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When commercial airlines in East Africa announced flights to Somaliland recently, airport police in Hargeisa, the breakaway republic's capital, realized they would need a metal detector to screen passengers and luggage. Such equipment is rare in Africa's impoverished Horn, and expensive to import. Mine detectors, on the other hand, are all too plentiful. "It does the job just the same," says a customs official, buzzing a departing visitor with a United Nations-donated detector that he carefully switches off between passengers to save battery power. "People shouldn't be put off. We are happy to have more visitors. If you want to come, we say, 'Welcome.'"

Ten years after declaring independence from the war-ravaged south, the 3 million inhabitants of the former British colony have their own parliament, President, currency, flag, passport and universities. But it's tough developing an economy if you're a country that doesn't officially exist. In a recent referendum, 97% of voters endorsed self-rule, but still no foreign country will recognize Somaliland's independence. And because it relies heavily on livestock sales and remittances from Somalis living abroad, Somaliland's nascent economy remains vulnerable. Last year's decision by neighboring Arab Gulf States to ban the import of Somali animals following an outbreak of Rift Valley Fever hit hard. Now the government is encouraging investment in untapped areas of the economy. Its latest project: tourism.

So far, growth is slow. In the last year, according to the director general of culture and tourism, Ahmed al Harun, Somaliland received just 30 tourists, most of them from Germany and South Africa. The U.S. warns its nationals against "all travel to Somalia," though it concedes that parts of the north are "relatively peaceful." Britain says Somaliland is "generally stable," but cautions that "the situation could change without warning." Even the Lonely Planet, the bible for backpackers and intrepid travelers the world over, advises would-be tourists that they will be "spoilt for choice in the number of things that can go wrong." Counters Minister of the Environment Mohammed Musa Awale: "We cannot offer something to those people who are old women. We want people who are not worried about fancy hotels with furniture, people who can go around the country and see it as it is."

What the adventurous will find is a country poor in furniture but rich in natural beauty. Attractions include the wondrously pristine coral reefs off Saylac Island in the Red Sea, the rugged mountains that squeeze up south of the coastal strip and the starkly beautiful nomad-dotted plains. History buffs may want to visit the "Mad Mullah's fort," built by a 19th century Somali nationalist who fought the British for more than 20 years. "We also have camels, which are very rare in Europe," says Minister of Information Ali Mohammed Waranade. "Before, the world knew Somalis only because of our fighting and problems. Now, if you come you will see that we are good people, honest, with a beautiful country and interesting way of life."

Somaliland once boasted five national parks teeming with cheetahs, leopards, lions, hyenas and antelopes. But overgrazing by nomads' herds and Somalia's violent breakup have caused animal numbers to decline. Mohammed Egeh Killeh, 61, joined Somaliland's forestry department in 1959 and remembers the hundreds of big cats that once prowled Gacanlibaax (Lion's Paw) National Park in central Somaliland. Today, locals are lucky to spot a lion once a year. "We still have more than 600 birds found only here and 580 plant species not found outside our country," says Killeh. "But the big animals, most of them have gone."

Those that remain are traded freely. Visitors to Hargeisa can order baby cheetahs or pay nomads to catch animals to order. Even Minister of Information Waranade keeps a pet lion, Tchi Tchi, and four cheetahs at his house. In 1999, a group of hunters, including a prince from Qatar and several Europeans, rounded up a menagerie of animals to stock a new game reserve in Qatar. "They took gazelles, ostriches, kudus, lizards. Anything they could find," says Killeh. "They had a ship to take it all back to Qatar. People think they can come to Somalia and there are no rules. We want to change that."

Killeh and a crew of workers employed by a local aid group are rehabilitating Gacanlibaax and hope to rebuild its guesthouses, once used by the British governor as a weekend retreat but destroyed during the civil war. Local businessmen and members of the Somali diaspora are also starting to invest money in tourist facilities. Hargeisa's Hotel Maan-Soor more than doubled its capacity to 40 rooms recently, while a nearly completed luxury hotel near the airport promises competition. "Somalis who live in the Western world will expect a high standard when they come to visit," says Kayse Jama, a Somali software engineer from Australia who heads the construction firm building the new hotel. "A lot of bad things happened here. But the people have learned, and the worst times are over." Just be ready for an adventure or two.

• SIMON ROBINSON / Hargeisa
• Tourist Adventure in Somaliland