An Adventure in Africa

Must confess to knowing very little about the country. Apparently it lies in Northeast Africa on the Gulf of Aden at the southern entrance to the Red Sea. It has 314 km of coastline and borders Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia and was formerly French Somaliand, finally gaining independence in 1977. Come and join us and we’ll explore a bit of this country together – don’t forget your swimming gear.

Thursday 31 December

Just stepped out of the aircraft leaving behind a cool and overcast Addis Ababa. We’re welcomed by warm sunshine and the smell of the sea – I like it already.
Also accompanying us on our trip are Gaby and Pierre Alain, great company and we’ve already had quite a few laughs.

Arriving at the Sheraton, our home for the next few nights – again a nice feel to the place. The pool overlooks the sea and what better way to start the weekend than to go for a little swim? Angelika and Gaby are doing their customary one kilometre - those girls have energy; I’m doing my err 50 m and Agy’s lifting his right arm to position his Heineken – he calls it the beer crawl.

Party time and the Sheraton are putting on quite a ‘do’ around the pool. The band is great, playing all the old and new favourites; the buffet the best ever with a sumptuous choice of Aseatic, Ethiopian, European and the most amazing seafood ever. We’re certainly enjoying our fish fix here.

Midnight arrives as we witness a magnificent firework display beneath a full moon and overlooking the Red Sea – wow.

Well, after an fantastic day on the sea, we return to dry land and must keep up with safari tradition – yes it was a marine safari – time for a beer.  This country is beer paradise. I’ve been dreaming all day of an ice-cold draught Leffe and we enjoy one in Historia bar in down-town Djibouti. We really like this city, it reminds us a bit of Mombasa and it’s wonderful to sit and enjoy a drink outside. Now is the perfect time to come to Djibouti as temperatures are pleasant. It would be much too hot from July to September as the heat can reach up to 47^oC.

Feeling refreshed we decide to sample more of that famous Djibouti seafood. We have been recommended a restaurant called La Ougoule (or the Igloo as it’s become affectionately known to ourselves). We enter the doors and it has the feel of a seaside restaurant with tiled walls and floors, really like it. Oh and the seafood – to die for! We have fish soup, followed by lobster thermidor for the boys and shrimps for the girls, heavenly.  For dessert we sample a ‘colonel’ consisting of lemon sorbet swimming in vodka. Agy, who has been virtually asleep the whole evening, spots an Irish coffee on the menu – ‘I’m having one of those’ ‘Me too’ says Gaby. I don’t know what they put in those coffees but it’s like he’s been injected with laughing gas or something. All of a sudden the restaurant is in uproar – all the noise comes from our table and we can’t stop laughing. We decide to leave before they ask us to.  Perfect end to a perfect day.

Saturday 2 January

Great sleep last night – colonels and Irish coffees, what a combination.

Angelika has organised a dry-land trip today, to Lake Assal, in a volcanic area of Djibouti, heading back towards the Ethiopian border. Our guide, Ayela meets us and we stop in Djibouti town for a quick coffee.  He explains that he needs to deliver medical supplies to a boat excursion cruising the bay of Djibouti so would we mind stopping off at the coast? All part of the adventure, why not.

This is all rather exciting. We are trying to find the drop off point for the supplies and passing through a firing range. Forgot to mention that Djibouti is a huge military base for France, Germany, UK, US and the Foreign Legion. On our right is an FL training wall aptly entitled ‘Voie de l’inconscience’. These guys are tough. We drop off supplies right by their base and beat a hasty retreat.