Erigavo

Erigavo (Somali: Ceerigaabo, Arabic: عيرجابو), also spelled as Erigabo, is a city administered by Somaliland and the largest administrative center in the Sanaag region.

Etymology

The name Ceerigaabo is described in Somali sources as composed of two elements: Ceeri, denoting a place where water collects, and gaabo (gaaban), meaning short or low; some writers also relate Ceeri to ceeriyaan, a Somali term for mist/fog, so that the toponym may allude to low-lying mist over the town. Variant English renderings of the town's Somali name (e.g. Ceerigaabo/Ceerigabo) reflect differences in romanization conventions for Somali long vowels and consonants noted in recent linguistic guidance.

Geography

Environment

10 kilometres or 6.2 miles 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 2,000 metres or 6,560 feet in elevation before descending toward the coast, a pattern typical of the northern ranges where upland catchments drain to the Gulf. 2 kilometres or 1.2 miles to the west, the massif rises to Shimbiris (Mount Shimbiris), the highest point in Somaliland at about 2,460 metres or 8,070 feet 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.