HargeisaHargeysa

The Somali north-west has long been a land of herders and traders. Camel and goat herds moved along the highland plateau and down to the Red Sea coast, and the ports of Zeila and Berbera linked them to Arabia and beyond. British interest in the coast dates from 1884, when treaties with Somali clans created the British Somaliland protectorate. The British ruled lightly, mainly to secure supplies of meat for their garrison at Aden. Hargeisa, a small highland town, grew into the administrative capital in the 1940s (check the exact year).

British Somaliland became independent on 26 June 1960, and five days later it joined the former Italian Somaliland to form the Somali Republic. Many in the north soon felt sidelined in a union governed from Mogadishu. After the military coup of 1969 the government of Siad Barre grew more repressive, and in the north a resistance movement, the Somali National Movement, was founded in 1981. Its fighters were largely based across the border in Ethiopia.

In May 1988 the movement attacked the northern towns of Burao and Hargeisa, and the government answered with air raids and artillery. Hargeisa was bombed heavily; estimates vary, but a very large share of the city was destroyed and tens of thousands of people were killed. Hundreds of thousands fled to Ethiopia as refugees. The fighter jet on a plinth in the centre of town today is a plane from that war, turned into a memorial.

After Barre's government fell in 1991, northern leaders met at Burao and, on 18 May 1991, declared the restoration of independence as the Republic of Somaliland. They rebuilt with almost no outside money, relying on local elders, traders and returning refugees. Since then Somaliland has held several elections and transfers of power, written its own constitution and issued its own currency, passport and visas. It has not won formal recognition from other countries, and that status still shapes almost everything about how travel here works.

Hargeisa spreads across a broad highland valley at about 1,300 metres, with low hills on the horizon and a dry riverbed running through the middle. Because most of the old town was destroyed in 1988, the city today is mostly a post-war creation: single-storey and two-storey concrete buildings, tin roofs and a few newer towers. There are few historic quarters to wander, and its interest lies in what people do in the streets rather than in what the buildings look like.

The centre is a compact grid of main roads around the war memorial and the cultural centre. It holds the main hotels, banks, pharmacies, tea houses and government offices. It is the best area for a first stay because you can walk short distances in daylight and reach everything else by a short car ride. By late afternoon the streets fill with shoppers, students and men gathered at tea houses.

West of the centre lies Waheen market, the largest and busiest of the city's markets. It sells fabric, spices, incense, household goods and everything else, and it is tightly packed, loud and crowded. The money-changers work in a street near it, sitting behind open tables piled with stacks of banknotes. The market is best visited in the morning, with a guide, carrying only small notes.

East of the centre is the livestock market, where camels, goats and sheep are bought and sold at dawn, many of them destined for export through Berbera to the Gulf. It is a working place, not a show: dust, noise, drovers and buyers haggling over animals. To the south, the airport road runs past a line of hotels and guesthouses. Beyond these areas the city becomes residential, and visitors rarely have a reason to go without a local host. Whichever district you are in, give the driver a landmark rather than a street name, because addresses are mostly known by the place they sit near.

Hargeisa runs on trade, and much of that trade runs on cash. The Somaliland shilling comes in notes of low value, so a modest purchase can mean a thick pile of bills. That is why the money-changers sit on the street behind stacks of notes: they are moving small amounts of currency for shopkeepers and traders every day, and for visitors who want local notes. US dollars, especially newer, clean notes, are also accepted for most things a visitor buys.

Around the money-changers' street the market sells fabric, spices, frankincense and myrrh, clothing, household goods and phone credit. Somali frankincense is a regional speciality, burnt in homes and given as a gift. The market is arranged by trade, with stalls for cloth, kitchen goods and spices in their own lanes, and the busiest hours are mid-morning, before the heat and the midday prayer.

Money also arrives from far away. A very large diaspora, in Britain, the United States, Scandinavia and the Gulf, sends remittances that pay for houses, schools and small businesses, and money-transfer offices are common. Mobile money, such as Zaad, is used widely: people pay a taxi, a shop or a tea seller by phone. For a visitor, this creates an odd mix: cards and foreign ATMs do not work, but locals pay almost everything by phone.

Livestock is the other pillar of the economy. Herds are gathered from across the highlands and taken to Berbera, where ships carry them to the Gulf. At Hargeisa's livestock market the trading happens by voice and handshake, animals are judged by eye, and the price depends on the season and on the coming festival: before Eid al-Adha the market is at its busiest. The result is a city where the most important business is done in the open, in dust and at speed, and where a polite visitor with a guide will be made welcome.

Somali food is simple, halal and centred on meat, rice, flatbread and tea. Camel, goat and sheep are the main meats, cooked on the bone and grilled or stewed, and served with spiced rice, pasta or bread. Pasta is a reminder of the Italian influence in the wider Somali region and appears on most hotel menus. Vegetables are less prominent, and vegetarians will rely on rice, eggs, bread and salads.

Breakfast is often canjeero, a soft, slightly sour pancake made from fermented batter and eaten with sugar, ghee, honey or a sauce, alongside tea. Lunch, the main meal, is usually rice with goat or camel, sometimes with a banana on the side, and is eaten by hand or with a spoon. Suqaar, small pieces of fried meat with onion and spices, is another staple, and sambuus, the triangular fried pastry, is the standard snack.

Tea is the social centre of the day. Shaah is black tea boiled with milk and sweetened, with cardamom, ginger or cinnamon added, and served in small glasses. Tea houses across the centre fill up in the mid-morning and again in the late afternoon, with men and women in separate or family areas, and staying for an hour is normal. Camel milk, fresh or fermented, is also common, and juices from mango, papaya and guava are popular where fruit is in season.

For visitors, the practical rules are simple: eat hot, freshly cooked food, drink bottled water, and eat with your right hand. Alcohol is not sold or allowed, and pork is not eaten. Prices are low: a lunch is a few dollars and tea is under a dollar. Hotel restaurants are the safest choice for dinner, especially for women and first-time visitors, because the day ends indoors. If you are invited to eat in a home, accept: the meal is generous, the food is shared from a common plate, and a small gift of fruit or sweets is a polite thing to bring.

Somalis often describe their country as a nation of poets. Oral poetry, composed and performed from memory, carries news, argument, history and love. In Hargeisa the tradition continues in cafes, at weddings and on the radio, and it is at the centre of the Hargeysa International Book Fair, held most years in late summer. Founded by the Redsea Cultural Foundation in the late 2000s, it draws writers, publishers and readers from across the Somali world, and it is the best time to visit if you want to see the city at its most open.

Daily life follows the prayer calls and the heat. Shops open early, close for midday prayers and the hottest hours, and reopen in the late afternoon. Friday is the weekly holiday. Dress is modest for both women and men, and most women cover their hair. In the afternoon many men gather to chew qaad, the leafy stimulant that arrives by truck from Ethiopia each day, and the streets slow down. You are not expected to join, and it is polite not to comment on it.

Hospitality is a point of pride. A visitor who greets people properly, asks permission before taking a photo and accepts a glass of tea will get help and conversation easily. The political situation adds a layer of caution. Somaliland is treated as part of Somalia in most governments' travel advice, and that advice can be strict, so read it, tell your hotel and operator what you plan, and follow the rule that trips out of town go with a guide and any required escort.

The practical picture, then, is one of a city that is calm on the surface and demanding underneath. Cash is required, power cuts happen, and services are limited. But for a traveller who prepares carefully, Hargeisa offers something scarce: a city where the main sights are the people, the markets and the way a community has rebuilt its own capital. Stay in a good hotel in the centre, book a driver you trust and plan a slack day, and it will make sense.