The Scorpions of the Desert...
Trekking on foot through Djibouti...

"Djibouti on foot? ... Where on earth is Djibouti?" I hear you murmur.
Are you looking for a holiday somewhere where few people have ever set foot, do you seek solitude to the point of desolation, wide open spaces and a breath-taking scenery, would you welcome the opportunity of meeting the local nomadic people and entering their world on foot, experiencing their customs and life-style at first hand? Then there’s no doubt that Djibouti is the perfect place for you !

You will spend a whole week and will travel 125 km; 7 nights and 6 days under fairly Spartan conditions. You will be accompanied by our local guides, who will also obtain permission from the local nomads to conduct you through their lands. For one week you will live the life the nomads lead day in and day out, a way of life that is rapidly disappearing.
This is a region with very little tourism, and we intend to develop tourism here sensitively from the outset. We ensure fair tourism in the sense that we take care that local traditions and the way of life of the nomads are respected. We are conscious that we are their guests, we hire their camels, and draw on their experience and knowledge of the area, and during our stay we share their life-style.

Our journey begins at the "Lac Abbé", on the border with Ethiopia.
Under Lac Abbé, from the bowels of our planet, Mother Earth, rumbling loud, emanate some sulphurous fumes. The landscape is studded with metre-high chimneys composed from mineral deposits from the vapours which formed them. The chimneys seem to have sprung from some infernal underworld; they were created some 6,000 years ago, when Lake Abbé was a deep sea.
This is a unique area, an unearthly Apocalyptic landscape. Permanent hot-water springs nourish the landscape where the local nomads tend their goats. Pink flamingo, ibis and pelican dance arabesques in the air. You’ll find fossils of shells and fish, the bones of elephant, antelope, hippo. Tooled stones and fragments of mill stones reveal that people have lived here since 300 BC. This region, which lies partly in Ethiopia and partly in Djibouti, is sometimes referred to as the ‘Cradle of Humanity’. Lake Abbé was also used as one of the locations for the filming of "Planet of the Apes"

From Lake Abbé we travel north-east, going from one valley to the next with ever-changing wildernesses, sand, stones, armeria (or ‘English grass’), pebbles of various colours...
The area is extremely tectonic and is the site of regular geological investigations. The rock consists of petrified lava streams from the third era. The scenery is extraordinary and impressive.

After 6 days we reach the Oued Kalou (dried-up river bed) by Lake Assal, our final destination on this amazing journey; you find yourself here at the deepest point of Africa, 155 m below sea level. This is also the hottest place on earth. Lake Assal is a saltwater lake, full of seawater flowing into it from the ocean through deep underground passages. The seawater evaporates and the remaining salt (380 gr. salt per litre seawater) chrysalises and forms a salt crust, 80 m thick today, which covers one third of the lake. Since time immemorial the local people have extracted salt. The nomads transport the salt by camel caravan to Somalia and Ethiopia.

Lake Assal, furthermore, is where the African Rift Valley begins. The African Rift Valley is a depression running from Lake Assal in Djibouti via Ethiopia, Kenya, Lake Victoria and Lake Tanganyika to Lake Malawi, and it is even visible from the moon. The 10 km of surface land separating  Lake Assal from the sea is gradually being undermined and will within a short time, geologically speaking, disappear. The seawater will then flood through the African Rift Valley, cutting East Africa off from the rest of the continent. But don’t worry, it won’t happen during your visit, it may well  take a couple of million years before it does! From Lake Assal we then return by car to Djibouti-Ville (Djibouti-Town). The journey takes about 90 minutes.

The tour is demanding, so participants need to be in good physical condition. It is hot, and sometimes the going is tough, but no superhuman efforts are required. We travel from early morning to around midday, then enjoy lunch and a siesta at a resting place throughout the hottest part of the day. Halfway through the afternoon we make our way onward, and don’t stop before sundown to set up our camp and enjoy a delicious well-earned evening meal.

The camels carry all the equipment: luggage, food and water (mineral water in sealed bottles). You don’t need to carry a rucksack, although you may choose to carry a small rucksack containing such items as a camera, suntan lotion, etc. After the third and fourth days fresh food and water will be supplied by the tour organisers. We sleep under the stars on camp beds, bring your own Thermarest mattress and sleeping bag. Sanitary arrangements are not provided, so you retreat behind a convenient boulder. The staple diet will consist of rice, pasta, lentils, salads, goat meat, etc. It will be simple, but nourishing and balanced fare.

It is essential to ensure an adequate water intake during the tour: we recommend drinking 6 litres or so per day. It is hot, and you will need to keep your fluid levels up. We also advise guests to take a daily dose of Oral Rehydration Salts to prevent dehydration and the loss of body salt and other minerals, which can cause headaches and fatigue if the loss is not fully compensated.

The experience of this trip, enriching in so many respects, will mean that you are a little less ignorant about this region when you return home; I can promise you that the Horn of Africa will remain with you for a long time and that, on your flight home already, you may be planning to return! That’s what happened to me…
See you in Djibouti!

text and pictures: copyright: Bart Coudenys... mail me