Day Forest National Park

Djibouti's only significant forest, in the Goda Mountains above Tadjoura

Day Forest National Park protects a rare patch of Afro-montane forest in the Goda Mountains, rising to over 1,700 metres above the Gulf of Tadjoura. The forest is dominated by old-growth juniper and box trees, and the contrast with the baked landscape below is immediate and startling — within an hour's drive from Tadjoura's coastal dust, you are walking through cool, shaded forest with views over the gulf.

The park is excellent for birdwatching. The Djibouti francolin, one of Africa's rarest birds and endemic to this country, lives in the Day Forest, along with a variety of raptors, sunbirds, and highland species. Hiking trails are not always marked, and it's worth hiring a local guide in Tadjoura before heading up. The park is approximately 30 km northwest of Tadjoura by rough road.

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A story
The juniper trees in Day Forest have been dated to well over a thousand years old. They survived because the Goda Mountains catch moisture from the Indian Ocean monsoon that never reaches the surrounding desert floor — the forest is, in effect, an island of wet highland ecology in one of the most arid countries on earth.

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