we made it to the biggest attraction here in Somaliland - aside from the Edna Adan University Hospital - to the cave painting site of Laas Geel. While the locals knew about the painting forever, the site was discovered for the world to know by a French team in 2002 and then analised and officially listed as the oldest and best preserved cave paintings in all of Africa in 2003. The pictures show mainly people, cows and dogs and are between 5000 - 9000 years old!
It makes me wonder what else lies undetected in that dry and hot land just waiting for us to find it. If people then stopped at this site and stayed long enough to paint all these pictures, there must have been others staying in other caves painting other pictures. No?
Please read here the facts and figures about the site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laas_Gaal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Somaliland
It was mine and Salomé's wish to go there with our friends Barakat and Andala from Ethiopia.. Edna supplied the car and driver from her own hospital staff - and what a driver he is! - and the mandatory security guard from the military. That's as many as we can stuff into one 4x4.
Since we did not have time to organise the tickets and permissions in advance - Thursday afternoon and Friday the ministries are closed - we had to start this morning with a visit to the ministry of tourism. While the driver was inside organising the tickets, we were asked to step out of the car. I thought we're in for an interrogation as to what we wanted in Laas Geel with two Ethiopian men. But I was lead to a table and chair and very politely asked to sign the ministry guest book. Somewhat relieved I wrote something nice into it and signed, then asked Salomé to sign also.
Sitting there, writing a few words, the man who called me to sign the book looked at me and with a big smile and a supporting arm-gesture said: oh, you are very fat! I had to laugh out loud. You must know that fat ladies are considered rich and healthy and good for a lot of babies. Well, usually when I tell them I have two daughters and not a child more, they look quite disappointed. :-) Nonetheless, their enthusiasm for fat ladies warms my heart...
We returned home around 5pm, tired but happy after a fun day. Here are a few pictures about our trip to Laas Geel.
the man just can't stop jumping,
he's got energy for at least two more :-)
the weather was perfect, hot but windy
and in this cave I could have stayed for a long time
our army guard was dead serious all the way home
isn't it beautiful here?
at one point, there must have been more greens...
...to live on, otherwise people could not have lived here...
...and painted cows and dogs and such.
those two are guarding the place...
(is it me or does it say ARAFAT on his socks?)
and making sure neither funny Swiss people nor...
...funny Ethiopian people will wreck anything
but look at them - all happy and...
...smiling and genuinly having a good time
looking down on the other side of the hill
it's a dry and barren land indeed
can you see that there must have been a river here once?
our Casanova...
...and the three Musketeers
the Gods must have played a game of 'rock-throwing'
and then left everything and never came back
out of nohting this tree grows along the pile of rocks
back down at the station we had a little pick-knick underneath a big tree...
...posed as Ethiopians and...
...signed the guest-book!
The Muezzin just said 'Salaam Ualeikum'
We are saying Ualeikum Salaam (and the rest of the response which I can never understand)!
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