The tourists were visiting the volcanic Afar region, which is one of the hottest places in the world and a known haunt of rebels and bandits from Eritrea and Ethiopia.
A stone citadel built in 1781 to repel bandits, the Ajyad fortress's demolition sparked an international outcry in 2002, but this was quickly rebuffed by the Saudi Islamic affairs minister.
Populated mostly by adventurous young things seemingly attached to a mountain bike by surgery, it is the kind of place you imagine Clint Eastwood staggering to after three days on the run from bandits.
"When I look out tonight at an audience of people who work with timber, who work in forests, I don't see people who are environmental bandits, I see people who are the ultimate conservationists," he said.
The old-school voyous ("bad guys") – the bandits, swindlers and assassins – from the cobbled streets of old Paris are now no more than legends.
In a recent interview with South African talk-show host Dali Tambo, he blamed the Gukurahundi killings on armed bandits coordinated by Zapu and a few subordinate, North Korean trained, Fifth Brigade soldiers.
The sombre 20 sq miles of peat bog, ancient forest and water, surrounded by dark mountains, are associated with tales of legendary heroes, bandits and supernatural beings.
And it was often stationed at the end of some seaside pier, where, in a wooden cabinet, the game blinked and tinkled next to the one-armed bandits and penny drops.
