Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Getting There & Around
The bus station is near Harar Gate. Minibuses run frequently to Dire Dawa (Birr21, one
hour) and Jijiga (Birr40, 1½ hours).
For Addis Ababa (nine to 10 hours), three normal buses (Birr180) leave around 6am
from the bus station while Sky Bus (Birr275) and Selam (Birr270) depart at 5.30am from
their ticket offices on opposite sides of Selassie Church. The minibuses that do the capital-
run are less comfortable and more dangerous than the buses, but they do travel faster and
they'll pick you up at your hotel. There's a choice of the 'night van' (Birr200, 6pm to
7pm) and the safer (relatively) 'early trip' (Birr220, 3am to 4am). Pretty much any busi-
ness with a sign depicting a minibus sells tickets. You can also buy tickets from your
hotel, but you'll pay a commission. Book tickets departing from Addis with
Adil Trans-
A short hop in a shared taxi or
bajaj
costs Birr1 to Birr2. Hiring a
bajaj
for one hour
costs Birr70.
Around Harar
With your own transport, these four spots can be combined into one great day trip.
KOREMI
The clifftop village of Koremi, 19km southeast of Harar above the Erer Valley, is the
largest of several villages of the Argoba, a deeply traditional people whose ancestors ar-
rived in these parts in the 12th century. Unlike most of the Adare homes of Harar, the old
stone houses
here are unpainted and unplastered. Though the large number of sheet-metal
roofs detracts from the ambience a bit, this shows what Harar looked like before modern-
isation.
There's no scheduled transport to or any tourist facilities in any of these villages.
BABILLE ELEPHANT SANCTUARY
Despite considerable tree-cutting, livestock grazing, and land encroachment, judged by
notoriously low Ethiopian environmental standards
Babille
(admission Birr90, vehicle
Birr20, mandatory scout Birr150)
is better protected than many of Ethiopia's national
parks, and the population of elephants (which some authorities identify as a unique sub-
species,
Loxodonta africana orleansi
) has risen to around 400. Also resident, though un-
