Back in Time in Asmara, Eritrea

Djibouti was my destination after Eritrea (following my brief and unplanned overnight in Dubai). Djibouti is right below Eritrea and above Somali on the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. It is a tiny country, just 23,00 square kilometres with just over a million inhabitants. A former French colony. It is an important shipping country and as a military base, due to its location. The capital and main city is Djibouti City.

The flag and the map. That’s Djibouti on the horn of Africa in green.

Day One – Arrival and Impressions

I flew in from UAE to wonderful views, having a whole row of the plane to myself.

I applied for and received my e-visa for Djibouti without issue. I provided my hotel booking and an invitation letter from a tour that I booked – not a tour for the whole stay, but for an overnight trip to remote Lake Abbé – and the visa was issued. No problems at arrival in Djibouti City. I caught a taxi and went to my hotel.

I was staying at the Ras Dika Hotel, which is right in the middle of everything. There was noting fancy about it, but it was clean and air conditioned and had a little seating area out front where I could have a cigar and watch the very busy street. The owner is apparently Canadian and the manager is from the Philippines. He was a very nice guy and helpful. I told him I needed to change some money, and we walked me a block away to a corner where older women sat in the street in chairs with large handbags on their laps. The money changers.  He helped me get a good rate for my money. (I changed US dollars.) I had my walking around money and so I was off to explore.

Shortly after I arrived in Djibouti City I got a text from a friend, and she asked me if it was nice. I really hesitated before responding to that text message because I knew that the person who asked this question would most certainly not think that Djibouti city was nice. They would probably think it was awful. And a lot of people do say Djibouti City is awful. It’s hot. So very hot. It is a bit hectic and lacks infrastructure. Like ATMs, unbroken streets, good public transportation, lovely parks. It does have a beautiful sea front but attempting to walk along it is difficult because of the heat and the path is at one point blocked off causing you to need to take it ridiculously long detour away from the shore. Djibouti city is loud, and might be a little bit scary if you’ve never visited other African cities. But I have visited other African cities, and I thought Djibouti City was OK. I don’t think I’d recommend it to people. There’s not a lot in terms of attractions. Museums and art galleries and whatnot are basically nonexistent. But it does have basic infrastructure. Running water, air conditioning in some businesses, restaurants that look like restaurants, and importantly, sidewalks. Not sidewalks in all places, but sidewalks in areas with lots of vehicles.

I always feel like sidewalks or a good test of how well developed a city is. Sidewalks show a level of planning and thought for the citizens that live there. Sidewalks also give a person the ability to walk down the street without constantly having to worry about being run over. Where you can walk down the street without worrying about being run over your mind can turn to happier thoughts and generally leads to a more relaxed state of mind.

Anyway, Djibouti City had those things. And while I wouldn’t describe it as beautiful, I did enjoy my wander around.

Half of the city feels relatively developed and half of the city feels relatively underdeveloped. My hotel was just a few blocks into the more developed area. On my first day in Djibouti that was the side that I visited.

The buildings are not all in good repair, but there are some attractive ones, with Islamic style arches in some designs, some attractive mosques and a couple of nice cafes. There is also the market, which as far as markets go isn’t that picturesque, but it’s lively and authentic and gives you a sense of the place.

On my first day I walked around this neighbourhood taking pictures, stopping for generally substandard coffee, and exploring.

Finally, I felt like I needed a bit of a respite, so I walked from my hotel to that of the Hotel Kempinski, which is on the sea at the end of sort of a peninsula. It was about a 40 minute walk and quite pleasant as a lot of the streets had trees.

I arrived at the gorgeous hotel and made my way to the seaside where there was a bar and restaurant overlooking the ocean. I sat and had a juice and a coffee on the bar side with my cigar, before moving to the fancy Italian restaurant side for dinner and a drink and another cigar. Inside the restaurant it was cool and air conditioned, and outside it was hot, but I wanted to smoke my cigar, and I enjoyed watching the sunset over the sea and the rustling palm trees. It was exactly the relaxing visit that I needed.

I wasn’t sure if it was safe to walk back to my hotel at it was quite dark, so I had the hotel called me a taxi, which wasn’t particularly cheap but I appreciated the convenience.

Just a comment about the cost of Djibouti. It is not cheap. Sure, you could go to some hole-in-the-wall restaurant and have a bite to eat and it won’t be that expensive, but things like taxis and hotels and meals in restaurants that look like restaurants are all quite expensive, as are most of the tours that you can book. It’s sort of place where most people traveling there are doing so on a  business trip, and so the nicer hotels and restaurants can afford to charge inflated rates.

The Final Day

I had four days in Djibouti city, but two of them I spent doing an overnight tour, which I’ll write about separately. On my fourth day, I had to be the airport rather late in the day, so I spent my daytime visiting the other side of Djibouti City, the less developed area.

I walked a bit more near my hotel and then crossed over. The less developed side was very interesting.  It was a different world from the part I had already seen. This side of the city had no charming colonial buildings no paved streets no sidewalks, and really virtually no basic amenities. The streets were dirt and the houses were built out of corrugated metal and leftover timber. The streets were filled with roaming goats and chickens, people washing their clothes in buckets or cooking their food over fires. There was a market selling basic household supplies and tools. There was not much in the way of restaurants or cafes, but there were little shops selling basic essentials.

I really enjoyed visiting this neighbourhood. Despite how poor it was, it was pretty. Colourful. There wasn’t a lot of litter and the houses were all different bright colours. The sun was shining and it wasn’t hectic or crowded. I definitely stood out. And I wasn’t entirely sure if I was supposed to be there, so I didn’t take a lot of pictures. People stared at me but did not seem unfriendly.

Eventually I walked back towards my hotel. Grabbed bite to eat at an Ethiopian restaurant with a rooftop patio, strolled around a bit more, enjoying the crumbling architecture and hand painted business signs and numerous chat markets and then returned to my hotel to kill time before going to the airport.

At the hotel, the manager introduced me to another guest who had just arrived, coincidentally, another lawyer from British Columbia, Canada who is traveling by himself. This fellow was traveling from Egypt Southward with the idea to keep going until he ran at a time and had to be back at work period the nice guy we sat and chatted while I finished my cigar, at that point I went back to the airport, to fly home via London.

If you haven’t read about my truly excellent overnight visit to Lac Abbé, Djibouti, you can do so here.

Otherwise, this particular trip is nearly at an end. All that remains is a pleasant layover in London which if you care to read about you can do so here.