Book excerpt: Little known to the outside world, Somaliland has much to offer the truly intrepid traveller. This pioneering guidebook introduces one of the world's least chartered travel destinations. Author Philip Briggs covers everything from the low-key capital Hargeisa and mediaeval port of Berbera to peerless rock art sites such as Las Geel, and the scenery and wildlife of the Daallo Escarpment, towering 2,000m high above the pristine reefs of the Gulf of Aden. Somaliland's ruined cities and historical ports date back 5,000 years and have links with ancient Egypt and Axum in northern Ethiopia, as well as the Ottoman and British Empires. This guide offers background and practical information to every accessible corner of the country with the only real maps in existence of its capital and other large towns, and a section on wildlife.