A primitive rock painting, one of a galaxy of colourful animal and human sketches to adorn the caves in the rocky hills near Hargeisa, home to Africa's earliest known and most pristine rock art. In ten caves in Laas Geel, Somali for 'camel watering hole', outside Hargeisa, vivid depictions afford a peek at a pastoralist history dating back some 5,000 years or more. The paintings were discovered in 2002 by a French archeology team and have since been protected to stem looting after their value became apparent to locals who previously feared they were the work of evil spirits. The paintings have also become a leading attraction of Somaliland's fledgling tourism industry.
Somaliland has some of the best-preserved rock paintings in Africa but only a few intrepid travellers have seen them.
French archaeologists discovered them in 2002, more than 5,000 years after they were made.
Al Jazeera’s Catherine Soi reports from Hargeisa, Somaliland.
Catherine Soi
