Djibouti

Lake Assal is the lowest point in Africa and saltier than the Dead Sea

Djibouti is small, extremely hot and strategically placed at the mouth of the Red Sea, which is why it hosts French, American, Chinese and Japanese military bases in a country of barely more than a million people. That geopolitics props up an economy that has very little else, and makes it more expensive than its neighbours.

The landscape is the reason to come and it is genuinely otherworldly. Lake Assal is 155 metres below sea level, the lowest point in Africa, ringed by salt flats and ten times saltier than the ocean. Lake Abbe has limestone chimneys venting steam across a plain that was used as an alien planet in Planet of the Apes.

Djibouti sits on the Afar Triple Junction, where three tectonic plates are pulling apart, which is why the whole country looks like it is being torn open. Offshore, the Gulf of Tadjoura is one of the most reliable places in the world to snorkel with whale sharks between October and February.

Annual events and festivals

• Eid al-Fitr (varies) — the main holiday in a Muslim-majority country.
• Eid al-Adha (varies) — the second Eid, widely observed.
• Independence Day (27 Jun) — marks 1977 independence from France.
• Whale shark season (Oct-Feb) — not a festival, but the country main natural draw.
• Mawlid (varies) — the Prophet birthday.
• Ramadan (varies) — observed nationally, with restricted daytime hours.
• Afar and Somali cultural gatherings (varies) — traditional poetry, dance and camel events.
• Djibouti International Fair (varies) — a trade and culture event.
• Ashura (varies) — observed by some communities.
• Fete de la Musique (Jun) — a French legacy, marked in the capital.