The Daallo Mountains: Somaliland’s Forest in the Clouds

Most people picture Somaliland as dry plains and hot coast. In the far east of the country, the land tells another story. Near the town of Erigavo, a limestone escarpment rises towards the sky and catches the clouds. On top of it grows a forest. The Daallo mountains hold what one local conservation group calls the mistiest and coolest area in the entire territory of Somalia.

Where are the Daallo mountains?

Daallo lies in the eastern Sanaag region of Somaliland. It is a dense forest on a limestone and gypsum escarpment, close to the foot of Mount Shimbiris, the country’s highest peak. Shimbiris rises to about 2,416 metres; other sources give around 2,460 metres.

Further east, the high ground continues as the Cal Madow range. Its mountains rise from the Gulf of Aden in sheer cliff faces, more than 2,440 metres high.

Erigavo, the town below the forest

The nearest town is Erigavo, the largest administrative centre in the Sanaag region. It sits at about 1,786 metres, so nights are cool: the average daily low falls to about 5.5 °C in December and January. The remnant juniper woodlands begin about 10 km north of town.

A forest of ancient junipers

The forest grows mainly between 1,800 and 2,100 metres, where rainfall can exceed 700 mm a year. Junipers make up 90–95% of the trees of Daallo, and some of them are said to be over 1,000 years old.

Other plants cling to the escarpment, too. One of them is the dragon tree Dracaena schizantha, a characteristic plant of the escarpment shrublands.

Frankincense on the cliffs

Lower down, the mountains hold one of the oldest treasures of this coast. The shrub Boswellia frereana grows from near the coast up to 750 metres and produces frankincense resin. In 2016, AP met harvesters in the Cal Madow mountains who climb the rocks at dawn to collect it. Somaliland’s environment minister told AP that frankincense was the largest source of government revenue after livestock. This trade is thousands of years old; read how it once linked Somaliland to ancient Rome.

Birds found nowhere else

These mountains and their neighbours along the coast are home to three birds found nowhere else on Earth: the Somali pigeon, the Somali thrush and the Warsangli linnet. The thrush and the linnet are almost entirely restricted to the high juniper forests, which makes Daallo vital for their survival. BirdLife International has named Daallo an Important Bird Area.

Protecting the Daallo mountains

On paper, the area has long been protected. Conservation lists name Daalo Forest National Park among the protected areas of the region. In practice, the WWF notes that the reserve has probably lacked effective protection for some time.

Local people are working to change that. The Somaliland group Candlelight has planted indigenous trees at Daallo since 2005. In 2015 its nursery produced 26,805 seedlings of juniper and other trees, and 60 hectares of protected area were secured. The main threats are cutting for timber and poles, and livestock grazing in the forest.

The forest has also faced fire. In June 2025, a minister called a blaze on Daallo the largest fire in the region’s history, and the government appealed for outside help to fight it.

Before you plan a visit

The UK Foreign Office currently advises against all travel to Togdheer, Sanaag and Sool, the regions that include Erigavo and the main road to it. Check the latest official advice, and read Is Somaliland Safe?, before making any plans for the east. For a taste of Somaliland’s green highlands closer to the coast, see our story on Sheikh and its mountain road.

The Daallo mountains are a reminder that Somaliland is more than desert and sea. High above the coast, in the mist, an ancient forest is still standing, and local hands are working to keep it there.