Harar, Babile, Hirna. Eastern Ethiopia Photos.

Harar, Babile, Hirna. Eastern Ethiopia Photos.

There is not much in common between three places we visited in eastern Ethiopia.

Hirna is just a small provincial town where we spend just over 40 minutes when our bus stopped for a lunch break.

Harar (walled city of Jugol, to be precise) is self proclaimed ‘fourth holiest Muslim city’ (After Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem). Although it may not be entirely true, some sources suggest that it may have the largest number of mosques, mausoleums and shrines per capita in the world. Its narrow alleys and traditional lifestyle still carries the original medieval feel.

Babile is a small town 30 km from Harar hosting one of the largest camel and cattle market in the horn of Africa. The market is very busy in the morning, but, surprisingly, most of the camels get sold by 2pm… The interesting fact is that camels (dromedary, single humped, Ogaden type) are used predominantly for milk (and meat) production and only rarely for transport.