Somaliland: the next big adventure travel destination?

[ToughGong]

Can a country that doesn't officially exist develop a tourism industry? Some entrepreneurs in Somaliland think so.

Abdi Abdi, owner of the Oriental Hotel in Hargeisa, already runs a tour company. Other hotel owners are following suit and experimenting with special tours. Abdi Abdi offers home stays with nomad families. Hassan Ahmed Hussein, owner of the Hadhwanaag Hotel and Restaurant, is considering offering camel tours and boating trips. Both want to put Somaliland on the map for adventure travel.

Somaliland certainly has some strong points. The prehistoric painted caves of Laas Geel are the star attraction. They're as beautiful as the more famous caves of Lascaux in France and Altamira in Spain, with the added bonus that they're actually open to the public. I've traveled to thirty countries, and worked as an archaeologist in four, and Laas Geel is perhaps the most impressive archaeological site I've ever seen. It certainly ranks in the top five, along with the Pyramids of Giza, Karnak, Machu Picchu, and Avebury.

by Sean McLachlan

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[ToughGong]

Laas Geel Paintings

[HooBariiska]

i plan to open a tour of Naaso Hablood for westeners

[Keyse_0208]

u crazy man, ma intaan 5000 miles duulo ayaan gidaar wax lagu sawirey soo eegaa.???

[FAH1223]

How old are the Las Geel paintings? More impressive than the pyramids?

[ToughGong]

u crazy man, ma intaan 5000 miles duulo ayaan gidaar wax lagu sawirey soo eegaa.???

That's a typical Somali response,laakiin waxxa loo jeedaa western tourists
Aniguba maan soo egeen wax iney caruur sawirtey la moodo

[ToughGong]

How old are the Las Geel paintings? More impressive than the pyramids?

FAH;they recon between 5-7000 years old
The "pyramid" line was the words of the archelogist that wrote the piece not mine

[Cirwaaq]

Date line is closer to 8000

Similar paintings on rocks in egypt were dated to between 4000 - 5000. If there is link between the paintings then the artists migrated from the horn to the nile... Not the other way around.