Djibouti City

Djibouti's capital is evolving at a fast pace, and there’s a palpable sense of change in the air. Today’s city is vastly different from the battered French outpost to which it was reduced in the 1980s and 1990s. Thanks to its geostrategic importance and its busy port, Djibouti City has been transformed from a sleepy capital to a thriving place. Yet under its veneer of urban bustle, the city remains a down-to-earth place, with jarring cultural and social combinations. Traditionally robed Afar tribesmen, stalwart GIs, sensuous Somali ladies and frazzled businessmen with the latest mobile phones stuck to their ear all jostle side by side.