Sheikh is a small mountain town in Somaliland, and getting there ended up being more memorable than the town itself. I traveled through the region by private taxi, with armed guards accompanying me outside Hargeisa. At the time, checkpoints along the roads made traveling independently difficult for foreigners, so arranging transportation usually meant arranging security as well.
This particular driver had been arranged through my hotel in Hargeisa. I had already argued with the staff there over the cost and number of guards they insisted I needed, so I wasn’t completely convinced I was getting the best deal. Whatever I thought about the arrangement, though, I eventually accepted that I was the visitor and wasn’t going to tell people living there what the local security requirements should be.
Khat and the Road
One thing I noticed almost immediately was how common khat was. Drivers would often stop to buy some before beginning a long trip, and my second driver could be seen chewing it while driving toward Sheikh. Khat is a stimulant leaf that is chewed throughout parts of East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Some people consider its widespread use a social problem, while for many others it is simply a normal part of social life.
I also met a police officer in Sheikh who was carrying khat. He suddenly ran toward our vehicle with enormous enthusiasm, repeatedly yelling, “I’m from Mogadishu! I’m from Mogadishu!” I can’t say with certainty whether the khat had anything to do with his excitement, but at the time I certainly wondered.
Wildlife Along the Road
To be honest, the journey to Sheikh was more of an adventure than the town itself. Not far outside Hargeisa I began seeing enormous tortoises wandering around the countryside. The second one we found was sitting directly in the road, so we stopped and carried it out of traffic.
After saving its life, I figured the tortoise at least owed me a photograph, but it refused to come out of its shell. A local man saw what I was trying to do and attempted to encourage it with a stick. The tortoise remained unimpressed.
The road trip produced considerably more wildlife than I expected. I saw warthogs and monkeys, and occasionally groups of monkeys would scurry across the road ahead of us.
Birds and Termite Mounds
I also came across a beautiful bird species that I never managed to identify. There were only a few nests grouped together in one tree, and this was the only place I remember seeing them during the trip.
Another bird was much easier for me to recognize. I had seen the same species while traveling through Sudan and immediately recognized it as a little bee-eater.
Large termite mounds were another common feature of the landscape. This one stood out not only because of its size but because of its shape, with a massive base supporting a tall central tower. Until this trip, the biggest termite mounds I remembered seeing had been in Botswana.
Lizards Along the Way
I seem to encounter lizards almost everywhere I travel, but usually they disappear long before I can get close to them. This time I managed to catch a small one gently enough that it sat on my finger for a photograph before I let it go.
From the Coast Into the Mountains
The drive toward Sheikh showed just how quickly Somaliland’s landscape could change. Closer to the coast around Berbera, the land was hot, rocky, and extremely dry. As the road climbed into the mountains, the temperature dropped and small shrubs and trees began appearing. This was especially noticeable because I had experienced so much rain around Hargeisa while the country closer to the coast still looked almost completely parched.
My weather during this trip seemed determined to alternate between extremely hot and pouring rain, so the cooler conditions around Sheikh were nearly perfect. The dramatic mountain scenery made the drive one of the highlights of my time in Somaliland.
Arriving in Sheikh
Sheikh itself is a small town high in the mountains between Somaliland’s interior and the Gulf of Aden coast. The town didn’t seem to have a huge amount happening while I was there, but I liked the setting considerably more than I expected. The cooler weather and surrounding mountains made it feel very different from both Hargeisa and the intense heat around Berbera.
A Questionable Off-Road Detour
At one point my driver noticed that I was interested in the mountains and decided to leave the road so I could get closer to them. It seemed like a good idea until I started noticing rocks around us that had been painted red.
Only about an hour earlier I had seen a foreigner walking around in what looked like a full protective suit. At first I thought he was a beekeeper and wondered what someone was doing out here working with bees. Then the red rocks reminded me of something I had seen in Afghanistan, where marked rocks could warn of land mines.
I asked my driver, “Hey man, what do these red rocks mean here? Because in Afghanistan that means land mines.”
He told me he didn’t know whether there were mines in the area, but then attempted to reassure me by pointing out that camels had already walked through it. That was not especially reassuring. I spent the remainder of our off-road excursion hoping either that I had misunderstood the markings or that the area had already been cleared. I never learned what the red rocks actually indicated, so I wouldn’t claim today that we had definitely driven into a minefield. At the time, however, it certainly got my attention.
Plants Around Sheikh
The mountains remained fairly dry, but I began seeing plants that I hadn’t noticed around Hargeisa. One looked almost like some type of agave to me, while another had the appearance of a cactus or similar succulent. I wasn’t able to identify either one confidently, so I’ve left them unidentified rather than guessing.
The Road Toward Berbera
The drive between Sheikh and Berbera had some of the best scenery I saw anywhere in Somaliland. Large mountains surrounded the winding road as it descended toward the coast, giving me plenty of opportunities to stop for photographs. I was also surprised to see homes built high in some of these mountains. These photographs were taken along the main road rather than during my questionable off-road adventure.
My Time in Sheikh
Sheikh itself wasn’t really the reason this page became memorable. It was everything surrounding it: chewing khat with drivers, moving tortoises out of the road, spotting monkeys and warthogs, photographing birds and giant termite mounds, climbing from the hot coastal lowlands into cool mountains, and then wondering whether my driver had accidentally taken me into a minefield.
The town was pleasant, but the road through the mountains was what made Sheikh one of the highlights of my trip through Somaliland.
