For today, we arranged a tour with the guide Biniyam to the village of Babille, some 40 km away. We drive quite a way through the mountains to the direction of Somaliland. A lot of trucks bring fuel and goods to the East and the road is really good (built by the Chinese).
On the way, we see a lot of sorghum fields. In many, there are trees where children try to chase away birds which feed on the sorghum seeds by means of sling shots.
In Barbille, there is a life stock market with donkeys, sheep, goats, cows and zebu beef and specially camels on Mondays.The latter change its owners by loud bargaining.
The market itself is bustling with animals and people.
It would not be reasonable to go here on your own, it would be too difficult to find the right spots, to see what you want to see, to take pictures or get information. But with Biniyam, it is possible to start small conversations like where are you from, what is your name and how do you like Babille and the market.
And we are able to take some nice pictures of people who, informed by the guide, sometimes agree that we take a picture of them.
Before we go on, we are having a nice coffee macchiato and Coke in the coffee shop Benaka.
Going on on the road for another few kms towards Jijiga you come through the Valley of Marvels, a valley with bizarre rock formations, shaped and carved by the wind. The strangest one is a formation with a sort of bullet on top.
In that part of the valley called Dakharta valley, there are also monkeys. We mainly see the pavians and feed them some peanuts.
For lunch, we go back to town and have some food ad Fresh Touch (no further time for a midday nap).
Shortly afterwards, we start again to the village of Koremi, some 19 km away on mainly dirt roads. It is a very traditional village on the slopes of the mountains Southeast of Harar.
Biniyam is already know in the village, especially by the young women – he comes two to three times a month on average here with some tourists. He leads us through the village, whose houses are like those (old ones) in Harar: they take rough stones (volcanic ones) and combine them with mud to walls, the roof is made from a layer of wooden sticks, covered by stones and mud.
The Argoba people are a small ethnic group which still lives very old fashioned and traditional. They speak Oromo and are Muslims.
We are allowed to visit one of the houses. The old lady offers us a tea which we take thankfully but don’t drink it (stomach?) They seem to understand.
Some of the children that follow us agree that we take pictures of them – after Biniyam promised to buy them some sweets in the local shop.
For “safety” reasons, Biniyam gives some money to the shop assistant to distribute the sweets – so we can continue without being bothered.
On our way back we meet some boys that throw stones on our car. Biniyam and the driver get out but the boys are faster. They cannot explain why the boys do that and whether it is due to tourists being in the car. It might also be out of being bored or having to much testosterone.
Shortly before Harar we stop for a good view on the old town.
Next to the old town there is a new sites with nice houses, the so-called Diaspora houses. They are bought by rich Ethiopians who work abroad and install their families there. A normal Ethiopian would not be able to afford this.
Tomorrow we go back to Dire Dawa and then to the airport to fly to Bahir Dar.
