Its Friday, gotta get out on Friday

4/2/22

Friday is the best day of the week here in Hargeisa. Thursday night is their Friday night and Friday is the day to chill out or explore wherever you fancy. Since the weekend is only one day here, people do mad road trips so they can travel about and make the most of their day off. Today’s road trip was to a mountain, Gacan Libaax, pronounced ‘Gaan Libah’, which means the hand of the lion.

Our road trip began at 06.30, with our driver arriving at the hospital in his 4×4, the guard with rifle in the front passenger seat and me and Mubarak in the back with bags with of snacks and drinks. You need a solid car in Hargeisa as the roads are pretty terrible, but to go out into the countryside, the roads are either loose gravel, sand or worst of all, rubble with large boulders, trees and thorn bushes to swerve around, so a 4×4 is actually necessary! Another trial when travelling is the lack of signs guiding you in the right direction- there was one signing us off the main road today towards Gacan Libaax and that has been the only one I’ve seen my entire trip!

Anyway, the drive took several hours, in which we drove though many dried up rivers, saw dig-digs, camels, goats, sheep as well as baboons and gazelles, which was very exciting. There were hundreds of baboons together and on the way back we also saw a large group of gazelles – they’re such beautiful animals! We drove through many small villages – I guess they’re probably technically hamlets, with a few traditional Somali huts made of sticks/branches with assorted cloths tied over the top to create shade – each time asking if we were still on track for Gacan Libaax. Each new person waved us on, adding slightly more to the directions each time, as well as adding on their ETA.

After another few hours driving over VERY bumpy ground, we picked up a guide and headed out to Gacan Libaax, first to see the cave and then on to the ridge for beaut views. The cave was small-ish but had two other ‘windows’ up to the sky which let the light pour in. I asked about bats before we went in as everyone knows I do not like flying creatures, least of all bats (and seagulls lol). I was told there were not too many and when we went in they were pretty chill. Of course, when we were coming out by torchlight, the bats were flying were low and close to us through the narrow corridor connecting the main cave to the cave with the ‘windows’. I tried to remain calm and not look at them but I could see there shapes all around me!! From the caves, we were meant to get back in the car and drive to a viewpoint, but after five hours of driving, neither me nor Mubarak were keen on this idea. The guide was bemused that anyone would want to walk, but we set off, the guide Hasan, Mubarak and I, with the guard with his gun trailing behind and the driver following us slowly in the car – it was quite the procession!! Halfway through, the guide stopped suddenly, dropped to his knees in the dust and began praying – again this was interesting to me – behind me was a praying man, to the side of me were a load of goats and in front of me was a guard swinging his gun!!

After 20 minutes of walking (with no suncream – when will I learn?!), we made it to the viewpoint which was breath-taking. I felt like I was in Lion King and I was looking out over the Savannah! The only way it could’ve been better was if there had been some rain, so everything was green (and Circle of Life was playing in the background!) – maybe next time ayyy?!

We wanted to continue walking (we’d only done 4500 steps) so we headed along the ridge, guide in tow. The guide was not best pleased with our ‘extended walk’, but we explained to him that we had not driven 5 hours for a half hour tour!! We told him he could go back, but for some reason he was keen to come despite not being keen on walking! At every path junction, he tried to choose the path winding back to where we came from and became annoyed when we said we wanted to continue on. Eventually, Mubarak asked him to be quiet and let us pick where we wanted to walk, as we would only be here once, whereas he could come whenever he liked! He understood! Surprisingly to me, there were no established routes, nor particular paths that were maintained – if Gacan Libaax was in a different country, it would be a national park with an entry fee and a tourist office, cafe and the rest! I hope that IN THE FUTURE (which seems to be a common phrase here!), this will happen. The guide Hassan mentioned that a tiger had been seen about Gacan Libaax in the last few days, which is very cool, but also a little alarming when you are freely walking and the guide said he was not prepared for the tiger!

When we returned from our walk, we had a final coffee looking over the plains, taking in the view. A load of students came from University of Hargeisa, who were studying law. They were chilled, but friendly and there was a badass girl in a pink silky dress (long of course) with a hijab to match, who ran to the edge of the cliff for pictures. I told her I thought she was cool and we had a selfie on my request!! (Most of the other girls were much more cautious as was I!) One of the guys had brought a Somaliland flag, which is red, white and green like the Welsh one – ay, ayyyy – so they had a group pic and we jumped in a few too!

Then we headed home. We were taking a short cut home which required a guide to navigate, but luckily one of the workers was going home that way anyway and joined us in the car. Thankfully the journey didn’t take another five hours, but the ‘road’ back was pretty insane! The road was very steep and twisted round the mountain, with a cliff drop to one side and huge boulders to the other – it made my palms sweat and I think I may have held my breath at points, especially when I looked at the driver to find that neither hand was on the wheel, since he fancied some water! Mubarak said he was leaning away from the cliff too. The local guy also was not bothered! Craaaazy! I was pretty glad when we made it off the mountain side! The rest of the journey was uneventful apart from seeing a Somali ostrich, which has a short neck. We made it home in time for dinner – winning!