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 arise ...

in the northern

Obock Obock (also Obok, aa, Hayyú) is a small port town in Djibouti. It is located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Tadjoura, where it opens out into the Gulf of Aden. The town is home to an airstrip and has ferries to Djibouti City. The Frenc ...

and

Tadjoura Region The Tadjourah Region so, Gobolka Tajoora, aa, Rakaakay Tagórri) is a region in north-central Djibouti, the largest of its six regions. With its capital at Tadjourah, it has an area of 7,100 square kilometres (2,700 sq mi). It lies along the ...

Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti 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 ...

. The

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found 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 found else ...

Djibouti spurfowl The Djibouti spurfowl or Djibouti francolin (''Pternistis ochropectus'') is a bird species in the pheasant family, Phasianidae. It is critically endangered and found only in Djibouti, a nation in the Horn of Africa. This species is grayish-bro ...

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

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 The Obock Region ( aa, Rakaakay Obock, ar, إقليم أوبوخ, so, Gobolka Obokh) is a region in northern Djibouti. It has a land area of 4,700 square kilometres (1,800 sq mi), and had a population of 37,856 in 2009. It lies along the Red S ...

, west of

, a port town. At above sea level, the mountains are situated behind the coastal plain where the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; ...

meets the Gulf of Aden. They lie on the northern side of the

Gulf of Tadjoura The Gulf of Tadjoura (; ) is a gulf or basin of the Indian Ocean in the Horn of Africa. It lies south of the straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, or the entrance to the Red Sea, at . The gulf has many fishing grounds, extensive coral reefs, and abundant pe ...

, 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 speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...

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 water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then 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. It provides water f ...

measures approximately .

Culture

Afar people The Afar ( aa, Qafár), also known as the Danakil, Adali and Odali, are a Cushitic-speaking 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, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

with the Afar.

Flora and fauna

The endemic, critically endangered Djibouti spurfowl was first recorded here in 1985, with the nearby Forêt du Day being its only other location. In the 1920s, the mountains were thickly covered with trees. The terrain includes

box A box (plural: boxes) is a container used for the storage or transportation of its contents. Most boxes have flat, parallel, rectangular sides. Boxes can be very small (like a matchbox) or very large (like a shipping box for furniture), and can ...

(''Frais'' spp.) and acacias, as well as palm groves within ravines. Higher elevations of are home to juniper forest that include tall arborescens ''

Euphorbia ''Euphorbia'' is a very large and diverse genus of flowering plants, commonly called spurge, in the family Euphorbiaceae. "Euphorbia" is sometimes used in ordinary English to collectively refer to all members of Euphorbiaceae (in deference to t ...

'', 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

File:2008-05-04 at 18-26-44-Forgetmenot-Flower.jpg, ''Myosotis'' (or

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