Gorgeous Beaches,Mountains and Mansions.

Eyl :-)

Vogel: Do you know anything about Somalia?

Campos: mhhhhhhhhh gorgeous beaches, a bit dry.

Vogel: It's a failed state,they have not had a functioning government since 1991.

Campos: Oh I saw Black Hawk Down, I get it............................................

This conversation between Vogel and Campos in the series  FlashForward shows what Somalia is(Campos's version) and what a lot of people think it is (Vogel's version). Somalia receives a lot of negative media and not many people know how beautiful and charming it can be, outside the news of bombings and Alshabab and that there are some parts of it that are really safe despite it being listed as one of the unsafest countries in the world.

Now that I have taken on the role of once in a while(more like most of the time) shining a light on the beauty that is Somalia here goes-Berbera,Burao and Sheikh Mountains.

Berbera

It’s coastal port town that has this feel of a storage and transport centre with loads of big trucks and big ware houses.The red sea passes through Berbera and the town even has a hotel on the beach :-) :-)

The Red sea with its somewhat black sand.

One of the warehouses in the town

Trucks on transit

Burao

The main roundabout in Burao that has the picture of the first president of Somaliland who happens to be from the town.

This town is unexpected,if you have never been there you expect it to be small but it's fairly big,has an airstrip and many big buildings and a lot more under construction chances are in the very near future it will be one really big town,

It’s the capital of Togdheer (one of the regions in Somaliland) and what you’ll notice in this town is the number of big houses in it and you’ll think so these people must be rich but as I found out these houses mostly belong to Somalis in the Diaspora.Speaking of Somalis in the Diaspora there were so many who were in the town when I was there and all had British accents, you will think; oh wait. did I mistakenly go to Britain and I am not aware!

A poster explaining the Somali-land shilling notes and what each of the images on it mean

A fuel station in the town

The big houses of Burao

The Sheikh Mountains.

These mountains are on your way to Burao from Hargeisa, they are very scenic and are usually listed as one of the things to do/places to visit if you are ever in that side of Somalia.Do they live up to a must see place; I don't know, it all depends on if you are a mountains kind of person.