Nadine's Puntland Trip (March 2008)
In a world where travelling is no longer a luxury that you enjoy once a year for a holiday, but has become normal, even expected, in work and often as part of a gap-year between school and university, it is hard to find a place that has rarely been trodden on, even by the adventure-seeking, off-the-beaten-track traveller.
But that’s what Puntland offers, a self-declared state that is not recognised by the international community, or even its neighbours in the Horn of Africa, but one that very much exists to its 2.7 million inhabitants. Puntland declared independence in 1998, and seeks to become part of a federal Somalia.
It sits at the tip of the horn, with Somalia to the south, and to the west Ethiopia and Somaliland, another self-fashioned country. The waters around its 1,650km of coastline are divided between the Gulf of Aden, which separates it from Yemen, and the Indian Ocean.
Its people are Muslim, and speak a mixture of Somali, Arabic (a Yemeni-dialect), English and Italian. Prior to independence in 1960, Somalia comprised of a British protectorate and Italian colony.
My two-day trip was funded and organised by Range Resources, an Australian E&P company and the only one present in Puntland. Other travellers included journalists, stock analysts, Range’s directors, and the security team.
The adventure began at London Heathrow, from which we travelled to Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. A thirty-minute car journey from Nairobi airport then took us to a smaller airport that caters for regional flights called Wilson Airport.
Waiting for me and my fellow travellers were two Capital Airlines eight-seater planes, which flew us to Puntland’s port town of Boosaaso in four hours.
What struck me most when flying to Boosaaso was how arid and uninhabited most of the land is; from the air it looks like lava. Even the capital city, Garowe, is a small cluster of buildings, surrounded by vast areas of dry land.
In March, the temperature was 30°C, and contrary to the advice from my nurse there are no mosquitoes in Puntland.
Much to my relief, with such heat I was told that wearing a headscarf was not necessary; although, it was quite clear that seeing a foreign woman’s hair, face and western clothes was a rarity for Puntlanders
.
Boosaaso airport
Waiting for us at the airport, which is not much more than a sandy landing strip, and a building under construction (with funds from Range Resources), were a convoy of four-wheel drives and plenty of security guards, some armed with AK-47 rifles.
We were taken to Range’s gated headquarters, which includes a four-storey building of offices and bedrooms and that is where we stayed for one night.
Range Resources’ headquarter in Boosaaso
View of Puntland high-street from Range Resources’ offices in Boosaaso
On day one, we were shown Puntland’s development projects, which include the airport, a livestock holding ground, and the port. The Italians began to construct the port, but left it to the Somalis after independence. Since then, they have been desperate to attract the investment to continue its construction.
View from Boosaaso port
Goats being rounded up for export at Boosaaso port
A holding ground being built in Boosaaso to lift Puntland’s livestock up to international standards
We were received very warmly by the people of Boosaaso with cheers and smiles; unlike in Garowe, where it was clear that we were less welcome.
I was struck by how colourful all the buildings are in Puntland. Everywhere, they are painted in bright pastel colours, and that contrasts starkly with the evident poverty and unemployment. In the middle of the day, many people were just sitting around chewing khat.
Front of café in Boosaaso high-street. ‘Kismaay’ refers to a district in Somalia,
which is dominated by the same clans as those found in Puntland
Day two was much more about business, during which we met with the President and other ministers in Garowe, but before that we were treated to a flight over Hafun, which sits at the tip of the horn. It is completely uninhabited and surrounded by the turquoise blue waters of the Indian Ocean – it is no wonder Range dream of turning into a resort.
View from the air of Hafun, which sits at the tip of the Horn
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