Somaliland 8 The Back Seats

 
A little after 18.30, it was time to leave. Chris & I ended up drawing the short straws and taking the very back seats. The worst ones, except perhaps the half-seat right next to the driver.

The back seats are always the bumpiest, and with a journey where you know there aren’t going to be any roads… we weren’t looking forward to that part. The back seats are also the highest, giving very little clearance above our heads. But hey, someone had to take them.

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Djibouti to Somaliland Overland 7 Getting Rid of DJF

 And it was quick – I’d barely even unlocked and opened it when they said it was fine. We took our packs to the 4×4 that we were directed to, where they were once again secured to the roof.

We changed a little money, getting rid of the last few DJF and changing a small number of dollars over, just to have some cash on hand. The rate at the border was 8000 Somaliland Shillings to 1 USD, which was close enough to the actual rate. There’s no official one, but generally, anywhere between 8000 and 8500 is common.

Djibouti to Somaliland Overland 6 A Quick Look

 Getting stamped out was straightforward enough. Every passport was collected at one desk, where the guy checked through them all and updated the computer system. We were then handed them back to take to a second desk, where we received our exit stamp.

 From here it was just a short walk to immigration for Somaliland, where it was even simpler. A quick glance at the photo page and the visa, and we had our stamps. We headed out of the office and spotted our minivan driver calling us over; customs wanted to have a quick look in our bags.

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Djibouti to Somaliland Overland 5 He Was Just Curious

 
At the border, we were offloaded from the minivan and directed towards the immigration building. We asked about our bags, and the driver told us that they’d just be transferred straight to our 4×4 on the other side so we didn’t need to carry them through ourselves. Worked for us.

On the approach to immigration, we were asked for passports. We were 90% sure by the time that they’d been checked that the guy wasn’t actually an official, he was just curious to see the passports of the westerners coming through the border.

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