Harar, explore the walled city

Founded in the seventh century A.D., Harar is one of Ethiopia's oldest cities. In stark contrast, nearby Dire Dawa is an upstart child of the 20th century which rose to importance as a staging post on the railway that links Addis Ababa with the port of Djibouti.

Capital of Hararghe, Ethiopia's largest administrative region, the ancient walled city of Harar is situated high in the Ahmar mountains on the eastern wall of the Great Rift Valley and stands sentinel over the vast Danakil Desert to the north, over the cattle-rich savannas to the south, and over the fertile lands of the Harar mountains to the east where some of Ethiopia's finest coffee is grown and where citrus orchards blossom with fruit

People lived where Harar now stands 20,000 years ago - leaving behind a priceless legacy of cave paintings. But its prominence as a city came much later, around the 10th or 11th century AD when it began to establish itself as an important centre of the Islamic faith on the African continent and to forge cultural, religious and commercial links with other parts of the Muslim world. By the 16th century, Harar had risen to considerable prominence - a position that was enhanced when it was seized by the Muslim leader Ahmed 'Gragn' (the Left Handed) and used as his base for a jihad (holy war) against the Christian Ethiopian kingdoms in the west.

For 20 years Gragn waxed rich on the plunder of his armies. In 1543, however, he was killed and his forces routed by Emperor Galawdewos who had called in a force of Portuguese mercenaries to help him. Gragn was succeeded by his nephew, Nur ibn al-Wazir Mujahid, who retreated into Harar and built the stout walls that surround the city to this date.

Despite the new mood of isolation and retrenchment, Harar remained an important Muslim city after Gragn's death and came to be considered as the fourth most sacred centres of th Islamic world. In the 19th century Richard Burton became the first European to sample what he called the old walled city's 'sinister fascination'.

The French poet Rimbaud followed Burton in the 1880's to explore Harar. The bizarre house of wood and brightly-coloured glass that he built for himself still stands

The modern citizens of Harar live almost entirely within the walls that have encircled this city for more than 300 years, maintaining their own language, customs and crafts. Beautiful women, shoulders draped with bright shawls, stroll the twisted streets balancing heavy bundles of cloth or baskets on their heads. Renowned for their basket-work, they still weave intricate creations from coloured fibres and grasses. Harar is also famed for the work of its silversmiths who craft beautiful anklets, necklages, arm bands, silver chains, bangles and earrings out of the precious metal.

One of the city's most unique attractions is its Hyena Men, who make their living by collecting offal and bones which they feed to the wild hyenas that live in the surrounding hills. These ruthless predators come whooping out of the dark just after sunset: answering to a name they dart forward to snatch their supper from the hands of the Hyena Men. There is a small charge for those who wish to see this spectacle.

But Harar's real glory is its ancient monument dominated by its 16th century Grand Mosque with elegant twin towers and slender minaret. Other places of interest include the Palace of the city's 1890's Govenor, Ras Makonnen; stained glass windows by Ethiopia's greatest living artist, Afewerk Tekle, in the Harar Military Academy; the city's Cathedral Medhane Alem, which houses a gallery with traditional religious art works; the tomb of Abu Said, an early Muslim ruler; and the colourful Shoa Gate Market. In a very real sense the whole of Harar, with its ancient winding streets between tall balconied houses, is a monument to ancient times. A day spent exploring the city, walking through each of the five original gates set into its walls, is an ideal way to capture the sense of the mysterious past.

Dire Dawa

By contrast, Dire Dawa, which stands on the plains below Harar, has excisted less than a century. It startes as the first major railhead of the Djibouti-Addis Ababa railway which reached the spot in 1902, five years after the first spur led out of the port of Djibouti in the French enclave on the Horn of Africa.

Dire Dawa today is really two towns: new and old. New Dire Dawa is the wide-avenued, tree-lined railway settlement with its jacanrandas, and flamboyants, which was laid out by the French rail builders. Here there are numerous small market places, busy with vendors in clolourful dresses with their spices, fruits, baskets and silverwork laid out before them.

A wadi, a dried-up river bed which in the rains becomes a roaring torrent, divides the railway town from the settlement that pre-existed it - a place of narrow, meandering streets and square buildings which is the site of the more traditional Afetissa market. Well-stocked with a bright variety of goods, Afetissa is a melting pot for all the peoples of the region. Here, as well as Amharic the visitor will hear the Somali, Afar, Oromo and Arab tongues spoken along with some French and English.

Besides Dire Dawa you can also explore the surrounding countryside and experience the remarkeble contrasts between highlands, plains and desert.