Somalia

Eastern Africa

A Horn of Africa nation on the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden, with the longest coastline on mainland Africa. Most of the country carries the highest travel warnings, but the self-declared republic of Somaliland in the northwest, centred on Hargeisa, has held decades of relative stability and is home to the Neolithic rock art of Laas Geel and the old Ottoman and colonial port of Berbera.

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What you can do in Somalia

Museums & Galleries

Laas GeelJan Feb Nov DecLaas Geel is the finest rock art in the Horn of Africa and one of the best-preserved painted sites anywhere in the world. In a cluster of granite shelters on the plateau northeast of Hargeisa, herders left hundreds of paintings of long-horned cattle, human figures with raised arms, dogs and wild animals, worked in reds, whites and ochres that still hold their colour. A French archaeological team documented the panels in 2002 and the estimates for their age run from roughly 5,000 to as much as 11,000 years. What makes a visit unusual is how close you get: no ropes, no glass, a local guide walking you shelter to shelter under the overhangs while the plateau drops away below. Somaliland, the self-declared republic that holds Laas Geel, has stayed calm for years even as the rest of Somalia has not, and the site sits an easy half-day from Hargeisa once your operator has arranged the permit and escort.

Overlanding / Expedition Driving

HargeisaJan Feb Jun Jul Aug Nov DecSomaliland is one of the few places left where overland travel still feels like exploration rather than a set route. From Hargeisa you can string together a self-contained 4x4 circuit that most of the world has never seen: out to the Laas Geel rock art, on to the Ottoman and colonial port of Berbera on the Gulf of Aden, up into the Golis mountains and the juniper forest around Daallo, and back through country grazed by camel herders. Roads are rough, fuel and water need planning, and a permit and armed escort travel with you, which is part of what makes it an expedition. You move with a local driver-guide who knows the checkpoints and the towns, sleep in simple guesthouses, and the payoff is a corner of the Horn of Africa with almost no other travelers and a genuine welcome in the market towns.

Best months at a glance

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Museums
Overlanding