The Travel Answer Man: Somaliland

[Jacaylbaro]

Somalia is not a country on anyone’s list of top travel destinations, for good reason, but a part of what we consider Somalia is perfectly safe. More surprising, it has a fantastic draw for tourists — one of the best and least visited sites of cave paintings in the world, Laas Gaal.

 

In reality, what we consider “Somalia” is now divided into three separate countries for all practical purposes. Although the various world powers want to see Somalia merge back together at some point as one, unified country, the reality is that is never going to happen.

 

Geographically, if you look at Somalia as akin to the number 7, the bottom third of the 7 is Somalia as currently constituted. The capital is Mogadishu, famous in the United States as the location for the tragedy inspiring the movie Black Hawk Down. This is for the most part the Somalia that you see in the news. It is the Somalia of daily killings in the streets. Of a government that is barely hanging on against a fundamentalist Muslim insurgency. And occasional public hangings and public displays where thieves’ hands are chopped off. Under no circumstances is this a place you want to visit.

 

The elbow part of the 7, the middle part, is Puntland. It also is not a safe travel destination. It is the origin destination for most of the pirate attacks in the region and the government is quite questionable.

 

The upper left third of the 7 is Somaliland and it is perfectly safe and is surprisingly thriving. The capital of Hargeisa is an active and working city of more than two million people. Although no other country in the world formally recognizes Somaliland, its people are carving out a stable, responsible society on their own.

 

If you are the type of traveler that wants to get to a place before the rest of the world finds out about it, this is a spot for you.

 

A ninety-minute drive outside of Hargeisa gets you to Laas Gaal, which is destined to be a UNESCO World Heritage Site as soon as the world wakes up and recognizes Somaliland as a political entity. It was only recently discovered by the western world, by a team of French archeologists in 2002. Considering their recent discovery and the (unfounded) fear of travel to this area, visitors right now are among the very first that have ever seen this site.

 

And what a sight it is. The rock art here is amazingly well preserved. There are ten different caves or alcoves containing the cave art and I had the opportunity to view five of the better locations on my tour. The state of most of the paintings is almost pristine. Not that I am any sort of expert on prehistoric art, but I cannot imagine a site where the status of the paintings could be much better. The colors are vibrant. Some of the walls are entirely covered, from floor to wall to ceiling, with paintings of cows, humans, weapons, dogs and other animals.

 

I arranged my tour of the site though the English-speaking owner of the hotel I stated at, the Oriental Hotel. Totally, I paid about sixty dollars for a car and driver, the permit to go to the site, and the mandatory armed guard that has to go with you on trips outside the capital. That was less than one-third of the other quoted price I got from one of the more luxury hotels in town. As to the guide, though Somaliland is safe, the government is somewhat paranoid about anything happening to any tourists – as they believe any bad news would damper their chances of being officially recognized.

 

You can see my pictures at http://picasaweb.goo gle.com/hodsonlaw/La asGaal#, but I fear my photography skills do not do the place justice.

 

I can’t say that I ever previously had a desire to see cave art, but after seeing Laas Gaal, I will definitely go to see some other locations. The problem is. . . I might have already seen my favorite.