Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

's coastline consists of the

Gulf of Aden The Gulf of Aden (; ) is a deepwater gulf of the Indian Ocean between Yemen to the north, the Arabian Sea to the east, Djibouti to the west, and the Guardafui Channel, the Socotra Archipelago, Puntland in Somalia and Somaliland to the south. ...

to the north, the

Guardafui Channel The Guardafui Channel (, ) is an oceanic strait off the tip of the Horn of Africa that lies between the Puntland region of Somalia and the Socotra governorate of Yemen to the west of the Arabian Sea. It connects the Gulf of Aden to the north ...

to the northeast and the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

to the east. The total length of the coastline is approximately 3333 km, giving the country the longest coastline on mainland Africa. The country has second-longest coastline in all of Africa, behind the island nation of

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

(4828 km). The coastline is generally divided into two parts, northern and eastern coastlines, separated by the tip of the

Horn of Africa The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...

known as

Cape Guardafui Cape Guardafui is a headland in Somalia, in the federal state of Puntland. It forms the geographical apex of the Horn of Africa. Its shore at 51°27'52"E is the second easternmost point on mainland Africa after Ras Hafun. The offshore oceanic st ...

. The city of

Mogadishu Mogadishu, locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and List of cities in Somalia by population, most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port connecting traders across the Indian Ocean for millennia and has ...

, the capital of Somalia is situated in the south of the country along the eastern coastline of Somalia. The northern coastline is shared with the

, the northeastern with

, and the eastern with the Indian Ocean. The coastline plays a major role in maintaining the economy of the country through fishing and trade; meanwhile, other areas of the economy are not very productive. The northern tip of the coastline meets

Djibouti Djibouti, officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the east. The country has an area ...

in west and the eastern tip meets

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

in the south. There are a number of islands near the coastal areas. Ras Caseyr (Cape Guardafui) is the easternmost point of Somalia; this point joins the Guardafui Channel to the Gulf of Aden.

Geographical features

The coastline of Somalia has different conditions throughout its length. Being the second-longest in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, this coastline is the easternmost coastline of continental Africa, comprises part of the north-western coastline of the

, and is the nearest coastline to the Socotra Islands, which are part of

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

. Its continental shelf is spread over 32500 km². The northern coastline extends from

to the east of Somalia, and the eastern coastline extends from the north-east to the south-west of Somalia, touching

Biodiversity

Coastal Somalia is rich in biodiversity, its ecosystem is known as "Somali Current Large Marine Ecosystem". 63 species of corals belonging to 27 genera are found near Bajuni archipelago. Small

cetaceans Cetacea (; , ) is an infraorder of aquatic mammals belonging to the order Artiodactyla that includes whales, dolphins and porpoises. Key characteristics are their fully aquatic lifestyle, streamlined body shape, often large size and exclusively c ...

dolphins A dolphin is an aquatic mammal in the cetacean clade Odontoceti (toothed whale). Dolphins belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontopori ...

(common dolphins, spinner dolphins, spotted dolphins, humpback dolphins, bottlenose dolphins, etc.),

turtles Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked turtle ...

(loggerhead, hawksbill, olive ridley, leatherback, green, etc.), six species of mangrove (mainly ''

Avicennia marina ''Avicennia marina'', commonly known as grey mangrove or white mangrove, is a species of mangrove tree classified in the plant family Acanthaceae (formerly in the Verbenaceae or Avicenniaceae). As with other mangroves, it occurs in the intert ...

''), and seagrasses (mainly ''

Thalassodendron ciliatum ''Thalassodendron ciliatum'', the sickle-leaved cymodocea, is a species of plant in the ''Thalassodendron'' genus of seagrasses in the family Cymodoceaceae Cymodoceaceae is a family of flowering plants, sometimes known as the "manatee-grass fa ...

'') are also found there.

References

Geography of Somalia {{Somalia-geo-stub