High_Gravity
Belligerent Drunk
Somalia Gets a Tourist, Mogadishu Officials Are Baffled
Read more: Somalia Gets a Tourist, Mogadishu Officials Are Baffled | NewsFeed | TIME.com
Its no wonder Somali immigration officials in Mogadishu thought a 41-year-old man who described himself as a tourist was insane; they hadnt seen a tourist in the Somali capital since, well, ever.
Canadian citizen Mike Spencer Bown is a seasoned traveler having visited more than 150 countries. But when he arrived in Mogadishu as a tourist, he was met with disbelief.
We have never seen people like this man, Omar Mohamed, one of the officials, told the AFP. He said he was a tourist, we couldnt believe him. But later on we found he was serious. That makes him the first person to come to Mogadishu only for tourism.
Somalia has been one of the worlds most dangerous regions since 1991 when political strife erupted and the country has been plagued by civil conflict since. Many government tourism departments, including those of the U.S. and Canada, heavily discourage travel to Somalia. According to the U.S. Bureau of Consular Affairs, kidnapping, murder, illegal roadblocks, banditry, and other violent incidents and threats to U.S. citizens and other foreigners can occur in many regions.
All of that may seem pretty daunting to any traveler but Bown was intent on visiting Somalias beaches. 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.
Read more: Somalia Gets a Tourist, Mogadishu Officials Are Baffled | NewsFeed | TIME.com