Somalia Weather, climate and geography

Weather and climate

Best time to visit

The Jilal starts around January and is the harshest period, hot and very dry. Gu is the first rainy season lasting from March to June. Hagaa, during August, is a time of dry monsoon winds and dust clouds. The second rainy season is from September to December and is called Dayr.

Required clothing

Lightweights and rainwear.

Geography

Somalia is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Aden, to the south and west by Kenya, to the west by Ethiopia and to the northwest by Djibouti. To the east lies the Indian Ocean.

Somalia is a semi-arid country and the scenery includes mountains in the north, flat semi-desert plains in the interior and a subtropical region in the south. Separated from the sea by a narrow coastal plain, the mountains slope south and west to the central, almost waterless plateau which makes up most of the country. The beaches are protected by a coral reef that runs from Mogadishu to the Kenyan border in the south.