Harar and Eastern Ethiopia

The tour to Harar and Eastern Ethiopia will take you through the savannah to reach Awash National Park, where you can easily spot wildlife and nature, and continue to Dire Dawa, important link to Djibouti in other times and current industrial centre with several markets. The old railway station is the meeting point of this colourful city, surrounded by merchants, camels, donkeys and spiritual people. Finally, the journey ends up in Harar, a major commercial centre that has served as a link to the rest of the country and the Horn of Africa for centuries. The old walled city, known as Harar Jugol, is included in the World Heritage List by UNESCO due to its recognition as a cultural heritage. In this enclosure, you can also find Arthur Rimbaud’s house during his stay in the 19th century. Sneaking around Harar’s streets will take you to medieval times and being surrounded by its colourful native clothes will definitely make you feel cheerful. End up your tour with a visit to the hyena-man, a peculiar spectacle that takes place every night by the city wall.

The Story of the Hyena Man

Hyenas are typically aggressive animals who have been known to kill people, but on the outskirts of Harar, Yusuf has nonetheless established a special bond with the animals that allows him to sit in their midst with perfect ease.

Far from behaving like vicious, depraved scavengers who demolish carcasses in a cackling frenzy – the prevailing view of hyenas in many cultures – they obediently wait their turn for the meat and then politely pluck it from Yusuf’s stick.

Often they even clamber over Yusuf, in a playful dog-like manner, to get to the scraps.

Yusuf, who took over the Hyena Man role from his retired father, is in fact building on an even longer tradition in Harar of peaceful co-existence with the hyenas.

For centuries, people in Harar have been deterring hyenas from attacking humans and livestock by ensuring that they don’t get too hungry. Holes were built in the city’s venerable walls and meat fed through them. 

Nowadays, the hyenas also have free rein over the scraps that come from the city’s landfill. This strategy works well, while hyenas sometimes attack people in neighbouring villages, such occurrences are believed not to have occurred in Harar for over 200 years. 

This tradition has now become entwined with Islamic practice: on the tenth day of the first month of the Islamic calendar and related to the festival of Al Ashura, locals feed bowls of porridge to the hyenas in special shrines.

If the hyenas eat the porridge, it is considered to be a sign of good fortune.

Yusuf’s bond with the hyenas is such that he has developed a special dialect to communicate with them and has special names for each animal. Incredibly, the hyenas have on at least one occasion even led Yusuf back to their den, where hyena cubs were living, demonstrating a very trusting relationship.

Even if somewhat unsettling to watch, there is something very endearing about seeing him feed, interact with and almost domesticate these wild and often feared animals. If you push 100 Birr his way, he’ll even show you how to do it yourself.

Despite the many interesting historic attractions in Harar, this unique event is the main draw for most visitors – and for good reason. 

Dire Dawa

The colourful colonial era buildings throughout Dire Dawa are a stark contrast to the traditional, circular shacks found across Ethiopia.

The fourth-most populous city in Ethiopia, Dire Dawa, which translates to empty plain in reference to its location in one the most arid regions in the country – the city is known for its ornate squares and strong cultural diversity.

The less pleasing, rubbish-strewn Dechatu Wadi river divides the city of Dire Dawa into two halves: Kezira and Megala.

Kezira is the European-influenced half of the city and known for hosting the once great Imperial Railway Company of Ethiopia. Locals enjoy coffee under the shade of one of the many tree-lined cafés dotted across streets of the town.

To the east of the Dechatu Wadi river is the other quarter of Dire Dawa, Megala. This old town has several mosques and large Muslim cemeteries. The famous Kafira market, known for its vast size and bazaar-like atmosphere, is a real treat for the senses.

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This tour combines the natural beauty and wildlife of Awash National Park and the lakes of eastern Ethiopia, with the rich culture and history of the city...
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