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Djibouti - Geography

The Republic of Djibouti is in the Horn of Africa. Djibouti encompasses 8,400 square miles (21,883 square kilometers), which is about the size of Massachusetts. Djibouti is the third smallest nation in Africa. It shares direct access to the strategic Bab el Mandeb, or the Gates of Tears, with Eritrea and Yemen. This strait controls southern access to the Red Sea and, therefore, the Suez Canal. It is one of the busiest commercial waterways in the world.

Djibouti is bare, dry, desolate, and covered by lava rocks and dust from centuries-old volcanic activity. Sharp cliffs, deep ravines, burning sands, and thorny shrubbery mark the landscape. The terrain, with limited vegetation for grazing, consists of eastern coastal plain and western plateau, separated by a minor mountain range that ends the Great Rift Valley.

Djibouti is bordered by Eritrea on the north, Ethiopia on the west, Somalia on the south, and the Gulf of Aden on the east. Djibouti’s land boundaries total 508 kilometers (315 miles). Its boundary with Eritrea is 113 kilometers- (70 miles-) long; with Ethiopia, 337 kilometers-(209 miles-) long; and with Somalia, 58 kilometers- (36 miles-) long.

Djibouti has a 12-nautical-mile territorial sea, a 24-nautical-mile contiguous zone, and a 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone. The economic zone neighboring nations’ economic zones and extends into strategic sea lanes.

Djibouti has a sand and stone desert with a narrow coastal plain; a central, low mountain range formed as part of the Great Rift Valley; and a dry plain in the west. The coastal plain rises inland to less than 200 meters (650 feet) above sea level, except for the northern shoreline of the Gulf of Tadjoura. Sand- and lava-covered coastal plains and the Rift’s volcanic hills and mountain ridges dominate the Aden coastal fringe. Minor mountain ranges extend from the coastal plain to the Ethiopian highlands, where the highest point in the country (Mount Moussa Ali, 2,063 meters/6,768 feet) is located.

Marsh flats and caustic swamplands dominate Djibouti’s interior sections. The inland plateau rises from 300 to 1,500 meters (1,000 to 5,000 feet) above sea level. Djibouti has no rivers, only intermittent creeks in the mountains that flow during the rainy season. Djibouti has 0.1 cubic mile of water.

Lake Assal, Djibouti’s most prominent lake, is about 129 kilometers (80 miles) west of the capital city, positioned between several isolated volcanic peaks in the Great Rift Valley. Lake Assal is a saline lake 144 meters (471 feet) below sea level, making it the lowest point on the African continent.

Djibouti’s coastline is 314 kilometers- (195 miles-) long. Much of its length is in the Gulf of Tadjoura, an east-west oriented trench with a maximum depth of 883 meters (2,897 feet). A shallow, narrow opening separates it from the partially enclosed basin of the Goubet-Al-Kharab, which has increased salinity and coral reefs. This area lies in a zone of upwelling, nutrient-rich water where coral reefs are poorly developed. A depth of 200 meters (656 feet) is reached within 8 to 10 kilometers (5 to 6 miles) off the coast. The Moucha Islands are centrally located in the Gulf of Tadjoura.

North of Djibouti City, the coastline features coral reefs, shoals, islets, and islands. The coral reefs are fringing; the reef edge presents variable width. The coast is bordered by flat, low, barren, and sandy plain less than 97 kilometers (60 miles) wide, backed by broken hills, mountains, and bisected plain. There are a few stretches of cliffs and bluffs.

Beaches have sand and coral composition. Bottoms near the shore are sand or a mixture of sand, pebbles, rocks, or mud, and coral. Reefs are present in some stretches of coast south of Djibouti City, but most approaches are free of obstructions. Anchorages are subject to heavy surf during winter. The southeastern coast between the capital and Loyada at the Somali border is shallow, sandy, and has several estuaries.

Created by volcanic action, Djibouti is 90 percent desert, 9 percent pasture-land, and less than 1 percent forest. Vegetation in the sub-desert coastal area is characterized by areas of thick bunches of twigs, grass, and scattered shrubs. Some areas have saline soils with vegetation crossed by broad, shallow water-courses. When it rains, the low bushes and grass clumps quickly rejuvenate. Although most of the vegetation is desert brush and scrub, the mountains have rare, protected giant juniper trees; acacias; and wild olive trees.

Many plants have poisonous thorns that can puncture the skin, causing infection. Rashes can result from some plants simply through contact. Several types of plant life are poisonous if ingested.

Local inhabitants commonly chew khat or kat (pronounced “chat”), a legally grown plant used as a narcotic.

Lakes Assal and Goubet-Al-Kharab are separated by a 7 kilometer-(4 mile-) wide volcanic zone, where the East Africa, Red Sea, and Gulf of Aden rift systems converge. The thinness of the Earth’s crust (5 kilometers/ 3 miles) has created an area of telluric activity. Earthquakes and volcanic and geothermic activity, with more than 600 tremors, are recorded every year, but few are strong enough for humans to feel. In August 1989, Djibouti experienced two earthquakes in 2 days near the border of Ethiopia that each registered 6.5 on the Richter scale. Djibouti has four volcanoes.

The last volcano to erupt was Ardoukoba in 1978. Following series of weak earthquakes which caused concern in djibouti town on 7 November, a French observation aircraft noted volcanic eruption in isolated and virtually uninhabited region to southeast of Lake Assal in early hours of 8 November 1978. It is assumed that actual eruption probably began at time of sharp earth tremor at approximately 1730z 07 November 1978. The volcano is named Ardoukoba after ridge line upon which volcano erupted (42'28"w, 11'36".50"n) [a word in the Afar language for which a translation is not readily available]. The volcanic eruption eventually created a crater approximately 30 meters in diameter. The lava flow was estimated at about 1000 cubic meters per minute at peak of activity. The height of new volcanic mound was about 100 yards.