Places worth visiting in Somalia

[Archdemos]

I need to create a viable list of potential places to visit in Somalia. My interests include fauna, birding and geology of landscapes. Or just places of natural beauty and also places of historical significance such as forts and castles and the like...

 

I say viable because one must be able to visit these places without putting life and limb in harms way.

 

also in an ideal world i.e. if Somalia was safe to travel, where would you visit, aforementioned criteria still applies. So two lists please.

 

i only ask because i have real ambitions of one day soon inshallah to commence on my travels on Africa's eastern shore. My staring point will be Socotra UNESCO site and hopefully finish around the Island of Mozambique as its also a UNESCO site. Also internet searches of Somalia places to visit doesn't bring up much more than Blackhawk Down and war and misery

 

Plus the fact that i wasn't born or raised in Somalia means i have a natural curiosity for the place. I have visited Somaliland but was confined to the main cities of Hargeisa, Burco and Berbera. Although Sheikh was the kind of place I'm interested in.

 

It would be a real shame to by-pass my homeland for security reasons. So inshallah winter 2011 is the year my dream will come true.

 

I've already secured the use of high end camera equipment for free and have 85% of the expenses still to raise. :rolleyes:

 

Please could you include links and maps.

 

Many thanks in advance

 

PS! any ideas of possible sponsors from Somali businesses would greatly be appreciated.

[SayidSomal]

Places worth visiting in Somalia

Taleex & Qardho

 

the rest of your nonsense i choose not to understand/ama in aan akhriyoba.

[Archdemos]

Taleex i know why its famous or worth a visit, but why Qardho, whats so interesting about the place?

 

I'm sorry you chose not to understand my 'nonsense'

 

thanks sincerely for your reply anyway

[SayidSomal]

mystery!

[Chimera]

The majority of these Somali cities and towns have historic sites.

map of Somalia

 

The following is from a PM that i send to sister Ismahaan who visited Somalia recently:

 

My advice for you when your visiting

S-land

is:

 

First destination: Hargeisa

 

-There should be an old giant Fortress in the city(i think its best if you asked a local Hargeisawi knowlegdeable of the area where the precise location of that large fortress is and he/she might show you even more historical sites which are still unexplored)

-Laas Geel rock painting Cave complex

 

Second destination: Amud and Abasa

 

-Two large stone cities(you can see some ancient ruins of Amud if you type ''Amud,Somalia'' in google images)

 

(^ both of those cities are situated in the Borama area which is close to Hargeisa)

 

Third destination: Saylac

 

- Sa'ad ad Din Island and the medieval ruins and shrines

- Old City walls

- Ruins of the old quarter of the city

- Qiblatain Mosque and others

 

(Saylac is in the Awdal province and close by Borama)

 

Fourth destination: Bulhar

 

-Ancient Port city with lots of historical relics

 

(close to Saylac)

 

Fifth Destination: Berbera

 

-Old stone city of Biya Guure - a few miles east of Berbera(again ask a local Berberawi to show you the way)

-Ancient Dubar aquaduct

 

(Berbera is next to Bulhar)

 

Sixth Destination: Heis

 

-Ancient city with lots of relics

 

(close to Berbera)

 

Seventh Destination: Mait

 

-Ancient city with many ruins

 

(next to Heis)

 

Eighth Destination: Erigavo

 

- Ancient Stone city of Maduna in Eel Afweyn which is close to Erigavo(type in Maduna, Somalia in google images and you will see some interesting remains of that city)

- Dervish Fortresses in Erigavo

I will continue with P-land

 

Destination: Bosaso

 

-Old palaces of the Alula dynasty

-Several Forts

-Historic mosques and shrines

-Old port

 

Destination: Taleex

 

-Fortresses of Taleex

-Shrines of Sayyid's mother and father

 

Destination: Las Khorey

 

- Palaces of the Gerads

- Several fortresses

- Old port

 

Destination: Qandala

 

- Old stone city

- several palaces and forts

 

Destination: Hafun

 

- ruins of Ancient Opone

- ancient harbour

- 18th century forts

 

Destination: Hobyo

 

- Many 19th century ruins such as forts and palaces

- Ajjuuraan Palace with seven arches.

 

There are also several other important sites and places such as Bargaal, Botiala and Bandar Beyla with lots of historic heritage.

 

Now lets continue with Southern Somalia

 

Destination: Warsheikh

 

- Historic mosques and shrines

- Pillar tombs

- City walls

- Ruined houses

 

Destinations: Merka and Barawa

 

- Many old mosques, palaces and shrines

- The old sections of the cities that have houses four or five storeys high

- Stone Towers

 

Destination: Gondershe

 

- Old citadel

- many historic mosques and shrines

 

Destination: Luuq

 

- Old city

- ruins of historic mosques and tombs

 

Destination: Bardera

 

- Old citadel

 

Destination: Mogadishu

 

- 13th century Arba Rucun mosque

- Fakr Ad din Mosque

- Jamia University

- Almnara Tower

- City walls

- Shingani

- Hamar jajab

- old lighthouses

- etc

 

There about twenty or more historic cities and towns that i have left out such as Mareeg, Jasira, Kismayu, Bur Gaabo, and Ilig because the historical heritage there is very similar to the above.

[B]

i would recommend hargeysa, Somaliland. its really fun in the summer time. alot of people come from around the world and converge there. its really fun.

[Archdemos]

wow! Adam many thanks. The Somaliland and Puntland legs of the trips should be do-able at least. Hope the political situation in Somalia improves as i would love to head south and explore some of the places you mentioned.

 

From what i have found on the internet Gondershe sounds epic, just the type of place i would be interested in.

 

Are there any National parks like those in Kenya and Tanzania?

[ailamos]

If you're into geology then a good start would be to read http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA464006

 

You can also glance over the 84 page http://rsta.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/267/1181/267.abstract the paper has several figures that will help you select where to visit.

 

For birding, an excellent guide is: http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=0300074565 you can also check out the newly published http://www.amazon.com/Birds-Horn-Africa-Ethiopia-Princeton/dp/0691143455/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

 

General fauna guides to Somalia are hard to come by and a lot of the animals might have been driven to extinction in the country because of the war... however, you might find this http://earthtrends.wri.org/pdf_library/country_profiles/bio_cou_706.pdf useful, and you might want to contact Osman Amir the author of this http://www.wmenews.com/newsletters/File/Volume-1/Issue-4/vol1_wme_issue_4_en-3.pdf if he can guide you in the right direction regarding finding fauna in Somalia...

 

Make sure you post your photos here when you're done

[Juxa]

Adam that was wonderful list, unlike oday sayid you were actually helpful to the poster.

 

i am making notes myself, thanks

[Archdemos]

ailamos many thanks also, very informative articles, although some were quite frankly disheartening. shame about the deterioration of wildlife.

[-Serenity-]

Adam, thats quite an impressive list. I wonder how many of those sites are being actively preserved? I was reading about Qiblatain Mosque(the one in Medina) the other day and then my aunt told me about the one in Saylac. Apparently the mosques were built around the same time period (the time of the prophet - scw), which explains the two qibla's. Showz how far back dated the spread of Islam to Somalia goes.

[Archdemos]

Serenity excuse my ignorance on matters of religion, but i though the original qibla was facing Jerusalem in the early days and then switched to Mecca when the Prophet Mohamed(pbuh) received a revelation from Allah to change to Mecca. So are you saying that there are mosques in Somalia with qibla's facing both Jerusalem and Mecca.

[-Serenity-]

Yes Arch, apparently thats the exact same reason there are two Qibla's on the mosque in Saylac. They had to change direction too after the revelation and build a new mihrab.

[Archdemos]

fascinating, surely that would make Somalia one of the earliest places to accept Islam outside Arabia, including North African countries. whatever is left of these mosques need preserving and some kind of restoration. so people could visit.

 

I think the place is oozing with allot of history both pre-Islam and after just waiting to be discovered.

[ailamos]

I forgot to add one more important link Archdemos, check out http://www.somaliheritage.org/

Somali heritage is a website that aims to raise world-wide awareness about Somali cultural heritage and pre-history. It presents the extensive research, preservation and capacity building work carried out by Dr Sada Mire, an archaeologist and heritage worker.