Djibouti’s strangely seductive blend of African, Arab, lndian and European influences is seasoned with a hefty dose of qat, the mildly intoxicating herb that is chewed by most males and sets the country’s pace to unhurried. The capital may belittle more than a minor port filled with peeling colonial buildings, but its streets are unforgettable, shared by traditionally robed tribesmen and French legionnaires, hennaed women and Somali refugees, and filled with the aromas of French cuisine and seedy bars. Away from coast, the hinterland is a bizarre treat of eerie volcanic landscapes and vast salt lakes. Djibouti could just well be one of East Africa’s best-kept secrets.

November to mid-April, when the weather is coolest

Exploring the great salt lake of Las Assal Visiting the weird, lunar landscape of Lac Abbe at dawn Snorkelling the stunning coral reefs off Djibouti’s Red Sea coast Spotting birds and animals in the Foret Du Day national park Trekking behind the Afar nomads and their caravans along the ancient salt route Sharing a poisson Yemenite (fish supper) with the locals

Read Khamsine, a collection of lyrical, sometimes semi-erotic, poems by Djiboutian poet William JF Syad

Listen to solo guitarist Aidarous and Guux musician Taha Nahari

Watch Total Eclipse, which was made in part in Djibouti

Eat local foie (liver) for breakfast and cabri faric (stuffed kid) for lunch

Drink the fizzy and slightly salty local bottled water or tea

Salam’ alekum (greetings)

Nomade; men chewing qat; arid deserts; the Red Sea; the civil war; camels

Many Afar nomads still file their into ferocious-looking points; Afar huts are usually spherical, while Somali huts are more quadrangular in design

Without a hint of a written record, hotel receptionists effortlessly recall complicanted telephone messages, and operators recall long international numbers. Waiters and taxi drivers wax lyrical at the slightest provocation, and any inhabitant can, on demand, recite the entire family tree, and in conversation retell hundreds if not thousands of proverbs and traditional tales. Such gifts are considered the product of a nomadic culture, in which the spoken the word has always been more important than the written one. lndividuals carry in their heads their nation’s culture and their ancestors’ artistry; great memories are developed and a remarkable diction learnt.