Both summits are separated by a large caldera, about 1 km (0.71 mi) wide and 1514 metres deep.

The mountain is home to an abundance of wildlife, lush vegetation, flowering shrubs and trees and various plants.

The position of Ali Mousa as the tripoint between Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti is not the result of an agreement between the three countries.

In December 1948 the British administering Eritrea refused to attend a meeting with the other two parties to determine the exact location of their tripoint, set in a 1908 treaty as 60 km inland from the Red Sea.

In 2002, the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission established the tri-point at the Mousa Ali summit;[6] Ethiopia had pressed for it to be further east, nearer to Dadda'to, Djibouti.