Ceerigaabo
Encyclopedia
Erigavo or Erigabo is the administrative capital of the Sanaag
region in northern Somalia
.
Local control is disputed between Somaliland
, a self-declared independent republic that is internationally recognized
as an autonomous region of Somalia, the autonomous Puntland
region in northeastern Somalia, and HBM-SSC (Hoggaanka Badbaadada iyo Mideynta SSC), a local unionist group whose goal is the creation of its own regional administration (Sool, Sanaag and Cayn or SSC).
Erigavo is also the seat of a handful of local non-governmental organization
s (NGOs) and governmental officials from Somaliland. The city has two hospitals, with one being constructed as of early 2009. In addition, a small airport lies to the east of the town.
10 km (6 m) to the north of Erigavo are the remains of a juniper
forest, running along the edge of the escarpment
which looks down to the Gulf of Aden
. The escarpment is approximately 2,000 m (6,562 ft) above sea level, where the road from Erigavo drops down to the coast. 2 km (1.2 mi) to the west, it rises to the highest point in Somalia (2,416 m [7,927 ft]). Known variously as Shimbiris
/Shimbir Beris (abode of the birds), Surad Cad, and other names, the peak was one of the locations where Sayyid
Mohammed Abdullah Hassan
built a fort, which was subsequently attacked and destroyed by British
forces in 1920.
Erigavo lies at the bottom of the highest peak in Somalia Surud about 2670 ft above the sea level. It is surrounded by very beautiful natural views like Mountain Daallo. There is a road which goes to the top of this high mountain. At the mountain's peak, one can see the sea as well as a tiny village called Mait about 60 km away. Sometimes the roar of leopards can be heard, for which the local people have many stories to share.
Erigavo is a fast growing city, but has no good roads connect to other cities in Somaliland.http://somalilandgov.com/slmap.htm The road was constructed in a form suitable for trucks by the British
during World War II
, using the labour of Italian
prisoners of war
. Before then there was a long established camel
track down the escarpment. Frankincense
grows throughout the area north of the escarpment, and is a source of income for the people of this area. The area has change since a lot of diaspora
come back home to build houses, The surrounding area is where the Sayyīd Muhammad `Abd Allāh al-Hasan, fought against British, Italian, and Ethiopian soldiers.
that crashed in the area in 1920 while carrying out bombing operations against Mohammed Abdullah Hassan
. This operation, based out of Aden
, is thought to be one of the first uses of aircraft in war on the African continent.
Scattered throughout the coastal range
s and some distance inland from the escarpment are large graves. The latter are in the shape of cairn
s of large stones loosely piled on top on each other, and extend up to three meters in height and six to ten metres in width. These are known as Galla graves (Taalla Galla), and are thought to predate the settlement of the area by Somali people
. Some have been opened up, showing a small burial chamber
covered by a flat rock. The cairns near the coast at Mait seem to be more complex in design, with two distinct levels, the use of different colored stone for different sections, and sometimes an outer boundary ring of stones some metres away from the cairn itself.
is the principal source of livelihood for people in the region. Nomads herd goat
s, sheep and camels, over ranges of open country defined on a clan rather than a household basis. In the town proper, remittances from family members outside of Somalia also serve as an important source of sustenance.
Daallo Mountain and Surad mountain range, two popular local tourist destinations, offer a scenic view, as does Mount Shimbiris, the highest peak in Somalia. Mount Shimbiris sits at an altitude of 2450 meters above sea level, and is located in the Surud mountain range. SRTM data shows that its often quoted elevation of 2,416 m is slightly low.
One can also take in the local wildlife, such as the Black-backed Jackal
, the Dorcas Gazelle
, the Hamadryas baboon
, the Suidae
, Common Dwarf Mongoose, Abdim's Stork
, Long-crested Eagle
and the Hartebeest
.
. Nearly everyone in the city has access to telephone landline
and mobile
services. The main mobile communication services in Erigavo are operated by Golis Telecom
, Telcom
and Telesom. STC Somaliland, another major local telecommunications company, manages electricity
and telephone landline
s only.
Sanaag
Sanaag is an administrative region in northern Somalia. Its capital city is Erigavo.Sanaag has a long coastline facing the Gulf of Aden to the north, and is bordered by the Somali regions of Woqooyi Galbeed, Togdheer, Sool and Bari....
region in northern Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
.
Local control is disputed between Somaliland
Somaliland
Somaliland is an unrecognised self-declared sovereign state that is internationally recognised as an autonomous region of Somalia. The government of Somaliland regards itself as the successor state to the British Somaliland protectorate, which was independent for a few days in 1960 as the State of...
, a self-declared independent republic that is internationally recognized
Diplomatic recognition
Diplomatic recognition in international law is a unilateral political act with domestic and international legal consequences, whereby a state acknowledges an act or status of another state or government in control of a state...
as an autonomous region of Somalia, the autonomous Puntland
Puntland
Puntland , officially the Puntland State of Somalia , is a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998....
region in northeastern Somalia, and HBM-SSC (Hoggaanka Badbaadada iyo Mideynta SSC), a local unionist group whose goal is the creation of its own regional administration (Sool, Sanaag and Cayn or SSC).
Erigavo is also the seat of a handful of local non-governmental organization
Non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...
s (NGOs) and governmental officials from Somaliland. The city has two hospitals, with one being constructed as of early 2009. In addition, a small airport lies to the east of the town.
10 km (6 m) to the north of Erigavo are the remains of a juniper
Juniper
Junipers are coniferous plants in the genus Juniperus of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on taxonomic viewpoint, there are between 50-67 species of juniper, widely distributed throughout the northern hemisphere, from the Arctic, south to tropical Africa in the Old World, and to the...
forest, running along the edge of the escarpment
Escarpment
An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that occurs from erosion or faulting and separates two relatively level areas of differing elevations.-Description and variants:...
which looks down to the Gulf of Aden
Gulf of Aden
The Gulf of Aden is located in the Arabian Sea between Yemen, on the south coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and Somalia in the Horn of Africa. In the northwest, it connects with the Red Sea through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, which is about 20 miles wide....
. The escarpment is approximately 2,000 m (6,562 ft) above sea level, where the road from Erigavo drops down to the coast. 2 km (1.2 mi) to the west, it rises to the highest point in Somalia (2,416 m [7,927 ft]). Known variously as Shimbiris
Shimbiris
Mount Shimbiris is the highest peak in Somalia. It sits at an altitude of above sea level. It is located in the Cal Madow mountain range in northern Somalia, in the Sanaag region. SRTM data shows that its often quoted elevation of 2,410m is slightly low....
/Shimbir Beris (abode of the birds), Surad Cad, and other names, the peak was one of the locations where Sayyid
Sayyid
Sayyid is an honorific title, it denotes males accepted as descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandsons, Hasan ibn Ali and Husain ibn Ali, sons of the prophet's daughter Fatima Zahra and his son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib.Daughters of sayyids are given the titles Sayyida,...
Mohammed Abdullah Hassan
Mohammed Abdullah Hassan
Sayyīd Muhammad `Abd Allāh al-Hasan was a Somali religious and patriotic leader...
built a fort, which was subsequently attacked and destroyed by British
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
forces in 1920.
Description
Erigavo is the administrative capital of the Sanaag region, which has an estimated population of just over 180,000. The city, at an altitude of over 1,800 meters above sea level, which is the mildest in that part of Somalia.Erigavo lies at the bottom of the highest peak in Somalia Surud about 2670 ft above the sea level. It is surrounded by very beautiful natural views like Mountain Daallo. There is a road which goes to the top of this high mountain. At the mountain's peak, one can see the sea as well as a tiny village called Mait about 60 km away. Sometimes the roar of leopards can be heard, for which the local people have many stories to share.
Erigavo is a fast growing city, but has no good roads connect to other cities in Somaliland.http://somalilandgov.com/slmap.htm The road was constructed in a form suitable for trucks by the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, using the labour of Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
prisoners of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
. Before then there was a long established camel
Camel
A camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as humps on its back. There are two species of camels: the dromedary or Arabian camel has a single hump, and the bactrian has two humps. Dromedaries are native to the dry desert areas of West Asia,...
track down the escarpment. Frankincense
Frankincense
Frankincense, also called olibanum , is an aromatic resin obtained from trees of the genus Boswellia, particularly Boswellia sacra, B. carteri, B. thurifera, B. frereana, and B. bhaw-dajiana...
grows throughout the area north of the escarpment, and is a source of income for the people of this area. The area has change since a lot of diaspora
Diaspora
A diaspora is "the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established or ancestral homeland" or "people dispersed by whatever cause to more than one location", or "people settled far from their ancestral homelands".The word has come to refer to historical mass-dispersions of...
come back home to build houses, The surrounding area is where the Sayyīd Muhammad `Abd Allāh al-Hasan, fought against British, Italian, and Ethiopian soldiers.
History
In the government area of the town of Erigavo referred to as the Shaab, a simple masonry monument holds the wrecked engine block of a British biplaneBiplane
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two superimposed main wings. The Wright brothers' Wright Flyer used a biplane design, as did most aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a biplane wing structure has a structural advantage, it produces more drag than a similar monoplane wing...
that crashed in the area in 1920 while carrying out bombing operations against Mohammed Abdullah Hassan
Mohammed Abdullah Hassan
Sayyīd Muhammad `Abd Allāh al-Hasan was a Somali religious and patriotic leader...
. This operation, based out of Aden
Aden
Aden is a seaport city in Yemen, located by the eastern approach to the Red Sea , some 170 kilometres east of Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000. Aden's ancient, natural harbour lies in the crater of an extinct volcano which now forms a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a...
, is thought to be one of the first uses of aircraft in war on the African continent.
Scattered throughout the coastal range
Coastal range
Coast Range or Coastal range may refer to:*North American examples are the coastal ranges of Canada, Mexico and the U.S. states of Oregon, Washington, and California, and Alaska, referred to as the Pacific Coast Ranges...
s and some distance inland from the escarpment are large graves. The latter are in the shape of cairn
Cairn
Cairn is a term used mainly in the English-speaking world for a man-made pile of stones. It comes from the or . Cairns are found all over the world in uplands, on moorland, on mountaintops, near waterways and on sea cliffs, and also in barren desert and tundra areas...
s of large stones loosely piled on top on each other, and extend up to three meters in height and six to ten metres in width. These are known as Galla graves (Taalla Galla), and are thought to predate the settlement of the area by Somali people
Somali people
Somalis are an ethnic group located in the Horn of Africa, also known as the Somali Peninsula. The overwhelming majority of Somalis speak the Somali language, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family...
. Some have been opened up, showing a small burial chamber
Chamber tomb
A chamber tomb is a tomb for burial used in many different cultures. In the case of individual burials, the chamber is thought to signify a higher status for the interree than a simple grave. Built from rock or sometimes wood, the chambers could also serve as places for storage of the dead from one...
covered by a flat rock. The cairns near the coast at Mait seem to be more complex in design, with two distinct levels, the use of different colored stone for different sections, and sometimes an outer boundary ring of stones some metres away from the cairn itself.
People
PastoralismPastoralism
Pastoralism or pastoral farming is the branch of agriculture concerned with the raising of livestock. It is animal husbandry: the care, tending and use of animals such as camels, goats, cattle, yaks, llamas, and sheep. It may have a mobile aspect, moving the herds in search of fresh pasture and...
is the principal source of livelihood for people in the region. Nomads herd goat
Goat
The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...
s, sheep and camels, over ranges of open country defined on a clan rather than a household basis. In the town proper, remittances from family members outside of Somalia also serve as an important source of sustenance.
Environment and wildlife
One can also take in the local wildlife, such as the Black-backed Jackal
Black-backed Jackal
The black-backed jackal , also known as the silver-backed or red jackal, is a species of jackal which inhabits two areas of the African continent separated by roughly 900 km. One region includes the southern-most tip of the continent, including South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe...
, the Dorcas Gazelle
Dorcas Gazelle
The Dorcas Gazelle , also known as the Ariel Gazelle, is a small and common gazelle. The Dorcas Gazelle stands approximately 55-65 cm . Dorcas gazelle have a head and body length of 90-110 cm and a weight of 15-20 kg...
, the Hamadryas baboon
Hamadryas Baboon
The Hamadryas baboon is a species of baboon from the Old World monkey family. It is the northernmost of all the baboons; being native to the Horn of Africa and the southwestern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. These regions provide habitats with the advantage for this species of fewer natural...
, the Suidae
Suidae
Suidae is the biological family to which pigs belong. In addition to numerous fossil species, up to sixteen extant species are currently recognized, classified into between four and eight genera...
, Common Dwarf Mongoose, Abdim's Stork
Abdim's Stork
The Abdim's Stork, also known as White-bellied Stork, is a black stork with grey legs, red knees and feet, grey bill and white underparts. It has red facial skin in front of eye and blue skin near the bill in breeding season...
, Long-crested Eagle
Long-crested Eagle
The Long-crested Eagle is a bird of prey. Like all eagles, it is in the family Accipitridae. It is currently placed in a monotypic genus Lophaetus....
and the Hartebeest
Hartebeest
The hartebeest is a grassland antelope found in West Africa, East Africa and Southern Africa. It is one of the three species classified in the genus Alcelaphus....
.
Telecommunication
Erigavo has a modern telephone systemTelephone
The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...
. Nearly everyone in the city has access to telephone landline
Landline
A landline was originally an overland telegraph wire, as opposed to an undersea cable. Currently, landline refers to a telephone line which travels through a solid medium, either metal wire or optical fibre, as distinguished from a mobile cellular line, where transmission is via radio waves...
and mobile
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
services. The main mobile communication services in Erigavo are operated by Golis Telecom
Golis Telecom Somalia
Golis Telecom Somalia is the largest telecommunications operator in northeastern Somalia. Founded in 2002 with the objective of supplying the country with GSM mobile services, fixed line and internet services, it has an extensive network that covers all the major cities and more than 40 districts...
, Telcom
Telcom
Telcom is a telecommunications network operator in Somalia. It is the first major privately-owned company providing telecommunications services to Somali cities.-Overview:...
and Telesom. STC Somaliland, another major local telecommunications company, manages electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
and telephone landline
Landline
A landline was originally an overland telegraph wire, as opposed to an undersea cable. Currently, landline refers to a telephone line which travels through a solid medium, either metal wire or optical fibre, as distinguished from a mobile cellular line, where transmission is via radio waves...
s only.