The Mabla Mountains (variants: Monti Mabla, Monts Mabla) are a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have aris ...

in the northern Obock and Tadjoura Region of

Djibouti Djibouti, officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the east. The country has an area ...

. The

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Djibouti spurfowl makes its home here as well as in the Forêt du Day. With a mean height of 1370 metres, is the fifth highest point in Djibouti.

Geography

Along with Forêt du Day, the Mabla Mountains are one of Djibouti's two remnant areas of closed forest. The range is located in the Obock Region, west of Obock, a port town. At

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

, the mountains are situated behind the coastal plain where the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

meets the

Gulf of Aden The Gulf of Aden (; ) is a deepwater gulf of the Indian Ocean between Yemen to the north, the Arabian Sea to the east, Djibouti to the west, and the Guardafui Channel, the Socotra Archipelago, Puntland in Somalia and Somaliland to the south. ...

. They lie on the northern side of the Gulf of Tadjoura, and are characterized as a

highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally, ''upland'' refers to a range of hills, typically from up to , while ''highland'' is usually reserved for range ...

region. The mountains consist of a range that extends north from near Ras Duan, a steep cliff. Accolado Mount (''Assasanto''), above sea level, is the north mount of the east branch of the Mabla Mountains; it is located northwest of the Latela Valley entrance. Morne Rouge, above sea level, is north-northwest of the valley entrance. It has three round summits which are formed of reddish stones. Morne Blanc, west-southwestof Morne Rouge, is a cone of a greyish appearance. Pic du Hussard (Aramuda) high is north of Ras Duan; it has a large, rounded summit. Minerva's Face, south-southeast of Pic du Hussard has three summits, the highest of which is high. Devil's Chair, southeast of Minerva's Face, is high and clearly visible from seaward. The annual

rainfall Rain is a form of precipitation where water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. ...

measures approximately .

Culture

Afar people The Afar (), also known as the Danakil, Adali and Odali, are a Cushitic peoples, Cushitic ethnic group inhabiting the Horn of Africa. They primarily live in the Afar Region of Ethiopia and in northern Djibouti, as well as the entire southern co ...

subgroup, Ma`andiyta (or "White"; or Mandita) stayed in the Mabla Mountains, while the Ma`andiyta of Immino (or Awsa, or Aussa, or Assaw; or "Red") did not. The Mandita are located west of the Mabla Mountains. Another Afar subgroup, the Debne, were settled in the Mabla also. Yet another tribe is the Basooma. The ''dabou'', a permanent stone dwelling, is found in certain high ground regions, such as the Mabla and Goda Mountains, as well as in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

with the Afar.

Flora and fauna

The endemic,

critically endangered An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of t ...

Djibouti spurfowl was first recorded here in 1985, with the nearby Forêt du Day being its only other location. Other native resident birds include Hemprich's hornbill (''Lophoceros hemprichii''), eastern yellow-billed hornbill (''Tockus flavirostris''), black-throated barbet (''Tricholaema melanocephala''), Abyssinian white-eye (''Zosterops abyssinicus''),

Somali starling The Somali starling (''Onychognathus blythii'') is a species of starling in the family Sturnidae. It is found in Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Yemen. Habitat In the Degua Tembien district of north Ethiopia Ethiopia, officia ...

(''Onychognathus blythii''), and shining sunbird (''Cinnyris habessinicus'').BirdLife International (2024
Important Bird Area factsheet: Mabla
Retrieved 27 May 2024. In the 1920s, the mountains were thickly covered with trees. The flora includes

box A box (plural: boxes) is a container with rigid sides used for the storage or transportation of its contents. Most boxes have flat, parallel, rectangular sides (typically rectangular prisms). Boxes can be very small (like a matchbox) or v ...

(''Buxus hildebrandtii'') and

acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as wattles or acacias, is a genus of about of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa, South America, and Austral ...

s, as well as groves of the Bankoualé palm (''Livistona carinensis'') in ravines. Higher elevations of are home to African juniper (''Juniperus procera'') forest that include tall arborescent ''

Euphorbia ''Euphorbia'' is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants, commonly called spurge, in the family (biology), family Euphorbiaceae. Euphorbias range from tiny annual plants to large and long-lived trees, with perhaps the tallest being ''Eu ...

'', and flowering herbs such as

forget-me-not ''Myosotis'' ( ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Boraginaceae. The name comes from the Ancient Greek "mouse's ear", which the foliage is thought to resemble. In the Northern Hemisphere, they are colloquially known as forget-me-no ...

. Near the summit can be found ferns. File:FrancolinusOchropectus.svg, The Djibouti spurfowl File:2008-05-04 at 18-26-44-Forgetmenot-Flower.jpg, ''Myosotis'' (or

Forget-me-not ''Myosotis'' ( ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Boraginaceae. The name comes from the Ancient Greek "mouse's ear", which the foliage is thought to resemble. In the Northern Hemisphere, they are colloquially known as forget-me-no ...

Conservation

In recent years, the forest has been damaged severely, chiefly through forest fires, the grazing of cattle, the felling of its trees, as well as military requirements. In the 1980s, a proposal was made to establish a national park in the mountains' Goula Region.

Climate

Mabla Mountains enjoys a mild climate throughout the winter and moderately sunny summer.

References

{{Reflist, 25em Mountains of Djibouti Obock Region