Obock

Obock on the northern coast was where France established itself in this part of the Horn in the 1860s before moving the administration south to Djibouti City, and it has been quiet ever since: a small town of low buildings on a hot flat shore with a lighthouse, a few colonial-era remains and fishing boats. The Bab-el-Mandeb strait and the Yemeni coast lie a short way north.

History

The fishing village first stood on the plateau of Dala-h Húgub near the Dar'i wadi, its people living from herding, fishing and trade; in the Middle Ages it was ruled by the Ifat and then the Adal Sultanates, and it was nominally Ottoman from 1554. Obock became the site of the first French colony in the region by a treaty with local Afar rulers on 11 March 1862, as France wanted a coaling station for its steamships, especially once the Suez Canal opened in 1869, rather than depend on the British port of Aden. The site was not occupied, only visited by naval ships, until the trader Pierre Arnoux settled here in 1881, followed by Paul Soleillet, and in August 1884 Léonce Lagarde arrived and set up an administration, making Obock the capital of the new territory; by 1885 it had 800 inhabitants and a school. Its anchorage was more exposed than Djibouti's across the gulf, and in 1894 the administration moved there, after which Obock's population declined (Wikipedia, Obock).

Highlights

• The old port - the first French base on this coast, now very quiet.
• The colonial remains - what is left of the nineteenth-century settlement.
• The lighthouse - the light standing on the shore.
• The fishing boats - the working craft on the beach.

When to go

November to March is the cool season. Summer heat here is extreme, among the hottest inhabited places anywhere. Boats from Djibouti City run irregularly.

Good to know

There is very little in the town and facilities are minimal. Summer heat is genuinely dangerous. The road round from Tadjoura is long and rough in stretches.

Nearby

Ras Bir is nearby, and Khor Angar is north.

Key facts