No journey along Ethiopia's fabled historic route would be complete without a visit to the world legacy medieval walled city of Harar, which stands amid green mountains on the east wall of the Great Rift Valley. Harar's heritage is almost entirely Muslim and Oriental. Unlike Harar has most likely always had a great more in common with the Horn's coastal culture than with the life of highlands - and it retains to this day a certain aromatic of the Orient.
With its more than 90 mosques and shrines, Harar is considered to be the fourth most sacred centre of the Islamic world next to Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem. Its Islamic character is best expressed in the Grand Mosque (Al Jami), which dominates the town. accurately renowned for its intricately worked optimum jewelers of silver, gold and amber, Harare’s ancient Megalo Gudo market is also a centre for beautiful baskets of woven grass, decorative wall-mats and bright shawls, as well as all the fruit, vegetables, spices and grains of the province. Harar's five gates - the only means to enter or leave the city centre - have been strongly guarded over centuries. Besides all these, Harar is also known for the hyena man who feeds the wild hyena with his bare hand and mouth.
