Blogs from Harari Region, Ethiopia, Africa - page 2

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Africa » Ethiopia » Harari Region » Harar 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

Africa » Ethiopia » Harari Region » Harar 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
I am pretty sure this is not covered by our travel insurance
This was scary, I could not keep my eyes open
Harar

Africa » 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
Harrari Baskets
Two Humans, Four Legs
Wooden Prayer Beads

Africa » Ethiopia » Harari Region 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 yet another vigorous police search. The authorities are out in force in this region (Ethiopia’s 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 the ... read more
Dust storms
Ethiopian sunset
Harar's main gate

Africa » Ethiopia » Harari Region » Harar January 24th 2010

Geo: 9.30463, 42.1326OK, let's get 'the land of chat' clarified. If you've seen the movie 'Blackhawk Down', you will be familiar with chat. Chat is a mildly narcotic leaf that is chewed and gives some kind of high? It is legal, and apparently this is the best cultivation area. It is used throughout Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia and who knows where else. I will not be able to give you a first hand report on it's affect, but I've had numerous chances to purchase, for pennies, and try. I have not seen anyone here have the same kind of results as depicted in the movie. I think it has more of a low key affect, kind of relaxing. It's mostly an afternoon and evening social thing, both men and women participate.Most of the chat being shipped to ... read more
harar
piggy bank
tall door, so horse and rider can enter!

Africa » Ethiopia » Harari Region » Harar January 24th 2010

Geo: 9.30463, 42.1326Well, as most of you know, I am not in Harar but I didn't want to mess up the flow.I wanted to let everyone know that I have updated the first month of our trip with photos and a bit of added info if you are up for reading any of the entries again.Enjoy the photos!Carole... read more

Africa » Ethiopia » Harari Region » Harar November 15th 2009

Harar Again 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 black and white photographs. We are really taken with the Traditional Harari House, it is really cool inside and we could relax there all day. The main room of the ... read more
Harar City Walls And One Of The Gates
Local Kids Again.....
......And Again

Africa » Ethiopia » Harari Region » Harar November 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 ... read more
Local Kids In The Market
Showing The Kids The Pictures We Took
The Consumers

Africa » Ethiopia » Harari Region » Harar 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
Cactus 2
Cactus 3
Kovas with Cactus Bulb

Africa » Ethiopia » Harari Region » Harar November 24th 2008

This is cool. Me feeding hyenas...... read more




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