Things to Do in Gulf of Tadjoura

Snorkel the coral gardens of Moucha Island

You'll slip into bath-warm water the color of crushed basil and immediately see purple-tipped staghorn waving below. Tiny clownfish dart between anemones. Parrotfish crunch coral loud enough to hear underwater. The boat ride from the old Tadjoura port takes 45 minutes of salt spray and engine thrum.

Walk the salt trail to Lake Assal

The track leaves Tadjoura's palm-lined boulevard and quickly turns into a white crust that crunches like brittle plastic underfoot. On still days you can smell sulphur long before you see the turquoise mirror of Africa's lowest point, rimmed by crystalline formations sharp enough to slice sandals. Nomads sometimes camp nearby, selling chunks of salt the size of house bricks.

Dawn coffee in the Ottoman quarter

Around 5:30 a.m. the alleys behind the Awoa Mosque fill with the clink of brass pots and the hiss of milk frothing. Elderly men shuffle out in white foutas to sip cardamom-laden brew so strong it leaves a metallic buzz on your tongue. The walls here flake like stale pastry, revealing layers of sky-blue and ochre that date to when Tadjoura supplied fresh water to passing dhows.

Watch whale sharks from an old dhow

Between October and January the gulf's plankton bloom draws gentle giants that glide alongside wooden boats whose paint feels like dried seaweed to the touch. You hear only the creak of teak and the sudden blow of a nine-metre shark exhaling through its blowhole. Even non-swimmers get goosebumps when a spotted tail brushes the hull.

Hike the Day Forest above Randa village

A thirty-minute drive from Tadjoura port, the road corkscrews into juniper cloud forest where the air suddenly feels cool enough to see your breath. You'll hear cicadas rattling like loose fan belts while colobus monkeys crash through canopy that smells of wild rosemary. On clear mornings the gulf glitters 600 metres below like scattered coins.

Port quarter: crumbling colonial houses turned into family-run guesthouses where morning coffee arrives with sea views

Plateau district: slightly cooler elevation above town, popular with NGO staff for its breeze and mosque-free dawn

Beach strip: basic campements built from driftwood; you'll fall asleep to wave hiss and generator hum

Oue'a road: mid-range hotels set in old French officers' quarters, thick stone walls keep rooms chilled

Randa foothills: eco-lodge in converted forestry huts, cold showers but milky-way skies

Moucha Island: overnight on the sand in Afar tents. Bucket toilets. Yet bioluminescence in the surf