Tourism in Somalia Tourism in Somalia Tourism in Somalia is regulated by the Federal Government of Somalia's Ministry of Tourism. The industry was traditionally noted for its numerous historical sites, beaches, waterfalls, mountain ranges and national parks. After the start of the civil war in the early 1990s, the Tourism Ministry shut down operations. It was re-established in the 2000s, and once again oversees the national tourist industry. The Mogadishu-based Somali Tourism Association (SOMTA) provides on-the-ground consulting services. In the pre-independence period, European explorers would occasionally travel to Somalia and other parts of the Horn of Africa to visit the region's numerous historical
Geology of Somalia and island arcs. In the Early Jurassic, the supercontinent Gondwana, which included Africa, began to break apart. The marine transgression of the Tethys Ocean flooded large parts of East Africa and Arabia and new sedimentary rock units were deposited. In the west of Somalia, the Cretaceous at the end of the Mesozoic brought crustal upwarping, which is preserved in the Yesomma Sandstone. Two major sedimentary basins began to form in Somalia during the Mesozoic, the Somali Coastal Basin and the Luuq-Mandera Basin, both filled with up to five kilometers of sedimentary rock. The basins formed due to the movements of