Djibouti Warnings Or Dangers Tips by janiebaxter

Jostled by Whale Sharks

Before our first trip to find and swim with the Whale Sharks we were given a briefing and told not to get too close - not because the Whale Sharks are dangerous, but so as not to disturb them. You are not supposed to go within 3 feet of the side or front and not crowd them if there are a few of you. They are really only interested in feeding on the plankton bloom close to the surface of the water and have no teeth so could not bite if they wanted to. However they DO NOT give way to swimmers or snorkelers. If you get in their way they just keep on swimming where they want to go and they can swim faster than people wearing fins so if you are in their path you have to try and flip to the side.
At first we were very worried when we had one coming towards us but they just bump into you and swim on past. We soon got used to it. Often we were just snorkelling and a Whale Shark would bump us, appearing from nowhere. They don’t hurt at all and feel quite soft for such a big creature. It’s a bit like being jostled in a market!

Terrible Roads - 4WD Required!

The roads, once outside of Djibouti City are very bad and quite dangerous. Our day trip to Lac Assal took us along the main route for the trucks coming from the Port to Ethiopia and not only is the road crowded with lines of trucks, often you have to take a detour off road onto a temporary surface which is tarred and full of boulders and stones.
We passed many bashed up crashed vehicles at the side of the road and were very glad we had a driver and 4WD.
Added to this there are many military convoys passing which everybody seems to give way to.