Stay : Lake Abbé and Lake Assal in 2 days

Morning: from Djibouti to Dikhil we follow a 120 km paved road, the route taken by Ethiopian truckers from the port of Djibouti to Addis Ababa, to import the goods needed for the country's economy.

We'll cross the semi-desert expanses of the Petit Bara and then the Grand Bara, where we'll spot mirages, whirlpools and gazelles if we're lucky.

Before lunch at La Palmeraie restaurant in Dikhil, we visit the town's palm grove.

Afternoon: after Dikhil, we leave the road for 80 km of sometimes sandy tracks, passing through the villages of As Eyla and Koutabouya. We may see Pelzen's gazelles; at the end of the route, warthogs are a common sight.

The sulphurous scents escaping from the fumaroles have given the lake its name. Indeed, Lac Abbé means "rotten lake"!

Arrive at the Lac Abbé camp in the evening to watch the sunset

Evening meal and overnight at Lac Abbé camp

Morning: early in the morning, we watch the sunrise over the chimneys! Then we'll get up close to the pink flamingos on the lake shore. We'll also see some boiling water springs.

Then off to Lake Assal. On the way, we stop to admire the breathtaking scenery of the Dimbiya Canyon....

A few kilometers further on, another stop at the stele of B. Borrel, the French magistrate whose partially charred body was found at the bottom of the cliff on the morning of October 18, 1995. the "Borrel affair" soured relations between the Djiboutian and French states for several years.

Finally, we take the "access ramp" to Lake Assal, where plastic shoes are required to avoid injury on the sharp, hard salt crystals of the salt floe.

Fortunately, the wind moderates the heat, but its legendary beauty, described by the adventurous writer J. Kessel, makes it a must-see.

On a longer tour, we can organize a bivouac on site to enjoy the sunrise the next day, and hike up to the Ardoukoba volcano.

Lunch: picnic on the way

Afternoon: Return trip to Djibouti. Possible detour to the lava field between Assal and Goubet.