4-Day Mogadishu and Djibouti Tour with Whale Sharks and Lac Assal

You land at Aden Adde International and meet the local team who will run every hour of your time in Mogadishu. The day takes in the coral-stone lanes of Hamar Weyne, the oldest part of the city, then the rebuilt national monuments, then the fish market on the harbour, loud, wet, and full of fish. Late in the afternoon, you go to Liido Beach, where Mogadishu swims. Dinner is Somali - camel, banana with rice, and sweet spiced tea - eaten inside the hotel walls.

One more morning in the capital with the local team, for the parts of the old town there wasn't time for on day one and the light over the harbour. Then head to the airport for the regional flight to Djibouti City. The change is obvious as soon as you land: a calm, compact capital of French boulevards, Afar and Somali markets, and Red Sea heat. The evening is yours for the old European quarter and dinner in town.

The whole day is on the water. The boat heads west out of Djibouti City into the Gulf of Tadjoura, where upwellings bring nutrients to the surface and juvenile whale sharks come up to feed, in season roughly November to February. It's one of the most reliable whale-shark gatherings in the world. When a shark is spotted, you go in with mask and snorkel and swim next to it. In between, there's coffee on deck, lunch on board, and the volcanic coastline to look at. These are wild animals and nothing is guaranteed, but a day on this gulf is worth having regardless.

The road heads west from the city and drops through the Afar desert, over lava fields and fault scarps where you can see the ground separating between three tectonic plates. It ends at Lac Assal, 155 metres below sea level and the lowest point in Africa, where white salt banks surround water ten times saltier than the sea. Float in it, walk the salt crust, photograph black lava against white salt, then drive back to Djibouti City in the afternoon for evening departures.