Road trip in Djibouti – Day 4

It didn’t took long to someone to make a mess in our hut. One bag of food is laying down on the floor, wide opened. And my purple bra is missing. The number one suspect was the cat until we saw the monkeys this morning, hanging out around our place. My purple bra, seriously ?

7 :30 am we are ready to start our hike in the Day Forest National Park. We are going to Bankouale village and, return with a different path. I don’t know what to expect. Last night the young guide was talking about eight intensive hours of hike to go to Bankouale and, back. « What does mean intensive ? walking like that or walking like this ? » Veronique was demonstrating different walking speeds. She was minimizing the challenge, he was telling her what she wanted to hear and, I wonder what did I sign up for.

Day Forest National Park

We are starting uphill. There is nothing like a forest. No rain in the last seven or eight years. Only dust, rocks and stones rolling down under our foot. Desolation. This is going to be a long day. This is a dry forest. I don’t know how we came to imagine we were going to walk through a tropical forest. So when we see green plants or trees, we are all excited.
8 :30 Still in this rocky and dry dead forest. On the other side of the hill, we still see the remains of a french military airplane which crashed down years ago.

Day Forest National Park

11 :30 am We are done with the uphill for a while and we are going to make a break in a garden. A garden, here ? We start to see a bit more green and skinny cows and a shepherd with his goats. It is funny what the words mean for different people. A forest is made of trees, is green and has some shade. But not here. So now a garden. Green grass and flowers maybe ? No, the garden is a few mango trees, big green and luxurious mango trees. There is a well next to it with a rope falling down into that hole full of fresh water. I suspect the water to be, mostly underground in Djibouti.

Day Forest National Park

Since the morning the guide has been telling us we are good with time but, for some reason, since the garden stop we have been speeding up. He is walking ahead faster.
We meet a Djiboutian with his son. He studied in France and likes to spend the summer in the Day Forest because it is cooler here. All is relative. It is still very hot. We walk by the remains of a cow that broke her leg not long ago.

2 :45 pm We are still walking fast and we are approaching a village. Not Bankouale yet. We walk by different Sultan’s garden.

Bankouale village

3 :30 pm Here we are at Bankouale. I had envisioned a big and busy village but the words don’t have the same meaning here, and there. We are invited to seat and given some fresh water. So this is the place he said we could have one hour lunch break and one hour visit. I look around. This doesn’t really look like a village. This is a tourist camp site, my friend. And, here is the « touristic restaurant ». It is written on it at the doorway. When I look at the other side of the dry bed of the river, I see the village. The mosque is calling out for prayer. That, is the authentic village. So, now what ? « You should spend the night here, Dittilou is more than four hours away. » My blisters are screaming but we are not spending the night here. After a short break, we go back on the dusty and rocky path.

Ando Village

Meeting up with Mohamed Ibrahim Mohamed

4 :30 pm We arrive at Ando village. This is a nice cute village full of life. I meet Mohamed Ibrahim Mohamed who speaks perfectly French and has a very cute smile. The guide gets us a cold Coca Cola on his own money. Not sure why. A group of young people is hanging out on the floor of the veranda of what looks like a public building. Maybe a market place. One of them says : « This was paid by the French, this was paid by the french ». Again I feel uncomfortable. Is he sarcastic ? Is he happy about it ? Is he upset about it ? I can’t tell. We walk through the village and continue with a fast pace. I don’t know how far we are, but I guess we are still far. The path looks like the dry bed of a river.

Day Forest National Park

6 :30 pm The sun is slowly going down. We are no longer in the forest. We are going uphill again. It is very similar to what we drove through yesterday. The guide is suggesting to spend the night at his sister’s, in the coming village. « She will make pasta for you. » We don’t want pasta, we want our fruits and a piece of brownie. I can’t feel my foot. My legs are on auto pilot. The guide is getting tired too. We are all on the same boat. We can see the moon now.
7 pm We are at the village of his sister. That is the village where they insisted on escorting us yesterday. No light but fire places. Camels and cows are enclosed. Women are making diner. We pull out our flash light and we continue walking. « Are we there yet ? » We all laughing at ourselves.

Almost back to Dittilou

7 :50 pm We finally see the sign to the campsite. Another twenty minutes or so to walk.
The loop is completed : 30 kilometers something, almost a 13 hours hike. I am a dead chicken.