Somalia

Check travel advice. Most governments advise against all travel

The advisory position first: the UK Foreign Office and most Western equivalents advise against all travel to Somalia, citing terrorism, kidnapping and armed conflict. Somaliland, the self-declared state in the northwest, is treated somewhat separately in some advisories but still carries serious warnings. This page is reference material.

Somalia has the longest coastline in mainland Africa, over three thousand kilometres, and was known to ancient Egyptians as part of the Land of Punt. Mogadishu was a major Indian Ocean trading port for centuries, with Arab, Persian and Swahili influences visible in what survives of the old town.

Laas Geel, in Somaliland, holds some of the best preserved rock art in Africa, painted between five and eleven thousand years ago and still vividly coloured. Berbera has Red Sea beaches and a Ottoman-era old town. Somali culture places enormous weight on poetry, to the point the country has been called a nation of poets, and the oral tradition remains genuinely central.

Annual events and festivals

• Eid al-Fitr (varies) — the main holiday, marked with communal prayer and feasting.
• Eid al-Adha (varies) — the second Eid, widely observed.
• Ramadan (varies) — strictly observed nationwide.
• Independence Day (1 Jul) — marks the 1960 union of British and Italian Somaliland.
• Somaliland Independence Day (18 May) — marks the 1991 declaration, celebrated in Hargeisa.
• Mawlid (varies) — the Prophet birthday.
• Dabshid, Neeroosh (Jul-Aug) — an old solar new year fire festival with pre-Islamic roots.
• Hargeisa International Book Fair (Jul-Aug) — a well-regarded literary event in Somaliland.
• Poetry gatherings (year round) — a central cultural institution rather than an occasional event.
• Ashura (varies) — observed by some communities.