A drive around Djibouti

My world-traveling father emailed me this picture from Djibouti, a small Islamic country east of Ethiopia, north of Somalia. I wager he was likely the only foreign tourist in the entire country driving around last week. Apparently, he almost ran out of gas trying to find a remote lake, and accidentally drove up to the border of Somalia.

The great travel/adventure writer Kevin Fedarko wrote an excellent article on the popular middle eastern drug khat, and its trade and usage in Djibouti, that is very worth reading, but I think my father's email describing his taking the wrong road to find the lake, pulling up to an abandoned beach resort, and driving quickly away from five youths on the empty beach that were approaching his car makes for an equally good read.