This is our last day in Harar and in Ethiopia generally. Once again this country has given Christi and I the most magnificent experiences. It is definitely the unheralded destination on the African continent. Morocco, Egypt, Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa get the bulk of tourists, but Ethiopia is right up there for tourist attractions and well worth considering when you are planning your next African vacation. It is market day in Harar and we have only a little time to explore before we leave. We also take a final wander around the famous walled city. The staff at our hotel have been very nice, but water and power have been irregular. And when the management learned that Christi was an American, they suggested she pretend to be Canadian while in Harar. Apparently, we are just close enough to the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula that some anti-American sentiment has crept in.
Chat aside, market day is a fairly typical affair. It’s mostly fruit and vegetables, although there are a few baked treats such as donuts. And as usual the women are very good at carrying produce on their heads. We enter the walled city of Harar (known as Jugol) through the Shoa gate and follow the narrow streets and alleyways to no real purpose. It’s all about soaking up the atmosphere and securing those last memories of our time here in wonderful Ethiopia.
All too soon it’s time to be pragmatic again. We have decided not to return to Addis Ababa by Sky Bus – the outward journey was just a little too exciting for us, especially now that we know the drivers like to chew chat. Instead we will fly back to the Ethiopian capital (and one can only hope that pilots are held to a higher standard of sobriety than their colleagues in charge of terrestrial transportation). It is a reassuringly dull 1-hour flight aboard Ethiopian Airlines from the nearby regional capital of Dire Dawa rather than an 8.5-10 hour bus ride. We then check-in for our international departure. This time we are flying Kenyan Airlines. Now we could have embraced the 3-day bus ride from Addis to Nairobi, which (although authentic) would be very long, very uncomfortable, and involve travel through Bandit country (Northern Kenya is actually pretty remote – it being an arid extension of the Lower Omo valley). But before you call Christi and I wimps, we have arranged a tour of Northern Kenya starting from Nairobi…tomorrow. Okay, now that part wasn’t very well thought out, but we’ll be overlanding again with Dragoman (I know I can’t believe it either, but they are cheap) for just a few days (not their whole trip).
It is only 2-hours by plane from Addis Ababa’s Bole Airport to Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, but everything changes for Christi and I. No longer are people curious to talk to us and find out more about our respective countries. In Nairobi (Nairobbery as it is known among backpackers), we are a commodity – a source of dollars, pounds, and euros, and everyone wants their share. This begins at the airport after we have cleared customs and immigration. The driver of the taxi service we use to get into town insists that our chosen hotel, the Terminal, is full and we should go the Embassy hotel instead. He also claims the Embassy is a much nicer hotel. We will not be swayed, though, and reluctantly he takes us to the Terminal, which it transpires has plenty of space. Even during the brief walk from the taxi to the hotel, we are grabbed by touts eager to sell us safari trips. This is the difference between an undeveloped tourist destination like Ethiopia and one that is used to a lot of tourists. Thank goodness we will only be in Nairobi one night.
Blog post by Roderick Phillips, author of Weary Heart – a gut-wrenching tale of love and test tubes.
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