Dikhil

Dikhil sits on a rise between the Grand Bara and Petit Bara plains in Djibouti's southwest, a market town of a few thousand people that serves the Afar and Somali herders of the region and works as the last real settlement before the tracks out to Lake Abbe. Camels and goats come through constantly. The Ethiopian border is a short distance west. The town sits at around five hundred metres, which takes the worst edge off the heat compared with the plains on either side.

History

Surveys in 1986 found rock engravings around Dikhil from the fourth or third millennium BC, the best known at Handoga, where the remains of a village of round dry-stone houses yielded pottery, stone tools of basalt, rhyolite and obsidian, and beads, but no metal. The village grew up around the well of Harrou near a wadi, with houses of mud and stone, founded by the Afar and Issa, who lived from herding and trade. In 1930 Dikhil became the capital of a new administrative district, the Circle of Dikhil; an airstrip was built in 1933, the road to Djibouti was extended in 1936, and a primary school and several shops followed in the 1940s (Wikipedia, Dikhil).

What you'll find

• The market - the trading centre for the herders of the southwest.
• The two plains - Grand Bara and Petit Bara on either side of the town.
• The livestock - camels and goats moving through constantly.
• The Abbe base - the last settlement before the tracks to the lake.

When to go

November to March is the cool season. Summer heat is extreme. Market days are busiest.

Good to know

There is little for a visitor and the town functions as a staging point. Facilities are basic. Trips to Lake Abbe must be arranged with vehicles and guides here or in the capital.

Nearby

Lake Abbe is west, and Ali Sabieh is southeast.

Key facts