Somalia: Driving Around Mogadishu
Exploring Mogadishu is slightly different from say roaming around Barcelona. I was in a completely blacked-out SUV with a driver and guide, and just in front of us was a pickup truck with a driver and four fully-camouflaged bodyguards with AK-47. This mini-convoy moved very rapidly around the streets, sometimes almost pushing tuk-tuks out of the way. At any traffic jam, the guys would jump out from the car in front and take a perimeter around my vehicle. The key – is not to show who is inside! When I asked how long I would last walking around on my own – the answer was “less then a minute”. Government soldiers are prime target for Al Shabab, and a white foreigner – “a super big fish”! Not kidnapping – just killing! So all these pictures were taken through a dark-red tinted window and at high speed – and then it took me 3 rounds of picture quality manipulation (something I never ever do!) to get them to this level.
