Djibouti

Not a country in the mainstream of tourists, and yet this is it what made me curious. Good thing is that there is a certain minimum tourist infrastructure, so there is not too much of hardship when moving around.

Djibouti Cit (here a cleaner part)

What strikes time and again is the enormous amount of plastic garbage that is visible everywhere.

Plastic garbage everywhere

Nobody seems to care. People seem to be busy with survival.

You have to learn to ignore the ugly parts of Djibouti

Traffic in Djibouti is enormous, and along the main highway No.1 practically all trucks are from Ethiopia. This road is their main artery for the supply of fuel and goods.

Trucks from Ethiopia, a constant flow of traffic

Hold your breath while passing. Leaking gasoline...

On the way to Lake Abbé, we passed a dwelling. Two tribes share Djibouti, the Afars and the Issas. I forgot which tribe lived here

To be satisfied with your personal circumstances, visit this "village"

But Djibouti is not only a mix of plastic garbage and hopelessness. Indeed there are some beautiful sceneries, waiting to be visited.

Here some scenes of the movie "Planet of the Apes" were shot

Like another planet

View from the campsite

Another "must see2 in Djibouti is the deepest spot in Africa, 155m below sea level. Lake Assal, a salt lake.

As "deep" as you can go in Africa: Lake Assal, 155m below sea level

And, another quite spectacular spot is the big African divide

In far future, the right part will break away from Africa and float towards India. A mega crack, so to speak.

So, when you have a nice hotel waiting for you in the evening, with cold beer, Djibouti can be an agreeable experience - just ignore the poverty and the plastic garbage. By the way, the German Army resides in the Sheraton.