Road trip in Djibouti – Day 6

Dikhil. It has been a while since the breakfast was included in the accommodation. I go for the oignon omelette. Simple. It comes with a basket of fresh French baguette. I noticed they are very generous in Djibouti with the French baguettes excepted at that French restaurant where we are going to have diner Saturday night.

Dikhil

Off to town. I need a new pair of flip flop and our provisions our fruits are running low. Goats eating garbage as always. A woman lost her temper and screams and yells at… another woman or a man ? Too many people around to understand what is going on. She is furious, we walk by without looking just in case she would suddenly become furious at us. In another street, women are busy cooking in huge pots. I was thinking, maybe it was for a wedding but no. It is for someone who died. Everyone in town is invited. They make me taste the rice, very flavorful. A freshly made stew to which they add cans of green peas. We are invited too. Maybe later on our way back. A goat manages to steal a carrot.

Dikhil

First the Flip-flops. All made in China. For 500 Djiboutian Francs (2,5€), it will do the job. And then mini bananas, oranges, tomatoes… the only town where we had seen fruits and vegetables since we left Djibouti City. That made me wonder how the locals were getting their vitamins. I wonder as well how they keep their meat safe to eat with all those flys and with this heat. We load the car and we go to Lake Abbé. So many roads to get there, on the map. But, only one in real life. No gas station around here. A guy from the hotel escorts us to the smuggled gas station. « 25 liters is fine ? » Yes, sure ! Then he leaves us at the intersection where starts the trail to Lake Abbé.

On the way

Straight, as usual. We feel pretty confident because we see regularly milestones until we see on the GPS that we are heading south, too much south towards the border with Ethiopia. We thought for a moment it was the border with Somalia. Not good, not good. We ask our direction to a car driving towards us. We are on the right path. « Keep straight » I guess RN7 is another imaginary road on the map. One guy on the heavy loaded car just coming from As-Eyla accepts to come with us, back to As-Eyla, one of the last village before Lake Abbe. Not sure why but we feel released. The challenge is not the road itself but the direction. As-Eyla is a huge village. Many villagers come to us. It is overwhelming. They absolutely want us to take a guide with us. Because they insist and because kids are starting to climb in our pick up, we leave in a hurry. We know « It is always straight » so we go straight. Because we don’t even know how to leave the village we drive back and take a guide. He is a professional guide. If you don’t want to be stuck in the sand, it is not just straight. We stop at Kouta Bouyya, the last village. We wonder how people live here. Only huts and surprisingly a couple of permanent buildings. White walls and blue windows, the architectural style of the Non Governmental Organizations. Probably a school and a clinic. The rest is not mean to stay : light structures in wood or stones piled up to make a shelter that they will take with them or leave behind when it will be time to leave, when there will be no water. But where is the water ? It is all dry again here. The guide says they have a lot of water here, in this region. Underground.

Bouta Bouyya

We getting closer to Lake Abbe. Beautiful. A few donkeys and gazelles here and there and, those chimneys popping up out the bed of the lake on the horizon. We won’t see the lake. It is mostly evaporated, only those chimneys and thin streams. The guide points the bubbles coming up to the surface of the water stream. Boiling waters. We are not far from an inactive volcano. This vast plains looks like the surface of the moon but this is the dry bed of the lake.

Lake Abbé

Perfect spot for a picnic : Lentils in a Mexican wrap and oranges from Dikhil market. Out of the blue, two colorful girls pop up and stand in front of us. It is difficult sometimes not having a moment alone. I like my peace and quiet.

We reach the campsite by the end of the afternoon. We meet with the head of the village and we negotiate the price for the hut. A hut, two camping beds and a shower. A hut can’t be as expensive as a hotel room in Djibouti city. The guide is our translator. The chef seems upset and eventually leave. We go explore the village near the campsite and watch the sun going down on the plains. The shepherds are all coming back with their herd for the night. We see the inside of a villager’s hut. It is very primitive. They have the same bed we had at Dittilou campsite or, we had the same they have. The oven where they baked their heavy corn bread is as simple as a hole in the ground.

Lake Abbé

As we can’t agree on a fair price for the night, we leave and decide to sleep under the stars at the back of the pick up, a bit further outside the campsite. They warn us there are wolves and hyenas. Alright. Still we go. We make our bed before it is dark and we have another picnic dinner. We are in the middle of nowhere. It is an amazing place. It is already dark. 

Lake Abbé

Then we hear those laughters uphill on our right side. Not sure what it is. The sound is now moving down hill, runs in front of us and disappears on our left side, at ground level. What was it ? Can’t be seagulls. We grab our traveling book. Wild animals in Djibouti : « Although wild animals are not shy, they are pretty reserved during the day when it is hot. They hide, probably not too far from you. They are not running away from you but they hide from the sun. The Hyenas, jackals and little fennecs are the main predators. They are a bit everywhere by the Grand barra area and lake Abbe. » We looked at each others. « What kind of food are they eating ? » It didn’t take us long to clear up the back of the pick up and drive back, closer to the campsite hoping the hyenas wouldn’t dare to attack us. Hearing our car coming, the guys from the village came to us wondering what’s the matter. The hyenas. They are out there. And then quickly we get the rate for the hut, we wanted. 

Camp site

We are back in, behind those safe low stacks of stones that make the fence of the campsite. We pull the camping beds outside of the huts to sleep under the stars. Shower. Mosquito spray and we are set for the night. Still a lot of life and conversations around us. We have been their entertainment of the evening. By 10 pm the big neon light of the toilet block is switched off and everything becomes silent. Surprised again not to see more stars in the sky.