Galkayo is primarily a transit point rather than a destination in its own right, and the security situation limits independent movement for visitors. That said, the city's markets — particularly the main livestock market — give a vivid picture of how the pastoral economy of central Somalia actually works.
The northern, Puntland-administered half of the city is generally more stable. The market district in the northern section is safe enough to visit with appropriate arrangements. The division of the city itself — a single urban area split by an administrative boundary between two competing authorities, with checkpoints that appear and disappear depending on current tensions — is one of the more unusual urban experiences in East Africa.