So you think you have seen it all? all that Africa has to offer. Think again, there is still a lot that this huge continent has hidden in its vast wilderness. Have you heard of Harar in Eastern Ethiopia, No, I thought so? It’s a place where 368 alleyways, 78 mosques and churches and numerous coffee shops and restaurants are squeezed into 1 sq miles of walled city. And then there is a strange ritual of this town that you will not find in any other place in the world, as the night falls in Harar the men of the town gather outside the walls of the city to feed Hyena, yes wild Hyenas and that too by holding the meat in their mouths. Strange isn’t, but this is a ritual that the residents of Harar are practising for the last hundred of years and consider it their spiritual duty to feed the Hyenas.
Like many other intriguing destinations of Africa Harar never came on the tourist radar until 2004 when a documentary was televised by the National Geographic about the history and culture of this old Ethiopian Town. Today you will find quite a lot of foreign tourists in the city who are there in an effort to explore this marvellous town and to witness this strange ritual of its residents.
There is no major airport in the vicinity so you will have to take a cheap flight to Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia and then make the rest of the journey to the east by road which can be a little bumpy. Although the tourist traffic has increased quite a bit in the last few years but the tourism infrastructure here is quite basic, so you will be able to find hotels here but do not expect anything other than ordinary.
The architecture of town is its biggest attraction; it looks a lot like the stone town of Zanzibar. But Zanzibar is much more of a 20th century town if not the 21st century while it seems Harar is still living in the ancient times. No electricity and telecommunication is one thing that creates this impression but the real reason is the laid back approach of the residents of Harar. There are a number of historical sites in the city especially the shrines of the holy men of Harar, the most famous being the Tomb of Said Ali Hamdan which looks like a small mosque and is well maintained and looked after. Unlike many of the other Muslim tombs in Africa this tomb is open to all sexes and religions and if you talk to the local sheikh of the mosque he can show you some old manuscripts of the Islamic books that according to him date back to the 13th century.
If you want to learn more about the local history and culture then head to the Harari Cultural Center in the middle of the town that contains many artefacts of Harar and will provide you a lot of knowledge about the history of the city and the culture of its residents.
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