Through friends, I learn the autonomous northern part of Somalia, called Somaliland, is considered much safer than the south. I book a flight. An unannounced schedule change leads to a last-minute red-eye flight on an antique Jubba Airways jet. Sadly, the old MD80 looks better than the American Airlines planes I flew on in Dallas.
I finally land in Hargeisa, Somaliland’s capital, exhausted.
The airport is a breeze. The staff are exceedingly friendly. The immigration officer beams when he sees my US passport. The customs officer teases me over my minimal luggage. A janitor whistles and says hello. I wonder if everyone is secretly members of a Somali off-Broadway troupe, ready to spontaneously break into a musical routine – or if I accidentally popped an Ambien instead of a malaria pill.
Upon exiting into the bright Somali sunshine, my host is nowhere to be seen. I feel panic welling up inside: I don’t know where I am staying, my phone does not work, and I have no local currency.
A man asks if I need a taxi. I decline and brace for a hoard of other drivers to descend. Yet, no one else approaches. The original driver returns with a chair and suggests I wait in the shade.
My host, Mohammed, arrives and apologizes profusely. He expected it to take longer to clear immigration; it took me less than 20 minutes from touch-town to exit. I hope you’re taking notes, LAX.
We drive into town, only 10 minutes away. We stop at a statue commemorating Somaliland’s independence.
A Crowd Gathers
As Mohammed explains the statue’s significance, a crowd gathers around us. I feel nervous. Isn’t rule #1 of travel to avoid gathering crowds? I suspect rule #2 is to avoid being the cause of said crowds.
In Somaliland:
•It is safe to walk around at all hours of the day and night
•In the last ten years, there has been the sum total of one incident of terrorism
•Presidents step down peacefully; the country has democratically elected four leaders since 1991
We walk around town freely, eat at local restaurants, and drive into the countryside. Locals approach out of curiosity, not to harass or beg. Mohammed explains, “Somalis are a nomadic people. Visitors are therefore treated as respected guests.”
I inquire about Al-Shabaab, the Somali Islamist group notorious for attacks throughout Eastern Africa. Mohammed gets visibly animated. “People in Somaliland have no patience for extremism. If someone were to espouse Al-Shabaab ideology, they would be immediately reported and detained. Al-Shabaab is not welcome here.”
http://www.beyondtheheadlines.org/its-a ... n-somalia/
