In view of the success and in order to give more candidates the chance to participate in the Beyond Limits expeditions, we are offering as two programmes in 2010.

To those who wish to defy the heat an arduous trekking in a desolate, variable and beautiful African scenery, we are offering for the first time a trekking through Djibouti.

Djibouti General

Djibouti is a country in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea in the north, Ethiopia in the west and south, and Somalia in the southeast. The remainder of the border is formed by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. On the other side of the Red Sea, on the Arabian Peninsula, 20 kilometres (12.4 mi) from the coast of Djibouti, is Yemen.

History

The history of Djibouti goes back thousands of years to a time when Djiboutians traded hides and skins for the perfumes and spices of ancient Egypt, India, and China. Through close contacts with the Arabian peninsula for more than 1,000 years, the Somali and Afar ethnic groups in this region became among the first on the African continent to adopt Islam.

French interest developed in the nineteenth century when the area was ruled by the sultan of Raheita, Tadjoura and Gobaad. The French bought the anchorage of Obock in 1862 and expanded it eventually to a colony called French Somaliland with essentially the current boundaries. In 1967, the area became the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas.

The Republic of Djibouti gained its independence from France on June 27, 1977. Djibouti is a Somali, Afar and Muslim country, which regularly takes part in Islamic affairs as well as Arab meetings.

Geography

Djibouti lies in Northeast Africa on the Gulf of Aden at the southern entrance to the Red Sea. It has 314 km (195 mi) of coastline and shares a 113 km (70 mi) border with Eritrea, 337 km (209 mi) with Ethiopia and 58 km (36 mi) with Somalia (total 506 km/314 mi). The country is mainly a stony desert, with scattered plateaus and highlands. It is 8,900 square miles (23,051 km2) large.

More info on Djibouti on Wikipedia

Expedition

Trekking from Lake Abbé to Lake Assal

The starting point is the magical Lake Abbé, with its limestone chimneys; some scenes from the 1968 movie Planet of the Apes were filmed on its shores. The end is the legendary salt lake, Lac Assal, 155 m (509 ft) below sea level in the Afar Depression; its shores comprise the lowest point on land in Africa and the second lowest land depression on Earth after the Dead Sea. Lake Assal is considered the most saline body of water on earth outside Antarctica; the area is wild and desert-like, and no fauna or flora can be seen in the syrupy waters of the lake.

What's special about Djibouti:
The sense of utter desolation. You feel like you're at the end of the world. The country is mainly a stony desert, with scattered plateaus and highlands, some hypersaline lakes. The area is wild and desert-like, and no fauna or flora can be seen in the syrupy waters of the lake.

The first two days in Djibouti will be experienced in between the lava stones. This can be tiresome especially when it's very hot, up to 60° (in the sunshine) or 40°, during the lunch break under an Acacia tree which doesn't give you much shade, a hot desert wind blowing like 20 hairdryer right in your face, the stones are hot and your feet tired. We're not climbing, maybe just a small hill, no more… We start at 250m, reaching 600m within 3 days and descending to 155 m below sea level on the last day. Some wildlife to watch …, some gazelles, baboons and ostriches, but these encounters will not occur daily.

In Djibouti you'll see some Afar settlements… sometimes one hut, sometimes a few… the country is vast wasteland with virtually no arable land. Passing some plains will take 1,5 hour, other much more, there are canyons, hills,… In the Hanlé plain we're sure to meet some afar Nomads, near the palm trees in small oases. This is half way the trekking. We'll spend a day here to recuperate and have some interaction with the locals

This trip lasts 10 calendar days; or 8 days in Djibouti, 7 nights and 6 days of trekking.