Djibouti

Djibouti is a city-state at the mouth of the Red Sea that exists primarily because of its location - the French built a port here, the Americans and Chinese both have military bases here, and the world's shipping passes through the strait it guards. Away from the geopolitics, the country is a landscape of surreal geological drama: Lake Assal sits 155 metres below sea level, saltier than the Dead Sea, ringed by lava fields. The whale sharks gather off the coast at Arta between November and February. Lac Abbe is a plain of limestone chimneys venting steam at dawn.

Our guide is being written from the ground up, with the time this place deserves.

We are still gathering the notes that make a guide worth keeping: Lake Assal routes, whale shark timings, Lac Abbe dawn visits and the Djiboutian restaurants where the Indian Ocean trade shows up in the spicing.