Blogs from Djibouti, Africa

Djibouti is extraordinary in several ways; it is a country that is virtually unheard of (so in that way it’s a perfect destination) and if people have heard of it, they remember it as a mnemonic for an ample backside. It is also remarkably dry compared to its western neighbor from which we arrived, so much so that I asked if the trees become any greener during the rainy season (which for Ethiopia runs from late spring to early autumn). Our guide looked at me matter-of-factly, but replied incredulously that this was the rainy season. To describe Djibouti’s geography as scrubland would be as generous as the country is dry. Surely, it is a sun soaked and rain starved country. The third, and most extraordinary fact about Djibouti is that it is expensive in the extreme. ... read more

It was almost a year ago that I read that you could snorkel with Whale Sharks in Djibouti. At the time it seemed like a distant pipe dream, and was actually soon forgotten as I travelled through the deserts of Sudan and mountains of Ethiopia. But then, one day in Addis, when I'd heard from some other travellers that they had just done it, I knew I had to give it to a go. From there it took six days of buses, bribes, business cards leading to random addresses, as well as an unhealthy amount of cursing my luck, but finally, this morning, I got to swim with whale sharks. I managed to organise the tour through a friend of a friend of a friend of a tourist I'd met, when it seemed like I wouldn't ... read more

Nothing prepared me for it. I had signed up for just this experience; I knew I was going to see one (or two) of them. But then I SAW the first one…and I about choked on seawater because I was so astounded. I was awestruck and giddy all at once. Just inches away, a whale shark was slipping by, its massive grey body, spotted in white, almost blocking the rest of my view. So close that it practically brushed against me. Then another. And another. *** You will have to take my word that I had this experience, as I did not have a camera capable of taking underwater photos (I am still kicking myself on this account!). But I got to spend hours swimming among a pod of whale sharks, who were seemingly unperturbed by ... read more

Or, perhaps: “How I Almost Ended Up in the Wrong Country”. While I hadn’t expected my excursion to Djibouti to be a straightforward affair, it almost didn’t happen at all. When I got up to the Ethiopian Airlines counter at Khartoum International Airport, the agent decided, on the spot, that she couldn’t check me in because I didn’t yet have a Djibouti visa. I tried to explain that as a US citizen I was allowed to get one on arrival in Djibouti. But to now avail. She claimed that the airport manager would be over in a “minute” to make the final decision…. At least twenty minutes later, there was no sign of the manager and now the agent had turned back three others seeking to go to Tanzania. They were equally baffled – it is ... read more

We were enveloped in a disruptive blackness. Somewhere, in the Horn of Africa, our carriage rested, while inside our bodies contorted uncomfortably on plastic benches. Supposedly, this was First Class. But our butts, backs and remaining body parts disagreed in Western fashion as the hours of darkness slowly ticked intermittently between quick slumbers of exhaustion. One person stirred, which caused a domino effect of passengers waking, rustling, and repositioning themselves into something vaguely tolerable. Outside was more of the same. Shouts of Afar and Somali traveled in chaotic yellow beams of flashlights that sliced into the night air. Above, the skies were clear as stars glistened in their full desert regalia. They encircled a waning moon that reflected what little light there was, forming silhouettes of the surrounding landscape. We were found in the middle of ... read more