Bus trip from djibouti city to moghadishu

rorymcgrory

Hard to get flights into somalian capital. Has anyone ever taken bus/ taxi from Djibouti to moghadishu?

Please share your experiences please.
Cost
Travel time
Safety regarding children.

Thank you

charlemont

Best of luck, Be some journey to take.

dilallio

Please tell me you are joking:

http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/sub-saharan-africa/somalia

Safety and Security - Terrorism / Security
We advise against all travel to Somalia. There is a high threat to western, including British, interests from terrorism in Somalia, including Somaliland. Attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places frequented by expatriates and foreign travellers. Since the death of Osama Bin Laden terrorist groups operating in Somalia have made threats against Westerners and those working for western organisations in Somalia, including Somaliland. There is ongoing serious violence between opposing factions.

Al Shabaab, a proscribed terrorist group, and other groups opposed to the Somali government continue to carry out attacks in and around Mogadishu. Unconfirmed numbers of civilians of all ages have been killed in the serious fighting, which often involves heavy weapons. Fighting is intense with occasional peaks, such as during the so called Ramadan Offensive in 2010. There was renewed intense fighting in Mogadishu during March 2011.

The incidents below highlight the threat posed by terrorism in Somalia and the capacity of terrorist groups to carry out attacks:

• On 21 February 2011 an explosion at a police training camp in Mogadishu killed around 10 people and injured around 25 more. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack.
• On 9 September 2010 an explosion outside the main gates of Mogadishu airport killed two African Union soldiers and a number of civilians. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack.
• On 24 August 2010 armed individuals attacked a hotel near the Presidential Palace in Mogadishu killing six Transitional Federal Parliamentarians and a number of civilians
• On 1 May 2010 explosions in a mosque in Mogadishu killed an estimated 45 and injured many more. A separate explosion in a mosque in Kismaayo on 2 May 2010 killed two people and injured 13 more.
• On 13 April 2010 heavy fighting and shelling caused the death of an estimated 30 civilians and injured more than a hundred.
• On 25 January 2010 a bomb hidden near a mosque in Laas Caanood (Somaliland) killed four policemen and severely injured two others.
• On 3 December 2009 a suicide bomb attack at a graduation ceremony in a Mogadishu hotel killed three Transitional Federal Government Ministers and approximately 30 civilians, including journalists and a number of medical graduates.
• On 17 September 2009 a double suicide attack on an African Union base in Mogadishu killed 21 people including peace-keepers from the African Union Mission in Somalia and their Deputy Force Commander. At least 30 others were injured including a British national.
• On 18 June 2009, Security Minister, Omar Hashi was killed in a suicide bomb attack at a hotel in Beledweyne, which claimed the lives of more than 30 other officials and civilians.
• On 29 October 2008 there were three explosions in Hargeisa (Somaliland). The explosions occurred at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) office, the Ethiopian-Trade Office and the President’s Villa. Deaths were reported at both the UNDP offices and the Ethiopian Embassy. Exact numbers of injured and dead are not clear.
• Also on 29 October 2008 there were two explosions in Bossaso (Puntland). These explosions reportedly took place near security institutions. Deaths were reported, but exact numbers of injured and dead are not clear.

The incidents below highlight the threat of kidnap to Westerners and those working for western organisations. Somalis working for international organisations, including the UN, continue to be victims of targeted attacks.

• On 14 October 2010, two people working with the NGO Save the Children Fund were kidnapped from a guesthouse compound in Adado, approximately 500km north of Mogadishu near the border with Ethiopia. Both were later released.
• On 23 October 2009, two British nationals were taken hostage while sailing in the Indian Ocean. They were approximately 60 nautical miles from the Seychelles’ main island of Mahé, but were taken by a pirate group to the Somali mainland. They were released in November 2010. While the couple were not taken hostage in Somalia itself, their detention within Somalia demonstrates that kidnappers operate within the country.
• On 14 July 2009, two French personnel were kidnapped from a hotel in Mogadishu.
• On 26 November 2008, one Briton and one Spaniard were kidnapped from Bosasso on their way to the airport.
• In June 2008, a Somali national working for the BBC was murdered in the port city of Kismayo.
• On 1 April 2008, one Briton and one Kenyan were kidnapped on the road between Saakow and Bu'aale in the southern region of Juba and continue to be held.

You should be aware of the global risk of indiscriminate terrorist attacks, which could be against civilian targets, including places frequented by foreigners.

See our Terrorism Abroad page.

Safety and Security - Crime
There is a dangerous level of criminal activity by numerous bodies of armed militia throughout Somalia. As a result there have been murders, armed robbery and a number of incidents of kidnapping. There are regular outbreaks of inter-clan violence throughout Somalia.

dilallio

From the Dept. of Foreign Affairs

http://www.dfa.ie/home/index.aspx?id=8589

Somalia

Last updated: 28 September 2010
Current at: 23 July 2011


Somalia is a conflict zone at the present time, and Irish citizens are advised against all travel to the country. Due to the recent deterioration in the situation, any Irish citizens currently in Somalia are strongly encouraged to leave.
In addition to the ongoing armed conflict, there has been a consistently dangerous level of criminal activity in Somalia over the last few years.
Westerners and those working for western organisations have been targeted in attacks, including kidnappings. There is also a threat from terrorism in Somalia. Piracy has been a major problem along the Somali coastline.

TheInquisitor

There's probably not a worse war zone to go to!

However it has been done and only 6 months ago aswell

Mogadishu's 'first tourist' puzzles immigration officials

By Mustafa Haji Abdinur (AFP) – Dec 10, 2010

MOGADISHU — When Mike Spencer Bown disembarked from his flight in Mogadishu this week and described himself as a tourist, Somali immigration officials thought the Canadian man was either mad or a spy.

"They tried four times to put me back on the plane to get rid of me but I shouted and played tricks until the plane left without me," the 41-year-old told an AFP correspondent in Mogadishu on his hotel's roof terrace.

Somali officials then tried to hand him over to the African Union military force in Mogadishu, refusing to believe that he was in the city for pleasure.

"We have never seen people like this man," Omar Mohamed, an immigration official, said Friday. "He said he was a tourist, we couldn't believe him. But later on we found he was serious."

"That makes him the first person to come to Mogadishu only for tourism but unfortunately this is not the right time," he added.

The world traveller claims to have visited 160 countries since he sold his business in Indonesia years ago and he had yet to tick Somalia -- which has been devastated by a brutal civil conflict for almost 20 years -- off his list.

Mogadishu is one of the world's most dangerous capitals, a place where no foreigner can survive very long without heavy protection, but Bown said he had hoped to see Somalia's beaches and landscapes.

"I knew that Somalia plunged into civil strife nearly the day I started travelling but it was still on my list of places on the globe I should tour," he said at the heavily-guarded hotel where he stayed two days.

"I did not know the part of the country the government controls was so incredibly small," he said.

Somalia used to attract some visitors before it plunged into chaos following the 1991 ouster of former president Mohamed Siad Barre.

Mogadishu's Italian architecture and tree-lined avenues were renowned but the city is now a field of ruins where life is cheap.

"Somalia is the last and most dangerous country on my list and once I?m here in Mogadishu, I feel I made it," he said, explaining that he has already travelled to Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Even though I was told not go beyond the gate of the hotel for security reasons, I still found Somalia an interesting place with funny people," the backpacker said.

"Everyone I met kept laughing whenever they heard the word tourist," he said.

Bown flew out Friday and has already posted on his Facebook page pictures of himself in Mogadishu holding an assault rifle or a rocket-propelled grenade under the heading "The first tourist in Mogadishu".

He quotes Ovid, T.S. Eliot and Camus in his profile but obviously has little time for the Canadian High Commission's website, which bears a yellow warning with a danger sign advising against all travel to Somalia on its homepage.

"Now my trip around the globe is almost finished. There will be only small islands that are left for me to visit," he said, flinching slightly at the crackle of machine-gun fire from a nearby street.

The traveller said he would have been keen to meet the tourism minister to raise the issue of tourist guides and guidebooks for Somalia, which he found to be in very short supply when he planned his trip in the region.

"But to my surprise, Somalia has no such minister on the cabinet list," said Bown, adding that he would post information on the Internet for globetrotters wishing to emulate him.

mikedragon32

OP I locked your previous thread on this subject and now this one. Please don't start another.