Ethiopia - Huleutt The Dogs Out

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Harar - Friendly City, Friendly People, Friendly Kids and Friendly Hyenas {I Hope!!!}

To Harar

Our change of plan and detour to Harar goes much more smoothly than it could have done.

We get back to our hotel in Addis Ababa at 12:30a.m. and get a couple of hours sleep before the three of us have to head back to the airport for the flight to Dire Dawa. At the airport everything runs smoothly, we have to take our shoes off a lot of times, and we get on the right plane.

As promised by Baty, we are met by our new guide, Lishan, and a driver at the airport and we set out on the 1-hour drive to Harar. There's a slight hiccup when we get to Harar as we are told that the hotel we booked months ago is full and the tour company tries to downgrade us to a different hotel. Jane and Clarry are much better at standing up to this than I am and we are soon moved to our original hotel, The Heritage Plaza.

Not only does it seem a lot better than the two alternatives we were offered but it is recommended in one of our guidebooks and, most importantly, it has its own water supply.

Mission Impossible

After catching up on some sleep we take a walk around the Christian Market and into the old town with Lishan after lunch.

Harar is an old walled city in the East of Ethiopia. It was the first Muslim city in Africa and for a long time was closed to non-Muslims. Sir Richard Burton {No!! Not him!! The other one! The explorer!} was the first non-Muslim to enter the city sometime in the nineteenth century. It feels very different to the other places we have visited. We get the feeling that it is more affluent than the other towns - there seems to be a better standard of housing, people here keep pets and they tend to throw away more litter.

I really enjoy our stroll through the market. Probably because there's just three of us now and we don't stand out so much as we walk through the market. And with the three of us sharing one guide I pick up a lot more information. Lishan seems to know quite a few of the stall holders and as we walk round we are taken into the workshops and we stop and talk to a lot of people without being hassled anywhere. The kids here don't seem so used to tourists. They haven't learned to say "Give me pen" yet! They ask us to take their photos and don't demand money, a pen, an exercise book or our clothes in return. Lishan has the theme to "Mission Impossible" as the ringtone for his mobile. It is quite surreal, walking through the market and being being brought back to reality every so often by Mission Impossible at full volume!

Several stallholders are selling Chat. This is an evergreen tree, the leaves of which are chewed and act as a mild stimulant. It is a legal drug in Ethiopia and, in fact, is an important export crop and seems to bring in a lot of revenue for the government. In can produce a psychological dependence and quite a few people, particularly Lishan, seem concerned about its social effects.

Speaking of drugs, we also visit the Nure coffee warehouse. Harar coffee is one of the oldest coffee beans still being grown and I think it is highly rated by coffee connoisseurs. We see the process by which the beans are roasted and ground and we all buy large amounts of coffee to take back as souvenirs. When I get back to the hotel I just about manage to squeeze the coffee into my bag without having to throw any clothes away although the scanners at the airport are now going to detect several packets of powder in the bottom of my bag!

Hyenas vs Tight Shorts

One of the highlights of a trip to Harar is to see the hyenas being fed.

The feeding of the hyenas just outside the city walls is a show which is put on for visitors nowadays but does seem to have a long history. I get a bit confused about the history of the hyenas at Harar. I had thought that the people had fed the hyenas to stop them taking livestock and children but we are shown gaps in the city walls through which the hyenas could enter and leave the city - apparantly they were encouraged into the city because as scavangers they did a very good job of keeping the city clean.

The hyenas come to the city walls at dusk to be fed by the hyena man, who for some reason is wearing ridiculously tight and shiny cycle shorts, and any tourists who are feeling brave enough. We all take turns and after we have finished feeding them Lishan tells us some interesting hyena facts - the force of their bite is stronger than a lions...... they can break any bone in your body........ that sort of thing!!

We find a really good restaurant, The Fresh Touch for dinner. They serve both traditional and western food cooked well, it seems to be popular with young Ethiopians and they have draft Harar beer at 40p a pint.

We then return to the hotel to check our travel insurance policies to see if "playing with hyenas" is classed as a dangerous sport.

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Photos

The Consumers
Spending their afternoon chewing Chat