-- Log 17 --

Djibouti and through the Danakil ..

While we were in Nairobi, many months ago, we were given an email address of a South African couple that had spent some time in Djibouti, Eritrea and Sudan. As this was our next stop, the timing was apt to make contact with Bridget Edwards. Her enthusiasm, and detailed information for the area really got our attention. Bridget thank you so much for all your help. So here we are on our way to Djibouti to get ready to tackle the Danakil for ourselves!

As the small town of Mille we filled MR W to the hilt, before crossing the Ethiopian Border. Bridget had warned us that these border posts do not see too many tourists and that the time one spends there is relevant to the amount of Amharic or French one knows. We unfortunately do not know either so we were expecting a long and arduous time at the borders. We drove right past the Galafi border post, as we did not recognize the straw shack and shirtless men as the customers and immigrations post and officials. As it turns out, we had chosen a late Saturday afternoon to cross the borders, and the qat must have been good that afternoon, as we were through both borders in half an hour!

From the Djibouti border post the road dramatically deteriorates, and it becomes a challenge to find a decent spot on which to drive. Den tailed a petrol tanker from the border post to the outskirts of Dikhil. The driver obviously had done the run many times and was driving at a reasonable pace. We drove this section of the road – 97 kms in all – at night (it was much cooler) 5.30 p.m. to 10.00 p.m. – Bridget said it took them 6 hours. We were turned away from the Pension in Dikhil because we did not want to sleep in their room, but rather in our tent, so we drove a couple of kms out of town, and found a great spot not far from the Military check point.,

Bush Camp – Dikhil – N11.06.831 E42.22.322 1637 ft amsl – 03/08/02 – FOC – 100 m left of the Police Check Point



Grand Barra – desert plains – we saw Thompson Gazelles, Ostriches and Camels

Djibiouti Town is hot and humid, like Durban in February. We struggled to find a place where we could park MR W within the complex. Eventually after much searching and even managing to upset the local traffic cop, we found the Auberge Sable Blanc – which is a converted villa.

Auberge Sable Blanc – Djibouti Town – 04/08/02 – 06/08/02 US $34 pn – room with aircon and fan

We found the Eritrea Embassy N11.36.890 E43.08.906, and can only get our passports back on Wednesday. We went to the Saudi Embassy and had a meeting with the Consulate to find out the practicalities of crossing the Red Sea from Port Sudan to Jeddah if we have problems with the Egyptian border crossing. He invited us to join him and his friends for tea. All in all we found it a very interesting experience. He could not issue us with visas though, we would have to get those in Sudan – as that would be the country we would leave from.

MR W has lost the indicator flashers – we got a quote from Toyota in Djibouti for the replacement part it would cost 12 000 DF (US $70) – then labour on top of that. They did not have stock! Den managed to hire a garage pit for an hour or so to do an oil change on MR W – the hire of the pit was 500 DF. As the water is saline, we purchased our first batch of water since leaving home. We filled the water tanks with 140 litres of mineral water from Zam Zam, you will find them on the airport road.

Djibiouti has the best supermarkets we have seen since we left South Africa, also the most expensive – we did a lot of window shopping and just enjoyed the cool, clean shops. There is a strong French Military presence in the town and many French and British expats live here.

We were totally amazed at the hours or lack of hours worked in Djibouti. Businesses are open at 8.00 am and at 12.00 they close – lock stock and barrel – at 16.00 some may open, others not. At 12.00 the fresh shipment of qat arrives and the rest of the afternoon is taken up chewing qat and staring into space. Qat is imported from Harar in Ethiopia and is a mild stimulant similar to cocaine though a lot weaker. Qat is such a large part of Djiboutian life that there is even a government organisation devoted to taxing the plant.

As there is no border post on the Djibouti – Eritrea border we went to the Immigration in Djibouti Town – N11.36.003 E043.08.883 – 28ft amsl, and got travel documents from them. The police inspector needed DF30 to stamp our document – we only had DF5 left, he was not impressed! Eventually he signed and stamped our docs for us “gratis”



Lac Assal – Djibouti – 510 ft below sea level – N11.34.796 E043.26.238 – It has 3 times more saline than the sea and represents the lowest point on the African continent. The salt field has been mined by the Afar Nomads for centuries.



MR W taking in the sand! – Bush camp in the desert just outside Obock

We found that quite a lot had changed since Bridget did the trip. The road from Tadjoura to Obock had been maintained and there was no need for 4 WD, and that
the obstacles that they had encountered were not there. From Obock to Assab the road is desert track all the way and was no problem. We bushed camped in the desert and got little sleep due to the heat!

It is amazing how important timing is, we were trying to get to Assab before 12.00 to get our passports stamped for entry into Eritrea. If we missed the 12.00 noon deadline we would have a long afternoon wait till everyone came back, if they returned at all. We did not make the 12.00 noon deadline, and slowly drove through the desolate streets to at least find the customs offices. While we were driving through the town, some UN officers were having a smoke break when they saw our vehicle pull into town! The chaps were RSA boys!! What a surprise and joy! The afternoon was not wasted, as we had lunch and chatted with them. Thank you to the General for allowing the guys to spend some time with us. Seeing that we had to wait for the customs we decided to stay the night and had dinner and far too many beers with the guys! Barry, Johan and General – our thanks to you for making us realize how special our country is! Barry a very special thanks to you for the use of your shower!

Hotel Grounds – Assab – 08/08/02 - N13.00.906 E042.44.811 63 ft amsl – FOC

We were expecting the section between Assab and Massawa to take us 4 days of hard driving and we were stunned to hear that Barry had done it in 10 hours! He shared his route with us and gave us GPS points and a lesson on the GPS on how to change the co-ords into a language we could understand. We definitely are going to do the coastal route – and if we get stuck we have asked the guys to send out a search party after a few days! They must think we are mad, but we have to cover our bases!



Sunset in the desert

Desert Camped – Danakil 09/08/02 - FOC


Vast open spaces of sand and mountains – beautiful, yet so harsh! This is the land of the Afar Nomad.


Part of the Danakil Depression – temperature recorded last November 67 degrees centigrade, but it does get hotter!

It is very sad to see so many graves of the soldiers who fought in the war between Eritrea and Ethiopia. The losses were great.

If anyone is looking for GPS co-ords for this very special part of our journey, please drop us a line and we will send them to you.

Bridget we thoroughly enjoyed this part of our trip and thank you for sharing the information with us. It appears that the different times of year and weather have a vast influence on this type of terrain.