Who we are
The idea started with our Founder Abdirizaq Abdullahi. A young refugee during the Civil War, fortunate to find a new home in The Netherlands. After graduating from Law School, he decided to travel. Fascinated by adventure travellers he had met, he wondered whether experienced travellers wanted to visit Somaliland, the place where he was born. Inspired by Simon Reeve – Journalist who visited Somaliland for a BBC television documentary called Places That Don’t Exist, Abdirizaq years later went back to explore Somaliland. This was the start of Somaliland Travel Agency.
Core principles
The company was started with a couple of promises. First promise was to provide consistent quality service. Only than we could fulfil our second promise, which was to promote Somaliland as a next travel destination. As we slowly expend/start to include other countries, we still like to keep our business name though. We have often heard that this might not be smart from a business point of view. However, Somaliland is at the core of our company, and we like to believe that we are making a bigger impact this way.
Our third promise was to help with creating a tourism infrastructure to make sure local communities can benefit from tourism. Somaliland Travel Agency only recruits locals staff members who are in no way related to the owner. Talent and passion are what we look for. In addition, we only use local facilities during our tours.
Why Adventure with Us
Local Expertise: We only focus on the destinations that we know and grew up in. This means that we know everything about the places that you will be visiting. In most cases we have created the itineraries from scratch as there is no tourism infrastructure. We continually look for interesting places and engage with local communities.
Quality Service: Quality and Service go together. From the first contact until returning home, we will be guiding you. We are happy that our guests have complimented us on our personal touch and responsive communication. We closely monitor client satisfaction and are consistently seeking new ways to exceed our client’s expectations. Our company has been chosen as Tripadvisor Travelers’ Choice 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 with a 5 STAR Rating on TripAdvisor. Read what our clients have to say about us.
Supporting local communities: All our tours are aimed to directly benefit the local people and communities. Everything that we use is owned by locals. From the accommodation, restaurants to everything else needed to facilitate the tours.
Explore With Peace of Mind: We understand better than anyone else that traveling to this region might come with inconveniences. Because of our on-the-ground information we can better monitor the situation and make the necessary arrangements. Your safety and comfort are our highest priority.
Flexibility and Tailor-made: Create with us your tour on your own pace that will maximize your unique experience. With us you do not need to wait on fixed group departures. With us, your welcome anytime of the year.
Social and Responsible Travel: We are proudly members of Responsible Travel since 2017. We help with the preservations of nature and archaeological sites primarily in Somaliland. We must admit this is not easy as Authorities and people in these kinds of countries have other priority such as bringing food on the table. Our responsibility nevertheless remains to do as much as possible and educate the communities.
Meet our Team
Our staff consists of a group of young and vibrant people who will assist you with all your pre-trip planning needs. The staff and guides are locally born in the countries. What unites us is that we are passionate about promoting the region and the extensive local knowledge that we have on the traditions, culture, and history. Our headquarter is in Hargeisa Somaliland and our second office is in The Netherlands.
Abdirizaq Abdullahi – Founder/Owner and Managing Director
Abdirizaq has made quite a journey throughout his still relatively young life. Born in Hargeisa, Somaliland. Had to flee the country at the age of 4 year because of the Somali Civil War. As a refugee, he was fortunate to find The Netherlands as his new home. Here he graduated from Law School and has worked within the corporate world mainly within the Law/Compliance field.
Travel always has been part of his life while studying. After traveling in Europe, South East Asia and Africa he decided to learn more about his roots in Somaliland. He went on a solo backpacking journey in Somaliland and saw the potential the region had as an off-the-beaten destination. The slowly growing urge to show these undiscovered places to other like-minded travelers, resulted in the setting up of Somaliland Travel Agency.
“As an adventure traveler myself, I hope I can better pinpoint what travelers are looking for and serve them well.”
Abdilahi Awale – Assistant Office Manager and Tour guide
Abdilahi has been born in the small agricultural town of Arabsiyo, Somaliland. When he was young, he used to travel to different towns and remoted areas. He then moved to the capital Hargeisa to study Business Administration and Accounting. Before the travel bug bit him, he worked in different accounting and IT roles. Ever since he has joined us, he has extensively explored the region. His passion is finding new interesting places and sites for our programs. The part that he likes most is when he is on the road with our clients.
“Just learning about the culture of our clients and the way they look at the world has given me a chance to grow”
Mohamed Youssef – Marketeer & Tour guide
Mohamed is our youngest team member. Born and grown up in Hargeisa, Somaliland. He graduated as a Civil Engineer and worked for a food trading company. Mohamed first started as an Intern with us before becoming an Employee. Since then, he has done tourism courses and photography/video courses. He has a passion for photography and video. Mohamed likes to capture landscapes, people and wildlife during our tours. He manages our companies’ brand, social media and works as a tour guide.
“I want to create positive change of Somaliland and the region through pictures and video”