What is a gerenuk? According to American Heritage Dictionary, a gerenuk is "An African gazelle (Litocranius walleri) having long legs, a long slender neck, and backward-curving horns in the male." The Word itself is from the Somali language. This is Somaliland -- the land of the gerenuks. It is also my birthplace, a place from which I had been absent for most my adult life, and to which I have returned now. So I am not actually a passing traveller, but more like a returnee, more like a sailor visiting his home port. I am in Hargeisa, Somaliland. Somaliland broke away from Somalia in 1991, after a tumultuous union dating to 1960. Before Somaliland was a British Protectorate, until it became independent in June 1960; joined Somalia in the same year. One of things I like
... read more