Welcome to Djibouti Ambouli
Five kilometres from the centre of Djibouti, the gardens of Ambouli are the lungs of the capital. Nowadays, Ambouli Oasis is above all, a crossroad on the way to Arta and Doralé Doraleh: Five kilometres from Djibouti, thanks to a beautiful bitumized road, curving through volcanic rocks and dunes, stands the Doraleh Beach Khor-Ambado: Also located on the outskirts of Djibouti, this excellent white-sand beach is among the best in the Red Sea region and makes a great day-trip from the capital with warm waters and sunny skies. For an interesting side trip, rent a boat from either Djibouti City or the beaches and visit the islands of Maskali and Moucha, which lie at the mouth of the Gulf of Tadjoura. Loyada: Also known as La-waada, Loya Ada, Loyi Ada. ALI SABIEH DISTRICT Also known as the first southern district. One of the country's four provincial capitals, Ali-Sabieh lies in the highlands southwest of Djibouti.
The drive to Ali-Sabieh is really the reason to go: you'll cross the Petit Bara and Grand Bara, both of which are curiously desolate plains that will fascinate any desert aficionado. Once you arrive in Ali-Sabieh, visit the lively central marketplace, or try your had at wheel-driven wind-surfing on a nearby salt plain. Only 500 sq km, you can tour this area in one and a half days. In winter, the wadi flowing here digs like a cooking pot vast natural tank where one can see goats and camels watering themselves.
This southern district has a nice climate thanks to its altitude of 750 metres. Ali Sabieh is the last stop of the railway on the road to the Ethiopian border. It is an important administrative centre and is an indisputable centre of attraction for the populations of the region. In the centre of the city you will find a touristic centre in an incredible environment DIKHIL DISTRICT • Second southern District. • In 1928, an administrative post was created from which a village was to be born. • Dikhil possesses a beautiful palm plantation. • It is a strategic crossing between Ethiopia and Djibouti. • It is a place of meeting for the nomads of the Hanlé (35m long and 20km wide), Gobaad, Gagadé and “Petit and Grand Bara” plains. • The population is about 30,000 and offers visitors many restaurants famous for their quality. Gallagota: An archeological site with ancient ruins, quadrangular cut stones are assembled here without any masonry or foundations. Lake Abbé: Located in Dhikil district on the western border with Ethiopia, Lake Abbé is an unearthly place with strange scenery. It offers a fantastic landscape with hundreds of limestone, from a few metres to more than 50 metres high. From some of these chimneys, smoke erupts with wisps of sulphur giving the Lake its name, Abbé which means rotten.
The chimneys are formed by the accretion of mineral deposits from underground springs just out off the lake and the shore surrounding it. These springs hot of water favour the development of pastures, elsewhere unseen in Djibouti. At dawn, flocks of pink flamingoes come for refreshment from the desert heat. Pelicans are the only other inhabitants of the place while nomads periodically come and feed their herd. Stay in the hilltop town of Dikhil to the east of the lake. It is built amid rugged terrain that supports a surprisingly large population of antelopes, hyenas, and jackal, Grand Bara: It is 25km long and more than 10km wide desert area which extends as far as the eye can see. Its two major characteristics: frequent mirages and the abundance of animals (gazelles, antelopes, fennecs, hyenas, jackals and dromedaries). Hunting is prohibited here as it is throughout the country. Sand yachting amateurs can practise their favourite sport in Grand Bara, thanks to a sports centre equipped with modern materials. TADJOURAH DISTRICT Tadjoura is one of the country's most picturesque towns.
Situated right on the Gulf but backed by some of Djibouti's highest mountains (some of which reach almost 4,000 feet or 1,200m), Tadjoura offers both sea and mountain views. The town also makes a good base from which to explore the Goda Mountains just to the north, where you can visit a fascinating petrified forest. • From September through May, the waters of the Gulf of Tadjoura are remarkably clear, and veterans report that it's an excellent place for scuba-diving as well as spear-fishing and underwater photography. The gulf contains a series of coral reefs packed with a large variety of tropical fish. • Tadjoura, the White; All the houses of the country are whitewashed. The presence of the eight mosques is masked by the maritime character of the city. • The Gulf of Tadjoura has an indistinct number of species that are endemic. Life that swarms within the reefs of Djibouti are among the most beautiful jewels of the tropical underworld. • On the superficial reef, one can observe in addition to the splendid coral formations with the delicate and coloured tree structures, the evolution of more than twenty species of chaetodons (butterfly fish) and pomacanthes (angel fish) with a particular abundance of “duke” fish (Pygoplites diacanthus), the most beautiful of all coral fish. Other fish or animals:- surgeons, labres, green and blue parrots, demoiselles, spotted carangue, grouper, golden skate, shark. • Along the gulf of Tadjoura is an important range of mountains. Goda Mountain:1750m high Mount Mable: 1380m high • The Forest of Day NB: These are the only parts of the country with permanent vegetation. • Tadjoura Gulf also called the pit of the demons. • Surrounded with mountains, this white city presents its most seducing face when one approaches it by the seas. Ardoukoba: Ardoukoba Volcano is located on the coast 100 km from Djibouti city. Caused by the continental drift, it erupted in 1978 for one week after an earthquake created a 1.8 m fissure. This was the first eruption of Ardoukoba Volcano in 3000 years.
Though this little volcano lived only one week, its significance lies in its the concrete proof of the ceaseless spacing of the continents (2cm per year between Africa and Arabia, 1.2m abruptly when Ardoukoba appeared.) This chaotic site attracts the volcanologists and geologists of the world and is proof, according to scientists, that this whole zone belongs to a future ocean which, in a million years, will be as important as the Atlantic Ocean. From the crater at Ardoukoba, one has a marvellous view of Lake Assal. Doda: The site is a wide alluvial plain with a surface of close to 13800ha, equipped with abundant acacia bushes and pastures spread over the entire length of the septentrional edge of the plain, itself surrounding by basalt hills. The whole plain is exposed to periodic floods which gave birth to a large lake drying itself gradually.
The plain is a zone of intensive pasture. Doda is a site of great ornithological wealth and provides food for the most varied species of birds ever met in Djibouti. Mount Moussa-Ali: Mount Moussa Ali stands in the north of the country and is the highest point of Djibouti with 2020m Sak-Allol: These are three small lakes of beauty located in the northwest of the country, reaching a minimal altitude of five metres above sea level. Allols form three parallel depressions periodically flooded. These depressions are surrounded by a basalt cliffs rising towards the surrounding plateaus. The area provides salt, palm wine extracted from Hyphaena thebaica and marshy pasture for livestock. Balho: This prehistoric site is approximately 80km in the north of Lake Assal, with its cave paintings recently discovered. Randa and Bankouale:
There is a fresh climate at Randa (700m altitude) village that boasts beautiful orchards. Bankaoule is an oasis with gardens of single palm trees. Forest of Day: The forest is located at 1500m of altitude. Day boasts wild acacias, giant juniper, olive and jujube trees as well as other specimens of flora with an earth surface cover of 3.2 sq km that gives it the status of national park. The Forest of Day is an outline of what used to be the vegetation of the mountains of the Sahara and Arabia before the great climatic disturbances. Sables-Blancs: The Sables-Blancs beach, near Tadjoura, is equipped with the best permanent camp of the country. Lake Assal (Lake Karum): Lake Assal is one of the most astonishing phenomenon in the world. At 153m below the sea level, it is the lowest point in Africa and the third lowest point in the world.
There are no rivers flowing out of the lake, it is ten times saltier than the ocean and is the most saline body of water in the world. Bordered with a dazzling ice floe made of white salt works and gypsum it is composed of genuine brine with 330-370g of salt per litre. The lake sits at the top of the Great Rift Valley in the Danakil Desert where summer temperatures sometimes reach 52°C and are accompanied by strong dry winds. It is a site of great natural beauty, lying within a framework of volcanoes and black lava. According to geologists, in ancient times it was connected to Goubet and Tadjoura bay. Nowadays a volcanic area of seven kilometers separates the lake from Goubet and Tadjoura bay, but it could be fed with sea water by underground fracture lines, which compensate the extreme evaporation found in the lake. From ancient times, nomads and their long caravans of camels are a familiar figure in the region, coming to the Lake to cut out salt pieces to take back to Ethiopia to trade.
Everything about Lake Assal is unusual. The dormant volcanoes that ring the lake have left large expanses of black lava, completing the surreal effect. One can drive on the salted ice field that belt around the lake for ten kilometres. One can even walk on this humid, yet solid salted field and collect a few blocks of salt before returning home. It is impossible to swim since the water is salt saturated, but holes in the brackish water allow the visitor to freshen up for a moment. Ghourbet-al-Kharab Bay: The vast bay of Ghourbet-Al-Kharab is encircled with vertical cliffs and is linked to the sea through a narrow channel. 20km long and 20km wide, the bay is encircled with abrupt mountains descending directly into the waters, from a height of 600m to a depth of 200m.It is the bottom of the gulf of Tadjoura, known as the “pit of the demons”. Ghoubet-Al-Karab Bay communicates with the sea, by a 750m large gully, in the centre of which stands a little island. t is an interesting fishing area and is also the most dangerous fishing area. It is difficult to convince a fisherman in Djibouti to penetrate here with his own boat. Some of the fishes include:- barracudas or lutjans, emperors or sharks, thazards or yellow tuna fishes. The bay is as splendid as a lake and has an appearance of dark blue pond water.
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