The Horn of Africa
With our three large dogs in tow, off we fly to the Horn of Africa, the easternmost point of Africa. This peninsula is the fourth largest in the world and extends for hundreds of kilometres into the Indian Ocean, forming the Gulf of Aden.
The Horn is made up of Djibouti, Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and de facto Somaliland and is home to the oldest known remains of Australopithecus, dating back 3.2 million years.
Due to its geographical location, the region has always been a trade hub to the African interior and connects the continent with the rest of the world.
Beautiful Djibouti sunset
A few fun facts about our new hometown, Djibouti, (juh·boo·tee).
Djibouti is the closest country to the Arabian Peninsula, only 25kms (as the crow flies) from Yemen.
Djibouti is hot, very hot.
This is a country where the tar on the road melts, where you can fry an egg on your car dashboard and where if you, as an expat, don’t have airconditioned living quarters you will not survive. There is no winter, there is just a hot season and an even hotter season. There is also very little rain, so it’s a hot dry season and an even hotter dry season! Takes a bit of getting used to too.
Djibouti has no permanent rivers, only salt lakes in the desert. Lac Assal is a crater lake, 150m below sea level, the lowest point in Africa. The country is 90% desert so it has very few trees. Djibouti is positioned on a plain known as the Afar Triple Junction where three divergent segments of the Earth’s crust – the African, Somalian, and Arabian plates – are tearing away from each other. Getting used to earth tremors takes a while.
Djibouti was a French colony and French and Arabic are the official languages. Djibouti was part of the French colony of Somaliland from 1888 to 1977 so Somali is widely spoken.
Djibouti has the smallest population in mainland Africa, just over 1 million people and over 60% live in the city. Djiboutians are predominately Muslim so there are mosques everywhere, and the call to prayer becomes the birdsong of daily life. Changing weekends to Thursdays and Fridays took a while to get used to.
The addictive narcotic khat is widely chewed by Djiboutians. The leaf is imported in bulk from Ethiopia and Kenya and gives the user a mild amphetamine-like high. Chewing khat is a part of a social tradition, and you'll see groups of men sitting around chewing the leaf. Khat needs to be fresh, so you will see men sitting around Khat sellers, mainly women, waiting for fresh stock to arrive.
Djibouti’s proximity to volatile regions in the Middle East and Africa makes it the perfect location for military bases. Furthermore, Djibouti lies on the strategic important Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a mandatory passage for the Suez Canal, which is one of the world’s busiest shipping routes.
Djibouti has military bases belonging to France - since 1932, the largest permanent US military bases in Africa, Germany, Spain, Italy, the UK, China and Saudi Arabia.
Arriving in the middle of summer with an average temperature of around 40°C was a tough start. Stepping out of the plane at Djibouti-Ambouli International Airport took our breath away. Not speaking the country's official language is another obstacle. Gestures and nods are the new normal.
