Day 1.

Outside Dubai Airport's Terminal 2 just before 10am. I had awoken earlier in the day to super-thick fog enveloping the whole city. Although it had largely cleared by the time I got to the airport, there were likely to be ongoing delays as the airlines caught up on their flights.


Originally my flights were going to be a simple return flight to/from Djibouti (JIB). However after Flydubai cancelled my JIB-DXB flight, I flew back to Dubai on a combination of both Ethiopian Airlines and Emirates:

Day 1: Flying Flydubai (FZ) from Dubai to Djibouti(DXB-JIB).
Day 4: Flying Ethiopian Airlines (ET) from Djibouti to Addis Ababa via Dire Dawa (JIB-DIR-ADD).
Flying Emirates Airline (EK) from Addis Ababa to Dubai (ADD-DXB).



With the heavy fog earlier in the morning, almost all flights were delayed, with some up to 4 hours and some even cancelled. My flight to Djibouti was currently only showing a 55 minute delay however.


The Marhaba lounge was packed with all the delay affected passengers, so I went to the food court and had some tandoori chicken and naan bread for 30 AED from the Indian restaurant.


Our revised 12:45pm departure time came and went but we eventually boarded the departure bus just before 2pm.


A Qeshm Airlines A300 next to a Fedex 777-200 as we push back finally at 2:30pm.


Looking down at the Dubai creek soon after take-off with some of the morning's fog still visible.


And across to the Dubai skyline.


Starting to bank left as we turn south towards Oman.


Al Satwa and Downtown Dubai.


Dubai Airport and the Emirate of Sharjah in the distance.


And the mountains of Oman below as we head south-east to avoid Yemeni airspace.


The clouds above the Somaliland coast along the Gulf of Aden.


Looking down on Djibouti City as we come in for approach at Djibouti–Ambouli International Airport.


After parking up, it was only a short walk across the tarmac and to the terminal. I had landed at Djibouti Airport two years ago on my way back from Somalia so there was a bit of a sense of déjà vu.


My three day visa on arrival for 10,000 Djiboutian francs ($60).


And catching an old Toyota taxi into the city for 2,000 francs.


After the short drive we arrived at my hotel in the European quarter for the next three nights, Residence Lagon Bleu.


$80 per night and it was relatively clean and modern and with super cool AC.


I had an early morning tomorrow and too early for the hotel breakfast so headed to the local supermarket to buy a few things.

For dinner I then headed to Restaurant La Chaumière and had the tasty veal scallops with creamy mushroom sauce.


I then headed back to the hotel to have an early night before the exciting day out in the Gulf of Tadjoura tomorrow.


Day 2.

After an early morning run, I had some breakfast I had bought the day before. Djibouti is a former French colony and there still seems to be alot of French influence.


After a 2.5 kilometre walk from the centre of town, I arrived at the Port de pêche, ready to meet up at the boat Faragallah. Onboard I met up with Ricardo from Dolphin Services, our trip leader for today.


On the back deck of the boat while waiting for the other people to arrive. In the distance on the left is Djibouti's first and only skyscraper.


At about 7:45am we departed port for our trip in the Gulf of Tadjoura. There were about 20 people on board today with myself, 6 South Africans, a French couple, and the rest being American military personnel and contractors based at Camp Lemonnier, the United States Naval Expeditionary Base at Djibouti Airport.


The DP World port as we leave Djibouti City. Since Eritrean Independence in 1991, the Port of Djibouti has been the main port for imports to and exports from neighboring land-locked Ethiopia.


Our two skiffs being towed behind as we head west along the Djiboutian coast in the Gulf of Tadjoura.


After 2 hours cruising west along the coast, we anchored just off a reef. While 6 of us suited up for a scuba dive, the rest of the boat headed out in the two skiffs to see if they could find the Whale sharks.

After briefing the guys heading out to see the Whale sharks, Ricardo gave us a briefing on our reef dive this morning.


I was paired up with Rob from South Africa. Rob was flying an Embraer ERJ 135 for the UN, ferrying personel to and from Sanaa in Yemen for their humanitarian relief operations.


We headed along the reef, checking out the multitude of beautiful and colourful fish.


Lurking in the shadows in the centre of the photo we saw a slightly shy Moray Eel.


Some more fish peeping out behind some coral.


One of the other divers down below.


I didn't go much below 10 metres as there wasn't much to see beyond the reef in the shallower waters.


My tank pressure gauge was in imperial units (psi) and I'm normally used to the pressure being measured in metric so had to do mental conversions back to bars while monitoring my remaining air.


Rob had learn't to dive in Djibouti and had often come out on his days off from shuttling UN personnel to and from Yemen.


It was amazing too see the abundance of fish, both in number and variety.


A Bluespotted ribbontail ray.


With the shallow dive depth and focusing on conserving my air I managed to squeeze out 65 minutes underwater, my longest dive yet!


Back on the Faragallah with some of the guys having a snorkel after a successful morning swimming with the Whale sharks. The boat in the background is on a 7 day 'live aboard' divetrip around the coast.


Lunch being served at about 12:30pm. Some tuna salad and rice to start.


Followed by some freshly BBQ'ed and very tasty tuna and beef kebabs.


And some watermelon and banana to finish.


After lunch, the divers loaded up onto one of the skiffs and headed out to try and find the Whale sharks.


After about ~30 minutes riding along the coast in the skiff, our spotter saw a Whale shark. The boat driver maneuvered just in front of the big fish and we all jumped in!

The Whale shark was moving through the water at a bit of a pace so we had to swim quite frantically to catch up with it.


Luckily we caught up with it though, despite being nearly out of breath! Some yellow pilot fish also right in front of the Whale sharks mouth.


It was hard not to feel overawed by this massive but gentle fish. Whale sharks are migratory fish and only spend ~6 weeks every December and January in the waters around Djibouti.


It was definitely one of my most memorable and amazing travel experiences!


The spots on a Whale shark form a unique 'bodyprint' that helps identify and track individual sharks. Luckily my photo above was perfect for this, and Dolphin Services submitted it to the international Whale shark database.

Whale sharks are listed as vulnerable to extinction in the IUCN list of threatened species, so it was great to help in a small way to better understand and protect these beautiful creatures.

After the amazing afternoon, we clambered back into the skiff, both exhausted and exhilarated after the awesome experience, and then headed back to the Faragallah.


And back at Djibouti Port de pêche just before 6pm. The whole day had cost $160, including the dive and lunch, and was well worth it.


After walking back into the city, I headed to Kokeb Star, a restaurant specialising in Ethiopian cuisine.


For dinner I head the injera with beef, chicken, cheese and other traditional dishes. Very tasty and it could have easily fed two people!


I then retired back to the hotel to get some rest before another busy day tomorrow.