooden screens — is closer to Zanzibar or Lamu than to any other Horn of Africa town.

Arta Beach (the finest beach in Djibouti, 45km from the capital on the Gulf of Tadjoura — a sheltered bay of white sand with calm, warm water, the offshore reef accessible by snorkel, and the Arta Marine Reserve protecting the coral garden) and a final plate of lamb maraq (the slow-cooked spiced broth that is the national dish of Djibouti — lamb on the bone simmered with Somali spices, cardamom, coriander and dried lemon, served in a communal clay pot with flatbread). Fly from Djibouti (JIB).

💡 Maraq (a Somali and Djiboutian slow-cooked spiced broth with lamb or goat — the lamb simmered for 3–4 hours in a clay pot with coriander, cumin, cardamom, black pepper and dried limes until the meat falls from the bone, the broth enriched with the marrow — served in a communal pot with canjeero (injera-like flatbread) for dipping) is the national dish of Djibouti and the most celebrated food of the Horn of Africa coast.