Blogs from Somalia, Africa

I set off from Hargeisa in mid-morning for the small mountain town of Sheikh, as suggested by the Director of Tourism. The ride was in a cramped shared taxi that was reminiscent of West Africa. We stopped for food and tea in a number of places before we finally climbed into the mountains that surrounded Sheikh. When I finally uncramped myself, I realized that I was in a beautiful natural environment with mountains ringing the town. I stayed in a small boarding house with students who were taking their international examinations in the town (apparently the number one secondary school in the country was there as well as the best vetrinary school in the Horn of Africa). The biggest problem was that it was really cold! As low as 6 degrees at night! I spent my ... read more

Reflecting that I only left Harar 3 days ago is a bit baffling because a lot has changed. I had to deal with my usual bus station obstacle course, though it was nothing compared to Gonder, and again got the front seat in a minibus heading towards Jijiga, the capital of Ogaden, the Somali area of Ethiopia. The first thing that I noticed was that bribes were quite evident at every checkpoint, either something I hadn't noticed before or something that is more common in that area. Next the geography changed completely. About 45 minutes outside of Harar we went through what is translated as "The Valley of Marvels", a rocky valley which is made up of some kind of rock that erodes in a number of interesting shapes. There was a lot of what appeared ... read more

First to explain, Somaliland is a separate state to Somalia and has been since the early 90s. It just has not been recognised by the international community yet. So, this trip was not some suicide mission into Mogadishu nor was I in search of any pirates. I had been told that it was safe to visit and quite interesting. As I wanted to visit Harar in the east of Ethiopia, I decided it wasn't that much more of an effort to get to Somaliland. From Jijiga, we got a minibus to the border town of Wajaale. There, we completed the formalities on the Ethiopian side, had our bags checked not-that-thoroughly and walked through the rope across the street that formed the border and into Somaliland. We got stamped in and had some camel for breakfast. We ... read more

Somaliland is still fighting an unsuccessful battle with the United Nations, in trying to achieve international recognition as an independent country. The people of this territory have taken a different path to the lawless, dangerous and chaotic goings on that dominate Somalia and Puntland, both of which are absolute no go zones for foreigners. The stark contrast in Hargeisa, however, sees the capital city of Somaliland on a peaceful path since 1991, where foreigners prepared to put in the effort to obtain a visa in advance receive a warm welcome. I scooped up a visa from Addis for forty bucks, and it was not a drama obtaining the necessary paperwork to visit one of the last frontiers in this wonderful world we share. The journal left off in Lalibela, dear reader , at the conclusion of ... read more

I arrived in Somaliland on the day the UN announced that troops will increase for Somalia by 50% from 8000 to 12 000 soldiers. But even though Somaliland is part of Somalia by name it is so far away from what you’d expect a portion of Somalia to be its unbelievable - There is no need for UN troops here. This is the peaceful part of Somalia. This an organised country with a recent election of a president, its own currency, flag and successful trading abilities. Unrecognised internationally, Somaliland peacefully go through their days waiting patiently to one day be recognised as their own identity. As a tourist it is a very unique destination. Many places in the world you don’t hear about want to split from the country they are associated with but don’t have ... read more