Travel Guide Loyada

21 km from Djibouti is the Somali border, and Loyada is the last town in the country. It is rather a small village that lives around the border post. Its beach is long and open to the Indian Ocean. Nothing blocks the horizon. The palm grove brings a little freshness and the site is appreciated at the end of the week. We will also see tombs of historical chiefs issas. The road to reach Loyada is very beautiful and crosses some wadis (sometimes raw). The border atmosphere is palpable with the increasing trade with the self-proclaimed republic of Somaliland. The road then continues towards the eastern highlands, Hergeisa, the capital of Somaliland, and the port of Berbera, places with somewhat mythical names... but which we unfortunately cannot visit at the moment. The border delimitations remain uncertain. According to the recommendations of the French Embassy in Djibouti, after the "Refuge Décan" (Damerdjog), the area crossed by the road that connects Djibouti-City to Loyada is to be avoided absolutely because it does not offer all the security conditions The Intervention. On February 3, 1976, a group of terrorists boarded a school bus carrying 31 children of French soldiers. The kidnappers drove the vehicle to Loyada, a border post with Somalia, where their supporters were located. It was here that the first major mission of the GIGN took place. This story is told in the film L'Intervention, by Fred Grivois, released in theaters on January 30, 2019