Kenya to Somaliland Indian Ocean with Simon Reeve

The Indian Ocean...

Home to the world's most exotic islands.

And beautiful and rare wildlife.

I'm travelling through 16 countries around the edge of this vast ocean

that stretches 6,000 miles from Africa to Australia.

Steeped in history, the Indian Ocean is vital to world trade.

It's a journey of extremes,

from stunning islands,

across pirate-infested seas,

to remote villages...

THEY GREET EACH OTHER

..and war-torn land.

GUNFIRE What was that?

This is a journey about much more than just what's under the waves.

It's about the lives of the millions of people

who live around this, one of our greatest oceans.

On this leg of my journey, I travel from Kenya to Somalia,

and through the Horn of Africa.

In one of Africa's most spectacular river deltas, I meet the villagers

defending their homes and their way of life.

You have succeeded.

CHEERING

I travel north from Kenya's wild and beautiful coast

on the most dangerous leg of my entire Indian Ocean journey,

to war-torn Somalia

and the front line of a battle against piracy and terrorism.

How does he know it's al-Shabaab?

That side, that side's al-Shabaab.

My last stop is in Somaliland,

a country which doesn't officially exist,

where I join youngsters on a very special trip to the seaside.

The Indian Ocean!

Indian Ocean.

I have reached Kenya on my journey around the Indian Ocean,

I'm heading towards Somalia and the Horn of Africa.

It's going to be a tough trip, but Kenya's Indian Ocean coast

is spectacular.

Whoa!

Quick, quick, quick, look, look, look, look!

Dolphins!

They're all around us, there's dozens of them.

Whoa!

It's just an incredible sight.

From the spectacular Kisite Marine Park,

I was travelling the length of Kenya's coast

with my guide, Michael Kaloki.

Michael.

Michael Kaloki.

The national parks and beaches down here in the south

are a huge draw for tourists.

More than a million people visit Kenya each year

for a mix of sea, sand and safari.

We're on the road, we're heading up the coast,

and our first stop is the port city of Mombasa.

Kenya's second city has been

an important Indian Ocean trading centre for more than 1,000 years.

It's now home to a million people.

Mombasa is actually on an island,

so we just need to take a little ferry to get across to it.

Here we go, we're going on board.

On the ferry to Mombasa!

So, look, they let the cars on first, and then come the foot passengers.

The ferry is the main way into the city from the south coast,

for people, vehicles, goods, everything.

So this is the port of Mombasa just here.

It's one of the biggest ports along the East African coast,

if not the biggest.

Mombasa's port is a vital trade hub for this entire region,

handling almost 20 million tonnes of cargo a year.

Hundreds of years ago, merchants traded ivory, grain, spices and gold

from here across the Indian Ocean to India, and even as far as China.

And it's not only mega-container ships

that are now bringing the world's goods

to Mombasa. Through the back alleys of the old town, Michael took me

to see the more traditional side of modern Indian Ocean trade.

-So, Simon, this is the old port.

-Yes.

Of Mombasa.

Ageing wooden dhows,

like those that have plied the Indian Ocean for centuries,

still off-load their cargo here.

Oh, there are some people in there.

-Hey, hello!

-Hello.

Where have you come from?

INDISTINCT SHOUTING

From Pakistan?

I think they might be coming to get us, Michael.

They'd sailed across the Indian Ocean from the north,

where I was heading.

I was keen to hear what lay ahead for me.

Is it OK to come aboard?

Salamu alaykum!

So this is the captain.

He's got a very fine outfit on.

You are the captain, and where have you come from?

-You came from Pakistan?

-No.

Pakistan, Mogadishu, Kismayo, then Mombasa.

Pakistan, to Mogadishu in Somalia, Kismayo in Somalia, then Mombasa.

Captain Hafeez Baloch and the crew of the Al Faisal 2

had sailed through dangerous waters,

arriving the day before with 800 tonnes of cargo

including rice, sugar and cooking oil.

Oh, little hatch to post myself through.

This is a beautiful ship!

Now, this, captain, this is a great sight.

A proper wheel. Too many ships now,

they just have a little computer here,

some little joystick to drive the ship.

-This one.

-Oh, you've got one!

This one, no need anybody. Autopilot.

You say, "I want to go from Karachi to Mogadishu,"

and vroom, you're off?

I am sleeping!

On my journey, I was planning to visit Mogadishu,

the war-torn Somali capital, possibly travelling by boat.

The captain had other ideas.

Do you think it would be safe for us to travel from Mombasa

in a ship to Mogadishu?

-No.

-Not safe?

Sometimes pirates come inside the boat.

-Really?

-Yeah.

They take our food and the telephone.

-Satellite phone. Television.

-Sometimes take clothes.

Take your clothes off you. Incredible.

Incredible.

-And they are holding a gun at you, presumably?

-Yeah.

And this has happened to you?

Yeah, RPGs.

Really? So that's a sort of rocket-propelled grenade?

Yeah, RPG. Really big.

My goodness.

-Mogadishu is more difficult.

-Mogadishu very, very difficult.

Now, I mean, Mogadishu blast.

I come from Mogadishu, there are too much problem now.

Blast, you mean conflict, war?

-Yeah.

-Fighting?

-Suicide bomber.

-Suicide bombers. Right.

-In the port, yeah.

I'm ready to my mind, when I go in Somalia,

maybe I not come back in my home.

What does your wife say when you leave to go towards Somalia?

She prays every day for me.

For you to return safely?

The waters off Somalia are the most dangerous in the world

for shipping and sailors.

I'd need to find another way to get to Mogadishu.

In the meantime, I left Mombasa and headed north up the coast,

towards the region of Kenya that borders Somalia,

and has its own security problems.

We're heading into an area where there's been bandit attacks in the past,

and we've been told we need to take police guards with us.

Michael, it feels a little bit like we've entered the badlands.

Well, I would say this is more or less seen

as perhaps a sort of frontier district in some way.

I wanted to visit an area of international ecological importance,

that's now at the centre of a bitter dispute.

The Tana Delta is where Kenya's longest river meets the Indian Ocean.

That's a great view, eh?

Indian Ocean all the way along the horizon, of course,

and for quite a bit of a way beyond.

And just down here, this is the mouth of the Tana river.

And this is what we're going to explore.

The Tana river delta is not on Kenya's tourist trail,

but it's one of the most important wildlife sites in the whole of Africa.

There's a crocodile over there.

It's a whopper!

You certainly don't want to leave your fingers in the water.

Not a good idea.

The delta is a refuge for both larger animals

and more than 350 species of bird.

UK charity the RSPB has identified it

as a wildlife site of global importance,

and is campaigning for its protection.

Because this is a twitchers' paradise.

So we think that's a malachite kingfisher.

WHISPERS: Right underneath a fish eagle just up here.

Magnificent.

We've come round a bend in the river,

and where there was forest before, now the view has opened up.

And the tragedy, though,

is that developers are planning to come in here

and carpet this whole area with sugar cane.

And that, of course, is going to be an absolute disaster for the wetland

and for the birds.

The Kenyan government is trying to sell off the Tana Delta,

so vast areas of sugar cane can be grown on the land,

some of it to sell to Europe as an ecofriendly biofuel.

This won't only affect the wildlife.

Around 90,000 people live in and off the delta

by fishing and grazing their livestock on its fertile grasslands.

-After you.

-Thank you, mate.

After a five-hour boat ride we came to a settlement.

The villagers had only recently arrived here.

They were thrown off their land elsewhere in the delta by TARDA,

a Kenyan government development agency.

In the last few years,

TARDA has evicted thousands of families in the area.

I went to meet the village chief.

Jambo!

THEY EXCHANGE GREETINGS

Good to meet you, sir.

-Salaam. How are you?

-Hello.

CHIEF SPEAKS LOCAL LANGUAGE

Ah, OK.

He says welcome, you are free to walk wherever you want,

you are free to sleep in our village.

So you're welcome.

-Asante sana.

-OK. Thank you.

It turned out the villagers had been evicted several times by TARDA.

So you've been forced to move from one place to the other.

Can you explain to us what happened when you were evicted?

HE SPEAKS LOCAL LANGUAGE

-TRANSLATOR:

-The bulldozers gathered around the village

and started to clear the ground.

When they got near to the huts, the children ran away.

When they tried to enter our houses, we resisted.

Then they brought the police,

and they started to beat us and used tear gas.

One of the villagers was shot.

But surely TARDA have compensated you

in some way for taking away your land?

We didn't get any compensation

because they said it is not our land.

It's theirs, and we have to leave.

As you can see, there are some houses that are being constructed now.

Maulidi Diwayu is a committed local campaigner

who is fighting for the rights of the people of the delta.

So they've been forced to move to this location?

Yeah, utterly. They have been forced to move anywhere,

because they were not identified a place.

Oh, really? So they were just told, get out.

They were just moved without caring where they were going.

Could we help these women at all? Could we help them...?

I don't know if they will agree.

If a man is seen building this house,

he is considered not to be a full man.

Well, I'm quite happy to suffer that indignity.

You have volunteers!

So there's one here, and there's one here.

This is the door.

Yeah. This is the door, OK.

Oh, dear.

I missed.

Diwayu's hole is significantly wider and deeper than mine.

There we go!

Oh, no! Disaster!

You are not a sharpshooter.

-That's enough!

-That's enough?

You have succeeded.

CHEERING

A doorway emerges here.

How many people will be living in this home?

This house is going to be occupied by about ten people.

And presumably they must be hoping and praying

that they don't get evicted again.

Of course, yes.

They're going to be evicted again.

This one now is still in TARDA land.

So they could actually be evicted again?

Yes, of course.

They have to be evicted again.

25 villages and more than 30,000 people face eviction

under the government plans for the Tana Delta.

They'll lose their homes as well as grazing land for their livestock.

All of us will lose a vital habitat for birds and wildlife.

Instead, companies will farm sugar cane to make fuel for foreign cars.

The government says the project will boost the economy,

but corruption is rife in Kenya,

and I doubt locals here will see any benefits.

-So this is where we're staying tonight?

-That's right.

This is going to be our home for the night.

The toilet facility is around the side.

Excuse me one moment.

You don't have to come, Michael!

-How's the food looking?

-Ah, the food is looking delicious.

The goat meat is ready.

Excellent. That was one of the best bits of goat meat I've ever had.

What can be done to save the delta and save the people who live here?

The community have started some initiatives.

They are actually resisting, and already some community members

have taken TARDA to court so that they could block their land,

from losing their land.

So, basically, you all need to shout loudly and say, "This is ours."

Exactly. And that is what we are doing.

Because the local people are making all these noises,

one day we are going to win and we'll get back our land.

Diwayu is a resourceful campaigner,

and it was good to hear that villagers are fighting back

and using the courts.

SIGHS DEEPLY

What a day.

It's an absolutely beautiful area.

But I fear that protecting it is...

not a battle that the little guy is necessarily going to win.

The RSPB has joined the battle to project this delta,

but its future is by no means clear.

Next day, we took a plane back out towards the coast,

flying over the Tana Delta.

The whole area is absolutely gorgeous.

Lush, beautiful, spectacular.

And, at the moment, still pristine.

But for how much longer?

We're back to the Indian Ocean.

We're going to bank left and then head up the coast.

At the far north of Kenya's Indian Ocean coast

is an island called Kiwayu,

just next to the border with Somalia.

Around Kiwayu Island, the azure waters teem with marine life.

Few tourists venture up here...

..and the long white sandy beaches are virtually deserted.

It's a remote and beautiful corner of the Indian Ocean.

But the community here is linked to the rest of the planet

in a surprising way.

WOMAN SPEAKS LOCAL LANGUAGE

We've met up with some villagers

and we're walking across the island with them,

because the ladies here are about to do a bit of beachcombing.

Because when you get down onto the beach,

you see that it's not quite the perfect paradise.

You can see the high-tide mark just here all the way along the beach,

and you can see as well

there's a fair bit of rubbish on this beach,

almost all of it plastic.

Just a few years ago,

tropical beaches like this really were pristine and untouched.

But, thanks to our global addiction to plastic,

beaches and seas are now polluted

by millions of tonnes of plastic waste

that swirls around our oceans

and washes up onto the sand.

It's a catastrophe for the Indian Ocean and the planet,

and nobody's really doing anything about it.

What is this? Some sort of storage bottle, some sort of...

Yeah, look.

This will not biodegrade.

Right? This will photodegrade,

so the sun and the movement of the waves and the sand et cetera,

and the wind, this will break this down into smaller pieces,

and it will turn this one heavy plastic container

into a million smaller fragments of plastic.

A generation ago, this plastic just wasn't here.

It's now one of the most serious pollution threats to the Indian Ocean.

But the women of Kiwayu have hit on a way

to help clean up at least some of this tidal wave of rubbish

at the same time as earning a living.

Bihawa, I know you're looking for something specific,

or one thing in particular,

but can you explain to us what it is and why?

-TRANSLATION:

-We come to clean the beach and clear up the plastic.

The most important thing for us is to collect flip-flops,

because we use them for our business.

Villagers on the island collect flip-flops from the beach

and turn them into ornaments and souvenirs to sell to tourists.

And there's no shortage of raw materials.

So I suppose now, then, what we need to do is gather up

as many flip-flops as possible.

Come on, Mike, get those Masai eyes scanning the beach.

Flip-flop!

They are everywhere, look!

Look at this!

-Come on, Mike!

-I'm looking!

Put your back into it, son!

Cos the Brit here is steaming ahead.

Look at this!

This is from a walk of 100, 150 metres.

It's just incredible!

SHE CHEERS

Not bad! THEY LAUGH

What's he got? Look!

Is that good?

Oh, you want me to carry it.

Oh, these ladies, they know how to work the men, don't they, eh?

THEY LAUGH

-TRANSLATION:

-We know how to make something out of flip-flops,

but we'd like help to get rid of the other plastics.

If anyone knows what we can do with this plastic, we'd like their help.

I think, in reality, Bihawa,

there isn't really anybody who knows

what to do with all the plastic that we've put into the sea

and that is washing up on our beaches.

What you're talking about in relation to your beach

is a question that I think needs to be asked on a global level.

So, I think we should head back and see what you do with these.

-Look at this!

-This is our shop.

-Oh, my goodness!

-Mm-hm!

Everything here...

This is made...

This is all made from flip-flops!

Look at this!

The villagers make more than just pocket money from recycling this ocean waste.

Most of their handiwork is shipped to Nairobi for sale

and exported to order. You can even buy them on the internet.

How has life changed for people in the village

since you started creating flip-flop products?

-TRANSLATION:

-Some people didn't have houses, but now they have them.

Some people didn't have livestock, but now they do.

We've bought a lot of things.

Some of us couldn't send our children to school, but now we can educate them.

That's the thing I put first.

The income from their cottage industry

is now doubly important for this community.

The ladies were just telling me

that the guys here have had problems

with Somali pirates in recent years...

..and while they've been out at sea in these sort of boats,

pirates have harassed them, taken things from them...

..and even forced them to carry them up the coast to Somalia.

And the women were saying that some of the men

are frightened of going to sea.

So while the men can't really go to sea,

it's the women who are making an income

from turning

washed-up flip-flops

into toys and art!

It's a very 21st-century story, really, isn't it?

Just a few weeks later, the horror of Somali piracy

struck the island itself,

when British visitor David Tebbutt was shot dead on Kiwayu

and his wife Judith was kidnapped by a Somali gang

and taken back across the border.

Most of Somalia is controlled by warlords

and Islamic militants linked to al-Qaeda.

I took a flight to Mogadishu, the capital.

It's not a journey I undertook lightly.

Mogadishu is described as the most dangerous city on earth.

But since almost the start of my journey in South Africa,

and even in the paradise islands of the Seychelles,

piracy had been a recurring issue on my Indian Ocean travels.

Somalia is the source of the piracy epidemic

affecting millions of people

and the whole of the western Indian Ocean.

It was somewhere I felt I had to visit.

Welcome to Mogadishu.

I was greeted by chaos the minute I stepped off the plane.

It's par for the course here.

-Par for the course?

-Yeah!

The airport is under the control

of an African peacekeeping force called AMISOM,

who are fighting the Islamic militants in Somalia.

The airport's within AMISOM's military base,

which was the safest place for me to stay.

They don't want to show inside the camp,

because that could provide the enemy

with the location of targets.

So we'll stop now and pick up later.

Conflict has raged in Somalia for decades.

In the 1970s and '80s, it was ruled by a dictator.

In 1991, there was a civil war.

Government collapsed.

Then warlords took over and battled endlessly.

There's since been famine.

Foreign powers have tried to intervene,

but all previous attempts to save the country have failed.

At least one million people have died,

and amid the constant instability and anarchy, piracy has flourished.

The reason I really wanted to come here

is because the violence and chaos ripples out from this place

to affect the whole of the Horn of Africa

and the entire western Indian Ocean.

In this, perhaps the poorest and most violent place on earth,

the job of the AMISOM peacekeeping force is to try to stabilise Somalia.

We are ready to go. We are ready to go. Over.

The soldiers are from Uganda and Burundi.

They're backed by the United Nations

and indirectly by some money from the West.

Leaving their base meant travelling in armoured personnel carriers.

On the streets of Mogadishu, the soldiers face the constant threat of attack

from anything from car bombs to shoulder-launch rockets

or suicide bombers.

I was travelling with Ugandan Lieutenant Colonel Paddy Ankunda.

All the buildings look as though they've got bullet marks.

Well, that's the truth of the matter.

Fighting has been to every corner of this city.

We're talking about 20 years

of statelessness, no government,

people have guns, shooting about,

so the result is what you see.

Since 2007, AMISOM has been locked in a bitter struggle with al-Shabaab,

a heavily armed, exceptionally violent Somali Islamic group

which has close ties with al-Qaeda and takes a cut from local piracy.

Al-Shabaab controls a large area of the country,

terrorising its own people,

and, until just a few weeks before my visit, it held most of Mogadishu.

So, this is now the front line.

AMISOM aren't just peacekeeping security guards.

I was being taken to the front line of a full-scale war.

We show you the positions

that belonged to the al-Shabaab just five days ago, so...

And are you still taking fire at this position?

Are the soldiers still being shot at?

Yeah, because you'll see

that those are firing positions. Those are gun points.

It was reported that scores of AMISOM soldiers died

in the fight for this position just days previously.

So...obviously, we're safe behind these barriers.

Is it OK to... I mean, we can look out?

So, what are we looking out onto here?

That is the Deyninle trading centre.

It's our next target.

In there, there are al-Shabaab.

You see that building with a mast?

And that's what, an al-Shabaab stronghold?

Yeah.

This road was actually constructed by the al-Shabaab.

In order to join Deyninle with Bakara market

they had to build this.

MORTAR FIRE

Jesus! GUNFIRE

Oh, they have seen a vehicle of the al-Shabaab.

And when they see a car, they shoot.

AMISOM's plan was to spread out

from this position and retake Somalia.

So this is an absolutely key point, then.

Very key indeed, because the moment we get that town,

I think then the next stage is to move out into the entire country.

It's really important we all understand

that this isn't just the front line

for the Burundian and Ugandan soldiers who are fighting here -

this is the front line in the war on piracy as well.

Al-Shabaab is linking itself more and more closely to al-Qaeda.

AMISOM and Western intelligence agencies believe that Somalia

is becoming a training ground for international terrorism.

Paddy took me to the national stadium to see where,

until recently, al-Shabaab had their base.

Right.

This would ideally be a symbol of nationhood.

-Yes.

-Now, if you want to see how destroyed this country is,

-you come to some of these symbols.

-Yeah.

-This is the Emirates, or the...

-Emirates Stadium...

Yeah...the Highbury...

Al-Shabaab did use the stadium for its own sinister public events.

They actually used to execute people here in the stadium.

That's what used to happen here.

It was time to head back

to the relative safety of the AMISOM base for the night.

This is such a bizarre place.

And I have to have...

blast boxers, I think they're called.

It's underwear that's got a special panel in it,

this yellow bit here, that... well, it won't stop a bullet,

but it will stop small bits of shrapnel

from wiping out my vital parts.

I'm only allowed to film in here,

not outside in the camp, for security reasons.

A few nights ago, an intruder got over the wall of the base

and was shot dead.

A couple of nights ago, there was another intruder.

He's since confessed to being a member of the al-Shabaab group.

He has a GPS locator with him,

which he was supposed to use to identify targets here.

It's all incredibly nerve-racking.

Next day, we hit the streets of Mogadishu again.

Somalia's enormous problems don't end

with piracy, chronic instability and conflict.

When I visited, the country was suffering the worst drought

in 60 years and a famine that affected millions of people.

Tens of thousands of refugees have flooded into Mogadishu,

and we're now going to a feeding centre

where many of them are being looked after.

Even here at the feeding centre,

we needed protection and weren't safe.

But in this country, nobody is.

There are dozens of centres like this across the city,

offering a simple but life-saving meal to Somalis who've lost everything.

There'll be families here

who've walked for miles across the burning desert to get here.

Some of them will have lost family members along the way.

And, to be honest, these are the lucky ones as well -

these are the fittest and the strongest.

The weakest just don't make it.

One of the reasons many people have fled to Mogadishu in search of food

is that al-Shabaab have prevented foreign aid agencies

from working elsewhere in the country in regions destroyed by drought.

The militants have helped to turn the drought into a famine.

Musa Usublay and his family walked much of the 250 miles

to get here from the southern city of Kismayo.

Why did you want to come here to Mogadishu?

Was it because of the lack of food in the south?

You can imagine how bad life is in the rest of this country

for this place to be a paradise for people coming here.

Outside Mogadishu, al-Shabaab has control.

The West worries about them training terrorists,

yet AMISOM is under-resourced and underfunded.

AMISOM had made some significant gains

against al-Shabaab just before my visit,

but they're a relatively small force battling a fanatical enemy

who are able to hide among the local population.

I was just telling the driver to be very careful

and follow the right roads,

otherwise the roads can be misleading -

you may find yourself in al-Shabaab territory.

-Seriously?

-Yeah.

Paddy took me to the edge of AMISOM's area of control

in the north-west of the city.

Here, too, the Ugandans were locked in tough urban warfare against al-Shabaab.

GUNFIRE

What was that?

-What's going on?

-We need to find out what it was.

-Yeah.

GUNSHOTS

My goodness.

Now we emerge and we're in somebody's back garden.

In this close-quarters fighting,

gains and losses are made one street -

and sometimes one garden - at a time.

That side of the wall, you have al-Shabaab.

How does he know it's al-Shabaab?

That side, that side, that's al-Shabaab now.

That side. The whole of that side could be...

Everybody on that side? GUNFIRE

The world is not safe if Somalia is not stable.

It is just as simple as that.

And it doesn't matter in which capital of the world you are,

because al-Qaeda can reach there,

so you need to hit them where they are training from,

and this is Somalia.

What do you need to do the job?

Well, a lot of things.

I mean, we...we have some troops here, just about 9,500 soldiers.

-Is that enough?

-It's not enough at all - we think that to,

to take the whole country, we need about 20,000.

We need helicopters - we don't have a single helicopter.

-Not a single helicopter?

-Not even a single one.

We all know piracy is such a huge problem in the Indian Ocean

for shipping from around the world.

This is where the piracy comes from.

This is the capital of the country. GUNSHOT

That's true, that's true. The piracy does not start on the water.

Actually, piracy starts on the land.

This is where they launch from, it's where they train from,

this is where they have their leadership.

You need to deal with them from the land.

Let's go.

Al-Shabaab fighters were gathering on the other side,

preparing to attack our position

with shoulder-launch rocket-propelled grenades.

So we're being pulled back and we'll leave the Ugandans here to fight...

Well, to fight the world's war, it feels like to me.

The Ugandans are taking heavy casualties

as they battle to save Somalia,

with completely inadequate backing from the rest of the world.

They're supposed to be securing an entire country,

but they don't even have any helicopters.

Yet with more support from the international community,

it's just possible the militants could be defeated,

that AMISOM could be successful,

and that Somalis could have

the long-term stability they're so desperate for.

I'm leaving Mogadishu now, but what I take away from my visit here

is the absolute conviction that

the problem of piracy in the Indian Ocean

has got to be solved here on land,

starting in the capital, Mogadishu.

It seems absolutely crazy to me

that the world isn't doing more to support AMISOM,

because peacekeeping can work,

it does work and it has to work here.

The world needs a secure and stable Somalia.

It's not all chaos and violence in the Horn of Africa -

just to the north of Somalia is Somaliland and its capital, Hargeisa.

Thank you!

There's no need for a flak jacket and helmet here,

and it felt great to be welcomed by a familiar face...

Hello, hello!

How are you?

I'm very well, thank you so much!

I met Fatima when I was here several years ago,

and I'm delighted to say Fatima is going to be showing us around this time,

and we're going to spend a little bit of time with her

and see a little bit more of Somaliland.

I tell you what, this is all a bit different to Mogadishu, eh?

But it's a country that doesn't really exist.

Somaliland separated from Somalia in 1991 after civil war.

But the rest of the world refused to recognise the new country

and still considers it part of Somalia.

So it's an unrecognised state with no seat at the United Nations.

Checking out the ears.

Fantastic!

There we go, look...

International Airport here in Hargeisa.

In Somaliland, a country that officially doesn't exist,

if you ask the rest of the planet.

There you go, a stamp to prove it's here.

Our first stop was the main market.

So here we are.

As you can see, we don't need armed guards,

we're not afraid that a stray bullet is going to hit us,

we're not afraid of being kidnapped or held hostage.

-People are just getting on with life.

-Nobody really cares!

Such a difference with...

benighted, suffering Mogadishu.

Fatima, one thing we've got to clear up is your accent.

Tell us where you've been.

I've spent 42 years in Wales, in Newport, which is my home town,

and worked in Cardiff, where I have many, many of my relatives.

I needed to change a few quid for myself and the film crew,

and it wasn't hard to spot the money-changers.

Take your pick - there you are.

Oh, my goodness - you mean this is how we change money?!

-Yes.

-On the street?!

Look at all this! Unbelievable!

Where are the armed guards here?

There's no armed guards.

-Come on, Fatima, let's go!

-You've got to be kidding!

We're not going to get very far! It weighs an absolute ton!

Maybe that's why they're not worried - nobody can carry it!

What looks like a small fortune is really just a few pounds.

Somaliland's largest bank note is equivalent to only five pence.

-How much is this worth?

-Eight.

8. OK, so about £6.

We need some money for the next few days

and we're going to start with 400

and see if we can carry it.

-Is this all ours?!

-This is your money.

Oh, no, just feel free, give us more!

That's ours as well.

Into the... Whoa!

Have you ever seen such a sight?

We could walk around with a barrow full of money

because Somalilanders have built a safe, functioning state

with low corruption and low crime.

Unlike in Somalia, there's a justice system here - law and order.

Somalilanders are even tackling the scourge of the Indian Ocean - piracy.

They've put dozens of pirates behind bars.

I've been given permission to meet some of them in Hargeisa prison.

There's a general ban on what's not allowed into the prison.

Everything from guns to rum.

Finally, I had a chance to meet some of the men

who are terrorising ships and sailors around the Indian Ocean.

So the gentlemen here in yellow are the pirates?

Salamu alaykum. Salamu alaykum.

Farah Ismael Elih was caught as he headed out to sea in a heavily armed boat.

He's now serving six years.

Like many Somalis, he claims the piracy began

when Somali fishermen took up arms

to defend their part of the Indian Ocean

against large foreign trawlers

that were depleting their fish stocks.

-TRANSLATION:

-I believe that these illegal fishing trawlers

should be expelled from the Somali coastline.

If that happened,

fishermen would go back to sea and do their normal work.

It sounds to me as though, initially,

Somalis started going to sea

to drive away the foreign fishing fleets,

but at some point, it seems to me that a line was crossed,

and now piracy seems like it's big business.

There's a lot of people making vast sums of money from it.

The first decision was to defend our waters.

After that, a lot of money was made,

and more and more people got involved.

Because of that, it's turned into a business.

There's no problem taking a ship -

it will only be taxed and then released safely.

There's no country in the world that doesn't take taxes.

In a small country with no government, the small militia catches a ship

and takes some taxes from them and then releases them

without harming or killing them -

there's nothing wrong with that.

I have no doubt that, initially,

many of the men we now call pirates went to sea

because they were angry about foreigners fishing their waters,

but now terrible, terrible crimes have been committed -

hundreds of people right now are being held hostage

along the coast of Somalia by pirates,

and vast sums of money are being paid.

Vast sums of money are being made by the pirates.

OK?

Getting out of a prison - always a tricky one.

The problems of neighbouring Somalia

cast a long shadow over Somaliland.

Because it's considered part of Somalia,

it's extremely difficult to attract tourists, aid or economic investment.

Conflict in Somalia is also felt here

because for decades the turmoil has uprooted people across the Horn of Africa.

There's still vast numbers of people moving around in this region,

trying to flee war or looking for food and escaping from famine,

and we've come to an area of the capital where...

Well, it's basically become a refugee camp.

Somaliland might be an unrecognised country,

but tens of thousands of people have flooded into Somaliland from Somalia,

many to avoid getting caught up in the ongoing fighting.

Fatima took me to meet some of the refugees.

I've met up with Mohammed here,

who lives in the camp, and he's just going to take us back to his home.

You've been here three years - what led you to come to the camp?

What led you to come to Somaliland?

-TRANSLATION:

-I either had to join the al-Shabaab fighters

or leave the country.

I came all the way here.

Sometimes I walked, sometimes I hitchhiked.

At times, I didn't eat for three days.

Mohammed came with his family on the 500-mile trek from his home,

just inland from Mogadishu.

Eight of them now share this tiny shack.

So we're in a place that's not a whole lot bigger, frankly,

than many people's garden shed.

Mohammed, this...

this is tough. I can see this is tough for you.

You have a tough time here, a tough life...

but, still, this is better than being in Somalia?

Uh, yes.

-TRANSLATION:

-Yes, we prefer it here.

This is better for us.

If we could go somewhere better than here, we'd love that.

But we don't have that chance, so we're here.

Life in Somaliland is better for us than Somalia.

Mohammed narrowly avoided being forced to join al-Shabaab,

the Islamist militia in Mogadishu.

But in a conflict-ridden region where jobs are scarce,

life as a fighter or as a pirate

is all too tempting for many young men.

To counter the lure of the gun,

Fatima runs a project which offers help, education and a future

to boys and young men from the refugee camps.

Today, she was taking Mohammed

and other young refugee lads on an outing.

We're going to the coast! This is exciting!

What's "we're going to the seaside" in Somali?

FATIMA SAYS IN SOMALI AND SIMON REPEATS

SIMON REPEATS AND CHEERS

We were heading back to the Indian Ocean.

Fatima, why are you doing this? Why are you taking them to the coast?

For children who have actually witnessed murders

and people being killed in front of them,

so they have no childhood,

there's no sense of what childhood should be like.

You're drawing them away from potentially bad things that they could be doing -

things like piracy, joining gangs or joining militias.

All right, I'll tell you what, put your hands up if you haven't seen the sea before.

FATIMA TRANSLATES

Whoa! This is very exciting!

Mohammed, you've not...never seen the sea?

Never?

Whoa!

Can you see the ship out there, Mohammed?

We're here! Come on, let's get off!

OK, let's go to the sea.

My goodness.

It's beautiful.

Beautiful!

I suppose I've become a bit blase,

travelling alongside the ocean for a few months now.

Coming here with them and they're seeing it for the first time...

cos I see it through their eyes.

For the first time!

I think it's quite a privilege for me to be here with you.

Look, feel it!

The Indian Ocean, Mohammed!

-Yes!

-The Indian Ocean!

Indian Ocean.

There you go. A tiny crab, look.

HE SPEAKS IN OWN LANGUAGE

Tell us what you think.

It's the first time you've seen the sea.

What thoughts go through your mind? What are you thinking now?

-TRANSLATION:

-I'm happy. I'm very happy.

It's been a good trip.

It's good for my eyes,

because I haven't left Hargeisa since we got there.

Well, Mohammed, it's a real...

it's a real privilege for us to have been allowed

and able to accompany you on your...

on your first visit to the ocean!

This is a major milestone for me,

because this is the end of my journey up Africa's Indian Ocean coast.

I'm halfway round the Indian Ocean now.

I've still got a long, long way to go,

a lot to see, a lot to do and many more people to meet.

I've got time for a paddle first.

-Come on, let's get back in the sea!

-OK!

It's warm, it's beautiful -

it's the Indian Ocean!

Next time, I travel to the biggest city in the Indian Ocean.

It feels like the whole of Mumbai is out on the beach.

And in the tropical paradise of the Maldives,

I go fishing the old-fashioned way.

HE CHEERS

I caught a tuna in the Indian Ocean!

Sustainably!