Travel Guide Obock

For Djiboutians, Obock remains little more than a set of alleys, decrepit houses, a forgotten place. For foreigners, its name evokes adventurers, writers' tales and some old colonial nostalgia. They arrive here guided by dreams born of their reading. It is therefore as much in one's imagination as in the streets of the city that one will fall under the charm of Obock. Obock seen by Henry de Monfreid. "The abandoned city is nothing but lamentable ruins, but the morning light is so beautiful that it animates dead things by the charm of color. A narrow beach separates this mass of crumbling walls from the sea; calm and clear, it spreads evenly over the cool wet sand. Naked natives, gilded by the slanting sun, bathe and perform the morning ablutions. A madreporic plateau, colored yellow ochre, serves as a background; a palm grove greens further back [...]. At the end of the promontory, overlooking the sea and the ruins of the city, a large cubic building sits heavily. The contrast of this well-kept building in front of the debris of a whole city, makes one think of a satiated animal, digesting in the middle of the carcasses of all its victims. "Henry de Monfreid, The Secrets of the Red Sea. Despite this uncompromising description, Monfreid was a lover of Obock and described it like no other. He built his house there, settled his wife and daughter and returned twenty years after his exploits