Seven Brothers Islands

Last updated
Seven Brothers Islands
Seven Brothers Islands.png
Seven Brothers Islands
Geography
Location Bab-el-Mandeb
Coordinates 12°27′46″N43°24′06″E / 12.46278°N 43.40167°E / 12.46278; 43.40167
Total islands6
Area1.02 km2 (0.39 sq mi)
Highest elevation114 m (374 ft)
Administration
Region Obock
District Khor Angar

The Seven Brothers Islands, also known as the Sawabi Islands or Seba Islands, is an archipelago in the Dact-el-Mayun section of the Bab-el-Mandeb strait (between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden). They are within the Obock District of Djibouti, and are a notable diving site. [1] Even in English publications, the group is often called by its French name, Sept Frères.

Contents

Geography

The archipelago proper is a chain of six volcanic islands spanning about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) in a rough east-west line: [2]

The "seventh brother" is not an island, but the volcanic hill at the northern tip of the Ras Siyyan peninsula.

West Island lies about 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) east from the Siyyan peninsula and 6.0 kilometres (3.7 mi) northeast from the coast of Djibouti. [3]

All the islets are surrounded by reefs. All are brownish, except Big Island which is yellowish. [2] There is a masonry marker on the summit of Big Island. [2]

Important Bird Area

The archipelago has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports a breeding colony of lesser and greater crested terns. [4]

Climate

The warmest month of the year is July with an average temperature of 39.0 °C. The archipelago consists of the main island of Kaḏḏa Dâbali, the five smaller islands of Ounḏa Dâbali, H̱amra, Tolka, H̱orod le ‘Ale and Ounḏa Kômaytou, as well as small rock outcrops that are uninhabitable for humans but important for seabirds. The sky is always clear and bright throughout the year. The climate of Seven Brothers Islands is classified in the Köppen climate classification as BWh, meaning a desert climate with a mean annual temperature over 29 °C or 84 °F.

Climate data for Seven Brothers Islands
MonthJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecYear
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)29.8
(85.6)
29.8
(85.6)
31.4
(88.5)
33.2
(91.8)
35.6
(96.1)
38.2
(100.8)
39.0
(102.2)
38.3
(100.9)
37.1
(98.8)
34.4
(93.9)
31.8
(89.2)
30.3
(86.5)
34.1
(93.3)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)22.6
(72.7)
23.4
(74.1)
24.4
(75.9)
25.8
(78.4)
27.9
(82.2)
30.1
(86.2)
30.2
(86.4)
29.4
(84.9)
29.5
(85.1)
26.5
(79.7)
23.8
(74.8)
22.7
(72.9)
26.4
(79.4)
Average rainfall mm (inches)4
(0.2)
3
(0.1)
6
(0.2)
4
(0.2)
1
(0.0)
0
(0)
5
(0.2)
6
(0.2)
12
(0.5)
4
(0.2)
4
(0.2)
4
(0.2)
53
(2.2)
Source: World Weather

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of Djibouti</span>

Djibouti is a country in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea in the north, Ethiopia in the west and south, and Somalia in the southeast. To the east is its coastline on the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Rainfall is sparse, and most of the territory has a semi-arid to arid environment. Lake Assal is a saline lake which lies 155 m (509 ft) below sea level, making it the lowest point on land in Africa and the third-lowest point on Earth after the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. Djibouti has the fifth smallest population in Africa. Djibouti's major settlements include the capital Djibouti City, the port towns of Tadjoura and Obock, and the southern cities of Ali Sabieh and Dikhil. It is the forty-six country by area in Africa and 147st largest country in the world by land area, covering a total of 23,200 km2 (9,000 sq mi), of which 23,180 km2 (8,950 sq mi) is land and 20 km2 (7.7 sq mi) is water.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of Eritrea</span>

Eritrea is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered on the northeast and east by the Red Sea, on the west and northwest by Sudan, on the south by Ethiopia, and on the southeast by Djibouti. The country has a high central plateau that varies from 1,800 to 3,000 meters (5,906–9,843 ft) above sea level. A coastal plain, western lowlands, and some 350 islands comprise the remainder of Eritrea's land mass.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of Indonesia</span>

Indonesia is an archipelagic country located in Southeast Asia and Oceania, lying between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. It is located in a strategic location astride or along major sea lanes connecting East Asia, South Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is the largest archipelago in the world. Indonesia's various regional cultures have been shaped—although not specifically determined—by centuries of complex interactions with its physical environment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of Italy</span>

The geography of Italy includes the description of all the physical geographical elements of Italy. Italy, whose territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical region, is located in southern Europe and comprises the long, boot-shaped Italian Peninsula crossed by the Apennines, the southern side of Alps, the large plain of the Po Valley and some islands including Sicily and Sardinia. Italy is part of the Northern Hemisphere. Two of the Pelagie Islands are located on the African continent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of Tonga</span>

Located in Oceania, Tonga is a small archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, directly south of Samoa and about two-thirds of the way from Hawaii to New Zealand. It has 169 islands, 36 of them inhabited, which are in three main groups – Vavaʻu, Haʻapai, and Tongatapu – and cover an 800-kilometre (500-mile)-long north–south line. The total size is just 747 km2 (288 sq mi). Due to the spread out islands it has the 40th largest Exclusive Economic Zone of 659,558 km2 (254,657 sq mi).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of Seychelles</span>

Seychelles is a small island country east of the African continent located in the Sea of Zanj due north of Madagascar, with Antsiranana as its nearest foreign city. Seychelles lies between approximately 4ºS and 10ºS and 46ºE and 54ºE. The nation is an archipelago of 155 tropical islands, some granite and some coral, the majority of which are small and uninhabited. The landmass is only 452 km2 (175 sq mi), but the islands are spread wide over an exclusive economic zone of 1,336,559 km2 (516,048 sq mi). About 90 percent of the population of 100,000 live on Mahé, 9 percent on Praslin and La Digue. Around a third of the land area is the island of Mahé and a further third the atoll of Aldabra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bab-el-Mandeb</span> Strait between Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula and Djibouti in the Horn of Africa

The Bab-el-Mandeb, the Gate of Grief or the Gate of Tears, is a strait between Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula and Djibouti and Eritrea in the Horn of Africa. It connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and by extension the Indian Ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magdalen Islands</span> Archipelago of Quebec, Canada

The Magdalen Islands are an archipelago in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Since 2005, the 12-island archipelago is divided into two municipalities: the majority-francophone Municipality of Îles-de-la-Madeleine and the majority-anglophone Municipality of Grosse-Île, in the Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine region, Quebec, Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Tambora</span> Active stratovolcano in Sumbawa in Indonesia

Mount Tambora, or Tomboro, is an active stratovolcano in West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. Located on Sumbawa in the Lesser Sunda Islands, it was formed by the active subduction zones beneath it. Before 1815, its elevation reached more than 4,300 metres high, making it one of the tallest peaks in the Indonesian archipelago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louisiade Archipelago</span> Archipelago of Papua New Guinea

The Louisiade Archipelago is a string of ten larger volcanic islands frequently fringed by coral reefs, and 90 smaller coral islands in Papua New Guinea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tuscan Archipelago</span> Chain of islands between the Ligurian Sea and Tyrrhenian Sea

The Tuscan Archipelago is a chain of islands between the Ligurian Sea and Tyrrhenian Sea, west of Tuscany, Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Afar Triangle</span> Geological depression caused by the Afar Triple Junction

The Afar Triangle is a geological depression caused by the Afar Triple Junction, which is part of the Great Rift Valley in East Africa. The region has disclosed fossil specimens of the very earliest hominins; that is, the earliest of the human clade, and it is thought by some paleontologists to be the cradle of the evolution of humans. The Depression overlaps the borders of Eritrea, Djibouti and the entire Afar Region of Ethiopia; and it contains the lowest point in Africa, Lake Assal, Djibouti, at 155 m (509 ft) below sea level.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Havre-Saint-Pierre</span> Municipality in Quebec, Canada

Havre-Saint-Pierre is a municipality located on the north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in Côte-Nord region, Minganie RCM, Quebec, Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ras Siyyan</span> Peninsula in Obock Region, Djibouti

Ras Siyyan or Ras Siyan is a peninsula in the Obock Region of Djibouti, on the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, about 20 km southwest of Perim Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wildlife of Djibouti</span>

The wildlife of Djibouti, consisting of its flora and fauna, is in a harsh landscape with forest accounting for less than one percent of its area. Most species are found in the northern part of the country in the Day Forest National Park at an average elevation of 1,500 metres (4,900 ft), including the massif Goda, with a peak of 1,783 metres (5,850 ft). It covers an area of 3.5 square kilometres (1.4 sq mi) of Juniperus procera forest, with many of the trees rising to 20 metres (66 ft) height. This forest area is the main habitat of the critically endangered and endemic Djibouti spurfowl, and another recently noted vertebrate, Platyceps afarensis. The area also contains many species of woody and herbaceous plants, including boxwood and olive trees, which account for sixty percent of the identified species in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tourism in Djibouti</span>

Tourism in Djibouti is one of the growing economic sectors of the country and is an industry that generates 53,000 and 73,000 arrivals per year, with its favorable beaches and climate and also including islands and beaches in the Gulf of Tadjoura and the Bab al-Mandab. The main tourist activities are scuba diving, fishing, trekking and hiking, discovering the nomadic way, bird watching, and sun, sea and sand.

Siyyan Himar or Rocher Moulhele is a pair of small islands, about 100 m apart and rising only 1.8 m above sea level, located about 3.8 km off the coast of Djibouti and 4.4 km northeast of the Siyyan peninsula, in the Bab-el-Mandeb strait. They are an uplifted ridge of a fossil coral reef.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kaḏḏa Dâbali</span> Uninhabited island in the Bab-el-Mandeb strait

Kaḏḏa Dâbali Island, often called Big Island, is an uninhabited rocky island off the coast of Obock Region of Djibouti in the Bab-el-Mandeb strait. It is the largest one of the Seven Brothers Islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wildlife of Bahrain</span>

The wildlife of Bahrain is the flora and fauna of the archipelago of Bahrain. Apart from a strip of the north and west of the main island, where crops such as potatoes are grown with irrigation, the land is arid. With a very hot dry summer, a mild winter, and brackish groundwater, the plants need adaptations in order to survive. Nevertheless, 196 species of higher plant have been recorded here, as well as about seventeen species of terrestrial mammals, many birds and reptiles, and many migratory birds visit the islands in autumn and spring.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sept Îles Archipelago Regional Park</span> Proposed protected area in Quebec, Canada

The Sept Îles Archipelago Regional Park is a proposed protected area in the Côte-Nord region of Quebec, Canada. The islands are important to migratory sea birds, and are also of interest to tourists. The management plan was prepared in 2008.

References

  1. Alwan, Daoud Aboubaker; Mibrathu, Yohanis (2000). Historical dictionary of Djibouti. Scarecrow Press. pp. 47–. ISBN   978-0-8108-3873-4 . Retrieved 28 May 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 Sailing Directions (Enroute) - Red Sea and Persian Gulf , page 162. National Geospatial Intelligence Agency pub. 172. Accessed 2012-07-6.
  3. Dzurek, Daniel J.; University of Durham. International Boundaries Research Unit (2001). Parting the Red Sea: boundaries, offshore resources and transit. IBRU. pp. 8–. ISBN   978-1-897643-46-4 . Retrieved 28 May 2011.
  4. "Les Sept Frères". BirdLife Data Zone. BirdLife International. 2024. Retrieved 2024-09-08.

12°27′38″N43°25′27″E / 12.4606°N 43.4242°E / 12.4606; 43.4242