Godoria Mangroves

Godoria is a lagoon on Djibouti's northern coast fringed with mangrove, which in a country where almost nothing grows is a striking thing to come across: a band of green in bare desert where the water is sheltered enough for the trees to hold. Flamingos, herons and waders use the flats and the lagoon is a nursery for fish. Turtles nest on the beach outside. Djibouti has almost no permanent surface water, so a mangrove lagoon of this size is a genuine anomaly. The trees here are Avicennia marina, the species that tolerates the highest salinity, which is what lets them survive at all on this coast.

What you actually see

• The mangrove band - green trees in otherwise bare desert coast.
• The lagoon - the sheltered water the mangroves grow around.
• The flamingos and waders - the birds working the flats.
• The turtle beach - nesting on the shore outside the lagoon.

When to go

November to March is the cool season and best for birds. Summer heat is extreme. Tide governs how much flat is exposed.

Honest expectations

Access is on rough track and needs four wheel drive. There are no facilities. Mosquitoes around the mangrove are heavy at dusk.

Nearby

Obock is southwest, and Khor Angar is northeast.