Blogs from Somalia, Africa - page 2

I woke up with a headache and feeling cranky. My trip to the beach was canceled because of the monsoon rain. I went down to the dining area and ate a breakfast of millet porridge and milk. They were also serving a special, xalwo, which is a jelly-like candy made from water, sugar and honey. I ate half of the bread and left the other half untouched on the plate. In Somalia, it's polite to leave a little bit of food to show you were given enough to eat, and treated kindly. Afterward there was nothing interesting to do, so I spent the rest of the day lounging and looking for anything else interesting about the country. I found out that there's no truly functioning national government in Somalia and the local long form (name) for ... read more

After the beach trip I was very tired. I'm leaving Somalia tomorrow, and I'm almost relieved. It's been extremely hot and humid, and the monsoon rains are deafening. But some parts I will miss, like the Laas Geel cave paintings and the beach. Right now, everything is already packed. To cap off the trip, I went snorkeling off the Berbera coast with my underwater camera. I saw a dolphin swimming by and the coral reefs were vibrant with color. A huge turtle passed me and I had to take a picture. After half an hour of exploring the water, the boat guide said it was time to go back. It was getting dark and the boaters didn't want to take chances with a run in with pirates. I climbed back on and the boat zoomed back ... read more

Our plane just landed at Hargeisa Egal International Airport in Hargeisa, which is in northern Somalia. The country is just east of Ethiopia on the horn of Africa. the climate here is extremely hot and arid. The bus passed a lot of goats, one of their principal exports. When the bus arrived at the hotel, I asked for something to drink and got some Shah Hawaash, which is a traditional Somali drink. Water here isn't as great as the water in the US because it's contaminated. The guy at the front desk suggested to the tourists not to drink any water unless it's bottled. Tomorrow, I'm going to see the Laas Geel cave. The travel brochure said that it had a lot of cave paintings dating back to the BC's. Somalia has tons of sights to ... read more

Yes that's right. Somalia. The most dangerous country on the planet. Well, sort of. The international image of Somalia is one giant boomerang shaped basket case populated by a cast of ruthless buccaneers - Treasure Island or Pirates of the Caribbean it certainly ain’t. My advance research on the FCO webpage makes for grim reading. However, the country is actually three states in one. Somalia main in the south: the Somalia of your nightmares. Above it the equally anarchic separatist state of Puntland, which occupies the tip of Africa's Horn. Finally, to the west of this, another breakaway fledgling nation, Somaliland (formerly British Somaliland before Somalia's independence). Of the three, only Somaliland is accessible to travellers retaining their sanity. It is still a little dangerous; in 2003 Somali insurgents crossed the border and shot a number ... read more

Somalia-Pirates!! (THE PICTURE TO THE RIGHT IS NOT ONE THAT I TOOK, I COPIED IT FROM THE INTERNET SO YOU COULD SEE WHAT THE PIRATES LOOK LIKE) Yes, if you look at the Spot Tracker, you will see that we are very, very close to the coast of Somalia where today's modern pirates live and ply their trade of hi-jacking ships and holding them and their crews and cargos hostage for ransom. Are we scared?? No-no-no! We have the Coalition countries? naval ships and their helicopters watching out for and over us. They were here with us this morning when we woke up and they are still here this evening. They will be with us until we enter the Suez Canal in a couple of days. So, yes there are pirates nearby, but they aren't any ... read more