Time: July 12, 2016
"Smell the sea, and feel the sky.
Let your soul and spirit fly."- Van Morrison
If your idea of a good beach experience includes babes in Bikinis, boom boxes banging out music, bonfires, deck chairs, showers to wash the salt off, hotdogs on the grill and copious quantities of alcohol to wash it down with, then the northern coast of Somaliland might not be the vacation to book for you.
Beach dress in this conservative muslim country has the women looking like they rolled over in the morning sheets and went for a stroll on the strand. Alcohol is of course strictly banned in the Koran. There are no stands selling confection. Pork hot dogs will instantly land you on God’s black list and possibly an eternal place in Hell, and the beach itself, if you overlook all the windblown plastic bags and debris, would remind you more of a good place to stage a military beachhead, than somewhere to grab a tan and catch up on that latest Tom Clancy novel.
Still, I was blessed with very good company that day. I met Zikreah and Burkhad and we headed out to see the ocean together.
As the guys splashed around in the gulf of Aden, I played photographer. All the while I couldn't help but think that this stretch of water around the Somali coast was one of the most dangerous in the world for pirating.
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Behind the Scenes: I estimate that my concrete block guest house was about 115 degrees Fahrenheit from the sun hammering on it all day. It was so hot that after drinking 2 gallons of water I hadn't pissed a drop. I finally went outside at 10 pm and slept the night away on raw concrete which was preferable to being in doors. Fortunately the dry desert heat meant that there were no mosquitoes.
Burkhed on the left and Zakariye on the right. I hung out with these guys for the day.
My name in Arabic. I fail to see how he can fit the words "Great" and "Magnificent" into such small script.
Notice the sand in the bottom right hand corner. Zakariye has a great acting ability to make it look like he is getting hit by the tsunami of the century.
Girls at the beach. You will never see them more undressed unless you marry them, not an impossibility considering Islam allows you to have 5 wives.
Strange how Budweiser never decided to film any of its commercials here...
