My genetics is not landlocked: Horn of Africa, Djibouti & Red Sea!
Having crossed the Red Sea through the suez canal, while Walking the bible from Egypt Mt.Sanai, Israel, Palestine, and Jordan (An MBA graduation gift for myself). I had been taken back by the mysteries that the Red Sea holds, not just to the global world but my Abyssinian ancestors, that were birthed near the Red Sea, and were the cradle of mankind. I have always known my soul was nomadic. My social, emotional and intellectual intelligence was from my highland ancestors, but the seat of my soul, my heart, was at peace when exploring the world freely, especially breaking bread with the nomads of the Sahara desert (The Afar, Bedouin, Tuareg, and Berber).
On my trip to Egypt, exploring the land of the pharaoh from Alexandria to Abu Simba, spending time sailing with Nubians on the Nile, and hiking Mt.Sinai with Bedouins, gave me a inner glimpse into unconditional Joy, and an insight into the history, civilization and interconnection of my ancestors, and an immense gratitude to be chosen to discover my ancestors journey that I was not taught in school. I am in gratitude, and have a profound humility when I sit with myself and choose to seek living, wisdom and truth.
I was fortunate to be born in a family of uncles and aunts that told me stories of my ancestors, as well as surrounded by faith and love that grounds who I am, allowing me an inner freedom and confidence to explore internally and externally. Its in Egypt I saw thousands of years of statues that looked like me, and discovered that my country was part of what the pharaoh called 'Gods Land'. The Red Sea coast of now Sudan, Eriteria, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Northern Somali are considered the most likely location of the territory known to the ancient Egyptians as the Land of Punt. The first mention of the Land of Punt dates to the 25th century BC.
I always go within to choose my next destination to explore, not just for site seeing but a combination of adventure, history, relaxation, social awareness and strategic business opportunity for myself and the community I serve. Djibouti has been on my mind for a few years, it was so close yet so expensive, but I knew the lure was Whale Shark diving on the Red Sea, and the Afar inhabitants of the Red Sea coast, that were the ancient people of Horn of Africa. Having visited the Sahara Desert Berbers in Morocco last year, they claim their ancestors came from the East, thus my curiousty triggered, since the relationship of the Horn and Northern Africa can be traced back to not just the Axumite Empire, the Nile river, but also through traders and travelers crossing from Eastern Africa to Western Africa via the Sahara desert.
The Kingdom of Axum
There has always been strong ties between Ethiopia, the middle East and India, in history, trade, spirituality, culture and religious books, even before Christianity. Christian rule prevailed in the Ethiopia, which included Djibouti, Eriteria & parts of Somalia, since the rule of Emperor Ezana in early 4th century, making Ethiopia the first Christian country in the world.
Djibouti is predominantly inhabited by, the Ethiopians, Somali and the Afar(From Ethiopia, Eriteria, Somalia & Djibouti) people. The nomadic people of Afar were the first populations in Africa to embrace Islam. Afar is also associated with the Adal Sultanate that controlled large parts of the northern Horn of Africa. During its existence, Adal had relations and engaged in trade with other polities in Northeast Africa, the near East, Europe, and South Asia.
When I travelled to Spain and Portugal last year, it was eye opening especially in Al-Andalusia and Portugal, to witness the evidence of the tremendous influence of Art, architecture, Science, food, culture and music of the Muslim Berbers (Imazighen), that invaded most of the Iberian peninsula from 8th to 15th century (Over 700yrs), and were constantly in conflict with the Europeans.
Djibouti is a small country with various foreign military camps that inject a lot of foreign currency into the country, making it expensive for locals and travelers to live, but since it has an international port, the grocery & shopping selections are filled with great items catering to its foreign residence. There are three main things one can do on your trip to Djibouti, you can tour Djibouti city itself, visit Lac Assal and Lac Abbé, as well as enjoy whaleshark diving or traveling around the Red sea in a yacht, tour boats or with local fishermen. The architecture is both African & middle eastern, & so is the cuisine, so the tiny city of Djibouti is a great place to walk around, ot hire a car for the day to enjoy its coast, shopping & eating.
As I am writing about Djibouti and the horn, since history, society and trade of the horn of Africa is an inner passion of mine, and my last two years of travel were historically and geopolitically connected, my blog has taken its own journey, and has fortunately expanded to a part two.
To be continued.....
Melkam Guzo (Happy travels)
“Take only pictures, leave only footprints, kill nothing but time” ☆Conciouse Traveler
By Dutchess @Deldeyoch
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"Bridging the gap between the monetary fortunate and unfortunate."
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