Planning on traveling to Mogadishu?

The awful war in Somalia is no laughing matter, but wikitravel’s attempt to describe Mogadishu, the capital city, is comical. It’s an earnest attempt to function as a travel guide and at the same time inform readers that they would have to be clinically insane to want to go to Mogadishu. Almost everything they recommend is, in the same sentence, described as another chance to get shot.

My favorite line:

Mogadishu has had no effective government since 1991, which has left the transport network that was in place in disrepair. Roads are a muddy mess during rain, traffic lights do not work, and there are no enforced traffic laws or public transport. Roads may be blocked or closed with no notice by militiamen. Traffic drives on the right. Some reports say that to get through intersections near markets crowded with people, those wealthy enough to have vehicles fire machine guns into the air to clear a path.

Oh, they drive on the RIGHT…how interesting.