UNESCO Heritage · Eastern Ethiopia
Harar
On a hilltop in the eastern highlands, Harar Jugol has been a centre of Islamic learning and trade for centuries. Its walled old city, listed by UNESCO in 2006, is a maze of lanes, painted houses and shrines entered through historic gates.
Why We Go
Ethiopia's only walled city — 82 mosques, lanes too narrow for cars, and hyenas fed by hand at dusk.
The wall around the old city is believed to have been built between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries, and five historic gates once led into five different quarters. Inside, the lanes are too narrow for cars: a walk through Harar is a walk through markets, courtyards and the colourful traditional houses of the Harari people.
UNESCO describes Harar as considered the fourth holiest city of Islam, with 82 mosques — three said to date from the tenth century — and 102 shrines. It is also a city of trade, and its markets still gather goods from the surrounding countryside, including the coffee for which the eastern highlands are famous.
As night falls, the hyena men of Harar call wild spotted hyenas to the edge of the city and feed them by hand — a tradition that local history traces to a nineteenth-century famine. Harar lies a short drive from Dire Dawa, which has flights from Addis Ababa, so two or three days here fit easily into a wider journey.
Highlights
- 01The Jugol wall and its historic gates, including the Shoa Gate
- 02An old city counted by UNESCO as holding 82 mosques and 102 shrines
- 03The hyena feeding at dusk, a tradition kept by Harar's hyena men for generations
- 04The Rimbaud House, with photographs of the city a century ago
- 05Harar coffee, grown in the surrounding highlands and known for its fruity, wine-like character
Best combined with a stay of 2 – 3 days, travelling October – March.
Journeys Including Harar
Routes that pass through here
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