We were the first Russians there, and that's always nice.

MOSCOW-PARIS

Initially, I suggested our Khabarovsk group fly to Africa via Seoul and Dubai, but people thought it was slightly cheaper to get there via Moscow and Paris. Paris it is then.

Upon arrival in Moscow, we were told that the Paris airport was on strike. In a state of complete uncertainty, we went to sleep. In the morning, information came that everything was fine, our flight would be accepted in France.

We landed in the French capital in the evening and were met with complete confusion. Charles de Gaulle Airport is huge, confusing and very neglected looking. Its condition is simply deplorable: stains on the ceilings, mold... Bus service is organized throughout the airport, and a railway is also laid between buildings. No one at the airport complex could really explain anything to us, apparently there weren't enough employees.

Our movements around Charles de Gaulle are remembered by me as a kind of bus tour of Europe. We rode a bus, then a train, then a bus again. About an hour and a half.

In Paris, we expected to jump from one plane to another, so we checked all our warm clothes in baggage, and for nothing... everyone got very cold. We somehow found the gate. Electronic tickets are already in effect everywhere in Europe, meaning you have a simple piece of paper with a name in your hands, and this situation is a bit stressful, but the system, thank God, works.

PARIS-DJIBOUTI

I thought flying to Djibouti would take about four hours. It turned out to be 7 hours 10 minutes! We arrived on a sold-out flight of a British airline that specializes in unpopular routes, like Paris-Djibouti. In-flight service was exemplary.

In the capital of Djibouti there are two attractions - the port and the president's palace. Each time the guide proudly showed them to us, and each time we met his words with applause and shouts of "bravo!" The port is huge, all the berths are packed with container ships, and on each one containers are 8-10 rows high.

The architecture in the capital is mainly French, because it was France that gave Djibouti independence in 1977 - 30 years ago. Since then, apparently, not a single building has been repaired. Buildings of 2-4 floors, everything is very reminiscent of Havana. Taxis in Djibouti are green. Traffic in the country is right-hand, but there are also right-hand drive Japanese cars, like ours.

Two-thirds of citizens live in the capital (there are only half a million of them in total) and almost all the money is made there. I was struck by the abundance of Coca-Cola in Africa. All kiosks are filled with it. And the natives drink it! This is a Muslim country, unfortunately beer is very scarce there... But the Central Market (Le Marche Central) is one of the few places in the world where "khat" is sold completely legally - a mild drug so popular in the East. They sell it in the form of brooms, the price depending on the thickness of the broom.

There were other temptations too. Less than an hour after our arrival in Djibouti, someone from our group admitted that he had already been offered white girls, apparently Ukrainians...

UNDER GUARD

No, this country is not the ass of Africa. Somalia is much worse, but in Congo, they say, on the contrary - everything is super. The territory of Djibouti is probably like the Jewish Autonomous Region, but it's a crucial strategic point! Americans are stationed there, there's a base of the French Foreign Legion. In the strait we met a German cruiser, military planes and helicopters constantly fly in the sky. Under such protection you feel calm. Of course, controlling Djibouti is much easier than neighboring Ethiopia or Eritrea.

(Since colonial times, France's largest military base in Africa has remained on Djibouti's territory, and Franco-Djiboutian military maneuvers are regularly conducted. During the first Gulf War (1990-1991), Djibouti was used as an operational base for US troops. Since the early 2000s, a regional anti-terrorist center has been located there (1,500 US soldiers) - note "ML".)

DIVING SAFARI DJIBOUTI-STYLE

The host side found itself in a difficult situation: the arriving group had no equipment and not even suitable clothing.

What to do? A European can only get dressed in Africa in sports stores. A T-shirt, shorts, flip-flops cost 100 dollars! By the way, 170 Djiboutian francs equals 1 dollar.

Diving equipment was collected for us from all over the country. They managed to scrape together 11 sets for 22 people! We dove in groups in turns. I took a quite decent set from an instructor, but I didn't get a wetsuit. I dove the first days in an ordinary T-shirt, because the water temperature is +30 degrees at depths up to 20 meters, but nevertheless, I caught a cold.

At our disposal was a decent (grand comfort category) three-deck 32-meter dive yacht "Djibouti Divers": 11 double cabins with shower, hot water, equipped dive deck, jacuzzi on the upper deck, sun deck, hookah, plasma panel...

The practically silent compressor was pleasing. Aluminum cylinders of 12 and 15 liters with DIN connectors (Nitrox by prior request). We dived from the dive deck or spacious fiberglass boats.

To our delight, on the very first evening a whale shark came. A French crew worked on the yacht, which forbade photographing sharks with flash, diving to them in gear, saying the animal would be scared of flashes and bubbles, would leave and not return. As subsequent events showed, the sharks didn't give a damn about photo flashes, divers, etc. They were eating!

The next day in daylight, two sharks came to the yacht at once, and the French were simply amazed, according to them this had never happened! Doubtful, because sometimes up to five sharks "hung out" at our yacht in one evening! This place in Tadjoura Bay is rich in plankton, plus the animals are attracted by the light from the ship. But the abundance of plankton terribly interferes with shooting. In the water there's continuous turbidity and suspension from it, visibility from 2 to 12 meters!

Baby sharks are about five meters long, an adult shark up to 10-12 meters, weighing 20 tons. You watch how it moves, very slowly wagging its tail, but you have to work your fins with all your might to keep up with it! The whale shark feeds on everything up to 7 cm in diameter. It might hastily grab a small crab, and then spit it out with noise. It's not dangerous. Contact with its skin can be dangerous - abrasive, like a grater! In Japan, by the way, wasabi graters are made from shark skin.

The impressions are unforgettable - in what other country in the world do whale sharks rush around the yacht, and you go calmly... to dinner! By the way, unlike Indonesia, on the African shark safari we were fed without culinary delights: for breakfast a pancake and omelet, for lunch - fish from night fishing, meat, sometimes chicken, fruits in very modest quantities.

Night fishing is magnificent: red snappers (very delicate in taste!), barracudas (reminiscent of cod) are easily caught.

RAINY SEASON AND LECTURES

We found ourselves in Djibouti during the rainy season, and... There was only one downpour, but very severe.

...And this is Dima Orlov, president of the Moscow State University Diving Club, biologist, researcher at the Department of Invertebrate Zoology of the Biology Faculty of Moscow State University. He professionally, with full knowledge of the matter, told us about corals, jellyfish, sharks. This can only be heard at lectures at Moscow State University and on dives organized by Dima Orlov. Awesome!

On the 3rd day of the safari, our cargo from Paris arrived. Moreover, by the number of receipts we learned that someone's baggage was not delivered. Khabarovsk residents decided to chip in 300 dollars each if one of ours was unlucky. They offered the rest to chip in 50 dollars each for the person affected by the Paris loaders. Everyone flatly refused. And what happened? The cargo didn't come to one of those who refused. By the way, the same trouble happened to him on the way back.

ON THE ISLANDS AND IN THE BAY

Almost all dive sites were located in Tadjoura Bay. Diving conditions there are very comfortable: warm water, no strong currents, and the Maskali Islands - a protected area - shield from ocean waves coming from the Indian Ocean. On the bottom in the area of the islands there's an underwater stone canyon.

Perhaps the best dive site in Djibouti is "White Sand". There are magnificent corals, that's where dolphins and guitar sharks come. Lots of lionfish, clownfish, rays, parrots and other creatures. We chose "White Sands" as a place for night mooring because there was practically no waves. And what amazing sunsets there!

At the dive site "C.E.C.A.P.", not far from the French Foreign Legion camp, we met turtles. I conducted a real photo hunt for one of them because it wasn't in the mood to pose... But the barracudas didn't mind. Below on the drop-off is a picturesque stone ridge.

"Red Virgin" is a reddish rock on which someone once saw the figure of a red virgin. We couldn't do it. Near the shore are gorgeous corals. We met a nudibranch and a couple of very nice Napoleons.

In the place called "Star Bay" there's an incredibly beautiful coral garden. We came across a gorgeous colored worm that curls up like a tube, we have such in the Sea of Japan too. I've never encountered as many moray eels as in "Star Bay," where they gathered in shallow water (up to 2 meters). And also this unreal lobster. To photograph it, I had to disturb it a little. By the antennae. But so as to leave them intact, because they break off easily.

"Le Faon wreck". In one of the straits there's a whole cemetery of ships that died over many centuries. Very serious rocks on the bottom and current. You can only pass there during high tide. But they didn't take us there. Instead, they showed a French dry cargo ship that sank about 10 years ago. Allegedly its diesel exploded so badly that the ship was torn in half. Quite strange and implausible. Couldn't photograph well because of turbidity and suspension in the water.

CODA

We spent the last two days at the Sheraton Hotel. Besides us, German and French naval military personnel lived there. I can hardly imagine a simple Russian sailor living at the Sheraton! Next to the hotel is a casino that sometimes opens, and a nightclub that's closed forever. These two days reminded us of our Soviet times and everything that went on around the Intourist hotel: closed territory, its own hotel crowd, expensive souvenir departments... The hotel owner hosted a reception for the Russian delegation.

We traveled most of the country. Memorable was visiting the African Rift - impressive rocks with cliffs and chasms 700 m deep, the place where the African continent is breaking into three parts.

I was struck by Lake Assal (minus 153 meters from sea level) in a wild area, surrounded by inactive volcanoes and black fields of frozen lava. It's impossible to stand on its bottom - salt crystals dig into your feet. Natives trade these huge salt crystals.

There are many Somali refugee camps in Djibouti. Next to them are football fields cleared of stones. And everyone plays, and quite decently! On one of the fields, the goal stood at a 45-degree angle, but this didn't bother the players at all.

Another curious place is the so-called "Singing Sands". How they "sing," we didn't understand; in our opinion, they crunch like snow.

We visited a national Djiboutian village. The natives dance and sing just superbly - an unforgettable show! The local cuisine is good (they served goat meat), but the souvenirs seem to be not local, but imported. We bought Djiboutian men's skirts, it turned out they were made in Indonesia. Really liked the stone dishes, shark tooth necklaces, which will remain as a memory of the trip.

REFERENCE

Republic of Djibouti. Territory - 23.2 thousand sq. km. Presidential republic. The President is the head of government and supreme commander of the Armed Forces. Legislative functions are exercised by a unicameral National Assembly (65 deputies), elected for a 5-year term. Administrative-territorial division - 5 districts. Population - 712 thousand people (2004). Official languages - French and Arabic. Religion - Islam, Christianity. Currency - Djiboutian franc.

The flag of Djibouti amazingly resembles the flag of Khabarovsk Territory. If you "rotate" the colors of the territory's flag one step counterclockwise and add a red star to the white field at the hoist, you get... the flag of Djibouti.

Geographical position and borders. Continental state, located in the Horn of Africa region and on the islands of Maskali, Musha and Seven Brothers. Borders Eritrea to the north, Ethiopia to the northwest, southwest and south, Somalia to the southeast, the eastern coast is washed by the waters of the Gulf of Aden of the Indian Ocean. Coastline length - 350 km.

Nature. Djibouti is in a zone of continuous volcanic activity. Mountain ranges alternate with lava plateaus, many extinct volcanoes. There are geothermal springs.

Climate - tropical, hot and dry. Average monthly air temperatures +27-35° C. Maximum +42-43° (July). No permanent rivers. Large lakes - Assal (salt) and Abbe (freshwater). Lack of drinking water is one of the main problems.

Flora is mainly desert and semi-desert. Mangrove forests have been preserved on the coast and islands. Coastal waters abound with fish, crabs and lobsters.

Population. Average population density - 30 people per 1 sq. km (2002). Average annual population growth is 2.1%. 43% of the population are children under 14. Life expectancy - 43 years (men - 42, women - 44). More than 45% of the population is below the poverty line. The issue of repatriation of refugees and illegal emigrants from Iraq, Yemen, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia is acute.

Religion. Djibouti is a secular state. 94% of the population are Sunni Muslims (there are also a small number of Shiites). Christians make up 5%, about 1% of Djiboutians practice Buddhism and Hinduism.

Communications. They said there would be problems with mobile communications in Africa. It turned out everything was simple - you take a satellite phone, insert an MTS card and communicate absolutely freely with Russia.

Underwater world. Djibouti is located at the confluence of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. Corals living in Djibouti waters at depths from 0 to 25 meters are located behind bare rocks or sand. The animal world of the Gulf of Aden is distinguished by great species diversity: several species of dolphins (bottlenose dolphin, Chinese dolphin, long-nosed), sharks (white-spotted, gray, zebra, nurse shark, black-spotted), guitar fish, large stingray, small and large manta, sea urchins are found here. In almost every dive you can see turtles, moray eels, Napoleon fish, barracudas, mantas.

From October to the end of February is the season for encounters with whale sharks in Tadjoura Bay.

Underwater hunting (including sea turtles) is prohibited by law (nevertheless, its meat is included in many local dishes). Fishing is allowed only by license. Extraction and export of corals and shells from the country are prohibited.

Recorded by Alexander Filimonenko