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-- Log 17b --
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
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