Erigavo

History

The Erigavo settlement is several centuries old. The surrounding area was supposedly built by the Madigan Dir. Modern Erigavo was founded by the Musa Ismail sub-clan of the Habr Yunis as a home well for passing nomads and caravans. The general area is noted for its numerous historical tombs, where various Somali clan patriarchs are buried. The 1945 Sheikh Bashir Rebellion was a rebellion waged by tribesmen of the Habr Je'lo clan in the cities of Burao and Erigavo in the former British Somaliland protectorate against British authorities in July 1945 led by Sheikh Bashir, a Somali religious leader. On July the 2nd, Sheikh Bashir collected 25 of his followers in the town of Wadamago and transported them on a lorry to the vicinity of Burao, where he distributed arms to half of his followers. On the evening of July the 3rd the group entered Burao and opened fire on the police guard of the central prison in the city, which was filled with prisoners arrested for previous demonstrations. The group also attacked the house of the district commissioner of Burao District, Major Chambers, resulting in the death of Major Chamber's police guard before escaping to Bur Dhab, a strategic mountain south-east of Burao, where Sheikh Bashir's small unit occupied a fort and took up a defensive position in anticipation of a British counterattack. The British campaign against Sheikh Bashir's troops proved abortive after several defeats as his forces kept moving from place to place and avoiding any permanent location. No sooner had the expedition left the area, than the news traveled fast among the Somali nomads across the plain. The war had exposed the British administration to humiliation. The government came to a conclusion that another expedition against him would be useless; that they…

Geography

to the north of the town are remnant juniper woodlands that form part of the northern escarpment forests fringing the Sanaag highlands, within the Somali montane xeric woodlands ecoregion. The escarpment forms a sharp drop to the Gulf of Aden coastal plain, reaching around in elevation before descending toward the coast, a pattern typical of the northern ranges where upland catchments drain to the Gulf. to the west, the massif rises to Shimbiris (Mount Shimbiris), the highest point in Somaliland at about above sea level. A road from Erigavo also leads onto the Daallo plateau/Daallo escarpment, part of a long-recognized forest belt; the Daallo Important Bird Area supports evergreen forest dominated by Juniperus procera and Olea on the rocky scarp. The nearby ancient coastal settlement of Heis (Xiis) has been the subject of recent archaeological missions documenting its role in Red Sea trade networks. Erigavo's uplands and the Daallo–Shimbiris escarpment host characteristic fauna of the North Somali mountains. Avifauna of conservation interest includes the endemic Warsangli linnet and other high-elevation species recorded in juniper woodland around Daallo. Under the Köppen climate classification, the Erigavo highlands have a mild semi-arid regime shaped by elevation, with warm days and cool to cold nights and without extreme heat typical of lowland arid zones; seasonal rainfall follows the Gu (April–June) and Deyr (October–November) peaks common to northern Somalia/Somaliland. Station data compiled by the Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD) indicate long-term average annual precipitation of about at Erigavo, with the wettest months in the main rains and very dry conditions in boreal winter; temperatures are equable year-round and sub-zero minima have been observed in…

Most-observed species

• Somali Thrush

  Turdus ludoviciae (Lort Phillips, 1895) · Aves
  13
• Somali Starling

  Onychognathus blythii (Hartlaub, 1859) · Aves
  12
• Brown Woodland-Warbler

  Phylloscopus umbrovirens (Rüppell, 1840) · Aves
  10
• Common Bulbul

  Pycnonotus barbatus (Desfontaines, 1789) · Aves
  9
• Brown-rumped Seedeater

  Crithagra tristriata (Rüppell, 1840) · Aves
  9
• Pale Crag Martin

  Ptyonoprogne obsoleta (Cabanis, 1850) · Aves
  8
• Shining Sunbird

  Cinnyris habessinicus (Hemprich & Ehrenberg, 1828) · Aves
  8
• Hemprich's Hornbill

  Lophoceros hemprichii (Ehrenberg, 1833) · Aves
  8