and this is my friend Hanouna Omar, the owner of PLAGE SABLES BLANCS lodge where I hope to celebrate my 50th bday next year. Intrepid travelers, do join me in DJIBOUTI to celebrate my half-century existence 
Photo credit: Iara Lee.
my deep thank you to my afar 4×4 driver and afar guide to show me these mineral-rich hot springs in LAC ABBE. i know so well how each drop of water is precious here! these springs feed the farms of local nomads who graze their camels and goats here…
Photo credit: Iara Lee.
just back from super off-the-grid interior of DJIBOUTI, in the horn of AFRICA. finally able to get partially online. my afar family and I wish you all happy valentines . Will lose internet soon again… thank you to my team for keeping projects moving as I transect the remoteness of DJIBOUTI!
Photo credit: Iara Lee.
but one day was enough to clear my body from diarrhea and as soon as healthy, I was out and about eating local goat with pepper sauce (and licking my fingers) with my retired friend journalist Hassan, whose dream in life is to volunteer for AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL. nice to connect good souls to good causes, I am making the introduction and bridging DJIBOUTI to AMNESTY . cheers to human rights!
Photo credit: Iara Lee.
me observing tectonic forces in action that slowly pull old continental plates apart and in the process create new ones.
Photo credit: Iara Lee.
I kept reading about quicksand, so I followed the common sense advice to take a guide in LAC ABBE, to avoid stepping in wrong places. but guess what, I still sank in quicksand! and the guide I took for safety ended up sinking too when trying to help me, and even got his shoes swollen by the volcanic mud! luckily we were not in the area where there are boiling hot springs. last visitors who went there without a guide not only sank but also burnt big time!!!
Photo credit: Iara Lee.
in BANGLADESH, INDIA, PAKISTAN, NEPAL we have poori (i am addicted to it), in BRAZIL, it is sonho, in DJIBOUTI, the afars call it galette and they served me that for breakfast after my comeback from earth pulling quicksand. cheers to survival with fried bread
Photo credit: Iara Lee.
[Photo credit: Iara Lee.]