Posted on Dec 31, 2011
Filed under: Hiking, Africa, Ethiopia, Budget Travel
This was a strange year for me. I didn't see any new countries but I still had some great adventure travel. I spent two months living in Harar, Ethiopia, writing a series about it for all you fine folks. I'd visited this fascinating medieval walled city back in 2010 during a road trip in Ethiopia and passed through on my way to Somaliland. The three weeks I spent in Harar in 2010 convinced me I had to come back and learn more.
This time, however, I came to settle in for a while. My colleague--local historian, author, and guide Mohammed Jami Guleid (harartourguide @gmail.com)--helped me explore Ethiopia's Somali region and meet the Argobba, a little-visited tribe. Other highlights included feeding a pack of hyenas and meeting a traditional African healer. The best part of my stay, however, was the day-to-day life of visiting friends and making new ones. Harar is a small town and it seemed that by the end of my two months there
Read the original article at http://www.gadling.com/2011/12/31/my-adventure-travel-year-a-look-back-and-a-look-forward/