Diving in Djibouti

...

 

Landlocked townslife in Addis gets on your nerves, so we took a four days hastily decided trip to neighboring Djibouti just to get away. Here, Djibouti has the fame of just being a huge port with a lot of oilspill, and nobody really thought it as a good idea to go there for relaxing. But we took a chance and booked a hotel at an island that we found through an ad in Addis.

 

After the 1 hour flight we landed at the minuscule Djibouti international airport and got picked up by a driver who didn't speek a word english. Djibouti is french speaking by the way, and my french isn't as good as it says in my CV (don't tell anyone!). Night falls quick and when we arrive at the huge port it is already dark. A speedboat comes by and tells us to board. The Somali driver speeks some english which is nice. The trip to the island is usually only 25 minutes, but it takes us an hour because of the dark. We pass several ENORMOUS oiltankers and other freight ships on the way. I quietly wonder how many of them will be hijacked by Somali pirates on the way to their destinations...

 

Isa sleeps in the kangaroo at my front ant the sky is filled with stars. The waves are big though and our nanny (who we brought along) almost jumps ship when a flying fish lands in her lap. She has never seen the coast, never tasted salt water, never eaten a shrimp and can not swim.

 

We arrive at the rock-in-the-ocean island and are served dinner. The place is absurd. A couple of brick houses (with AC thanx good) on a rock in the midst of the ocean in pirate infested waters. And on top of that the island's name is Mouche, which supposedly means "snot" or "snor" in swedish. But, as it turns out, the sea is nice, clear and warm, the beaches are really good and the diving is world class. There is a dive center on the island and even though I didn't bring my certificate I am allowed to join on a trip.

 

We dive at a huge wreck from 1975 at 27 meters. The propeller of the gargantuan ship is 26 meters tall! Fish has made this wreck their home and it has almost become part of the living ocean itself. Below me swims a stingray with at least 1.5 meters between the tips of its romb-shaped body, excluding the tail.

 

It was a great relax. But the real fun comes when we go back sometime between november - march when the whaleshark season is on! It is the biggest fish in the world and this is the best place in the world to swim with these gentle giants. They swim shallow in hunt for food so you can snorkel with them. It is one of those things you should do before you die... Check out this link.

 

regards

...

The Road to Bishangari Lodge

A couple of weeks ago we made a weekend trip to an eco-lodge called Bishangari. It is situated by the shores of lake Langando (see earlier blogposts). It turned out to be a really nice, laid back place with good food, solar power, bio gas and waste recycling. Wildlife is right on the doorstep in the form of wild boars, hippos, baboons, white-taled monkies and an abundand bird-life. There are some nice walks in the wood also. We put Isa in a backpack and took off walking in the woods to a small waterfall nearby.

The really interesting stuff about the trip was the Indiana Jones-style road to get there. The first 3 hours are nice, paved highway, but the last 20 kilometers are gravel roads that are un passable without 4WD. The local kids have understood the relative difficulty for tourists to find the place and offer to show you the way for some Birrs. Although, it is completely uneccessary since the trees are all marked with orange and white colors to guide you. The kids still try to convince you that you need their help and jump on the car whilst you drive. They hang on to the spare wheel on the back screaming "guide mister!" while you try to concentrate on driving on this really scary road!

Then you pass a couple of bridges... The first are small, but ok to pass, but the last one is actually a container that somebody has put on top of a gorge and opened the two sides to let vehicles pass through (pic). Fine, but the thing is obviously made for Nissan Micra, not for a Mitsubishi Pajero. With the rear view mirrors folded, I think we had 3 centimeters left on each side. No kidding!

...