Beach scenes at Ceel-Gerde

11/2/22

So my final Friday in Somaliland came round surprisingly quick, and to make the most of it, I had a FULL day out! We (me, Mubarak, plus the usual driver and guard combo) left around 05.30 (after writing my blog til 01.00 – lucky I’m used to the nurse life of not sleeping!), and headed to Berbera, reaching the town around 08.30 where we stopped so the driver could grab breakfast, before driving out of the town along sandy tracks to the furthest beach.

We arrived around 09.30 with a full day ahead of us! Behind us were sloping white sand dunes reaching up to tall rocky peaks, which lined the beach, and in front us was the bluey-turquoise ocean with not a single soul in. The beach was white and pretty clean and frankly, it looked like paradise – it could have been the Maldives or Bora Bora, though if it was, it definitely would have been busier and more exclusive in a sense! The only other people we passed near the beach were living in a few traditional Somali huts, which use sticks for the frame and various pieces of cloth as the covering. When we arrived I could see a group of people further down, past the village with donkeys and a truck – they were there to collect water from the well for the village. The only person we saw on the beach itself was a nomad who was walking to the town. Since being in Somaliland, I have repeatedly had people worry for my safety and so while the nomad was walking past the guard was swimming with the driver both in their pants, and I briefly imagined the headline ‘White Western girl snatched by nomad, while guard was swimming in his underpants!’ (Basically the whole reason a guard has to follow foreigners around here is because Somaliland is a new country, which isn’t even internationally recognised, so any bad news could taint their name and risk them losing any progress on being recognised as an independent country instead causing them to be lumped in with Somalia, their unstable and dangerous neighbour.) The crazy thing about the guard to me, is that by saying to foreigners that you cannot travel without a guard, you are implying that it is not safe, when really, it is safe but they’re just overcautious, perhaps understandably since they’ve been fighting for independence since the 80s – now they are an independent state, with their own government, but are still not internationally recognised as a country!

The pristine beach reminded me of some of the beaches in Myanmar – perfectly white sands and clear, blue waters, but no tourism whatsoever. Here, locals do not regularly go for day trips to visit the beautiful landscapes that Somaliland has to offer. Having visited various impressive tourist sites, as one of only a few visitors each time, Somaliland has so much potential to be a popular tourist destination in the future. Any where else and the beach would be teeming with life, cafes strung along the top of the beach, hawkers going from person-to-person trying to sell their goods, people undercutting the business next door with their sunbed price! One day.

For me, it was good that it was quiet as it meant I could enjoy the beach in my Western attire, without any watchful gazes. We (Mubarak and I) strolled along the beach to the very end, scrambled up the dunes and admired the view out over the bay. Apparently, we were looking out towards Socotra, an island owned by Yemen, which I am determined to go to one day! The beach was teeming with crabs, just basking in the sun on the line where the waves would break on the sand. We also spotted a turtle in the sea, though sadly I do not think it was alive – hopefully, its proof that there are more about though?!

We chilled, sunbathed, swam, played one a side football – lol, and generally I enjoyed my last Friday peacefully, in my own zone of freedom. When we were done, we re-dressed to Somali standards, walked back along the beach towards the car, where some people were enjoying the beach and the dunes. Everyone was of course, covered well, although a few headscarves were off to enjoy the sea breeze! We had a quick coffee and baklava before starting the long drive home again. When we reached the car, our driver Zachariah was digging out another jeep, which had parked on deep sand and was now stuck – it would take them hours probably to be on the move again…

We made it back to the hospital around 21.30 and I went almost immediately to bed! Another fun, but exhausting Friday!!