Blogs from Harar, Harari Region, Ethiopia, Africa
March 24th 2012
We leave Addis in a landcruiser GX. I am surprised by how uncomfortable it is. Henok, our driver is a cross between a beach boy and tour guide. He is a 30 year old freelance driver who hires his boss’ car and drives tourists around. On the outskirts of addis he removes his shirt and drives in a sleeveless red top. Luckily the Ethiopian tourism licensing board are a bit wishy washy on what is allowed and not. The price for our car has mysteriously gone up from $145 to $155 per day. We are presented with a fait acomopli. Ethiopia’s land locked status is immediately apparent upon leaving addis. This is the road to Djibouti and it has not been widened or improved in 13 years. We are stuck between the empty lorries going back ... read more
Touts and Mosques, The city of Harar..
Published: March 24th 2012Africa » Ethiopia » Harari Region » Harar
March 24th 2012
It is Friday in Harar. Mike and I walk in the morning, eager to get some exercise having been in the car for so long. We walk purposefully away from the old city and climb a hill. Indian made auto rickshaws splutter past us, up the incline. Barely making progress faster than our legs. The new town in unassuming, but the trees are pretty and the morning smells are pleasant and fresh. At the summit we find the Harar brewery. Hara turns out to be slightly more convoluted than we thought. Numerous guide books tell us, that the Emperor Haile Selassie converted the main mosque on the main square in the walled city into a church, to inform Muslim population that he was in charge. This must have sent a powerful signal to the Muslim community, ... read more
December 20th 2010
I got up at 4 in the morning to take bus to Harar. By the time I got there it was 8 in the morning and it was time for breakfast. I bought a muffin and some strong Ethiopian coffee, seeing that I woke up so early. Next, I took a minibus to the Jamia Mosque. It was built in the 1500s. It has very detailed and beautiful minarets. Then I took another minibus to the Feres Magala square. It has many beautiful mosques and shrines Lunch time...I walked to the market and went to a little store that I can best describe as a cafe. I bought a goat and onion kebab with some goat's milk cheese on the side. It was delicious! After I ate, I decided to look around the market. There ... read more
June 11th 2010
Ethiopia is all about 4am starts for buses that leave ridiculously early, disgusting toilets, fleas in the bedding, great coffee, stunning scenery and a multitude of interesting cultures all rolled into one. We spent a few days in the contradiction that is Addis Ababa. Addis is a sprawling complex area of windy streets with large modern buildings next to shanty towns, new four wheel drive vehicles next to beggars, and modern restaurants next to farmers herding their goats along the side of the road in the middle of the city. There is not much to do in the capital but the Ethnological Museum, set in the Addis Ababa University (formerly Haile Selassie's palace) made an interesting visit. Before the entrance is an interesting monument of a set of spiralling stairs. Each step was placed by the ... read more
The African Toll Roads: Buses, Trains & Bajajs Part I
Published: February 9th 2010Africa » Ethiopia » Harari Region » Harar
February 9th 2010
A little Harrari girl approached the five of us and to each one spoke the following: “Fish have no legs. Donkeys have four legs. Cows have four legs. And antelope have two horns. Now give me birr!” Her factual data and explicit demand caused me to think about the reasons of travel. We travel to absorb, to broaden the mind and expand our human consciousness. We move to progress, one hopes, in a forward direction, evolving with new skill sets and creative tools. We explore to simply discover the blossoms of unknown territories in mind, body and spirit. All these are our hopes, what we dream for in the essence of travel. The faerie tale of imagination arrives with blue skies and dazzling African sunsets. It’s angelic for a moment, and then in the next it ... read more
January 28th 2010
Back in Ethiopia and back to unscrupulous Ethiopian cheek. Having crossed between the dusty border shacks, R and I are offered a lift for the first leg of the journey to Harar by a couple of Ethiopian NGOs working for Save the Children. Of course, when we are inside they rather uncharitably ask for four times the bus fare. We opt for pleb transport after all, during which R's poor pack is the victim of a thorough police search once more. The authorities are out in force in this region (the Somali province) and when we change at Jijiga there are no fewer than seven police checks before we are even properly out of the town. Some of these guys in camo gear stand barely a hundred metres apart and on five occasions all men on ... read more
November 15th 2009
Harar Again url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/whereissteve/5357729457/" title="Rimbaud's House by WhereIsSteve, on Flickr"img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5050/5357729457_812654c644.jpg" width="485" height="378" alt="Rimbaud's House" align = right / This morning Lishan joins us again for another walking tour of Harar. We walk around the city walls for a while and take in a traditional Harari house and the house of the famous poet, Arthur Rimbaud - OK. I actually know nothing about poetry but I've vaguely heard of Rimbaud from a reference in a Van Morrison song Rimbaud never actually lived in Arthur Rimbaud's House! The house is built on the site of the house he used to live in. It does, however, have a good collection of old black and white photographs of Harar - I'm a big fan of old... read more
Ethiopia - Huleutt The Dogs Out
Published: November 28th 2009Africa » Ethiopia » Harari Region » HararNovember 14th 2009
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 ... read more
June 29th 2009
(Kovas writing…) In the dry rural parts of Ethiopia we have seen many different cacti. They are diverse and interesting plants! Some looked and grew as tall as trees because they had one main stem and many branches that grew up. Others had big thorns and were dark green in color. The ones that we mostly saw driving to the eastern city of Harar grew to waist height, were light green, and had groups of many small thorns. Unfortunately, I accidently touched these little groups of thorns. If this happens to you, you will find three or four small, yellowish thorns stuck on your finger. You will feel a small sting, look at your finger and take out the thorns. Then, the place where the thorns had been will start to itch and feel very uncomfortable. ... read more
