Mar 25 - Harar

We took a quick flight to a place called Dire Dawa where we needed to figure out how to make the 1 hour trek to Harar. We ended up taking minibus packed with locals and fortunately we were able to get the front seats because there were about 6 more people than seats in the back. The minibuses are very cheap (about $0.75 each for a 1 hour ride) but the drivers are crazy. They fly down the roads winding around cliff edges at ridiculous speeds. I think next time we’ll take a regular bus or taxi.

Riding on the Minibus

We arrived in Harar after dark and we had failed to make reservations so the hotel we wanted to stay at was full. We hired a cab to drive us around searching for a place to stay but of course the streets don’t have any lights and the power in the village seemed to have gone out so when we arrived at hotels they would give me a candle to go examine the rooms. I booked into a hotel but when the lights eventually came on we noticed that we were surrounded by cockroaches - we decided to switch to another place. Anything besides a budget hotel does not exist here so when we finally found a place, it wasn’t without its issues – very limited water but only a few cockroaches.

Harar is a walled Muslim village – very nice but very dirty. We explored the city, checked out the local coffee “factory”, hung out at a local café, fed some hyenas and then took a 12 hour bus ride back to Addis – I’m glad to be back in our presidential suite!