Harar Jugol
Harar, Harari Region, Ethiopia
The walled holy city of Harar, with 82 mosques (three said to date from the 10th century) and 102 shrines inside walls built between the 13th and 16th centuries, inscribed by UNESCO in 2006 and known for the nightly hyena-feeding tradition at its gates.
Harar is a walled city on Ethiopia's eastern plateau, the historic center of an Islamic scholarly and mercantile culture that UNESCO describes as a "sacred Muslim city." Its Jugol walls were built between the 13th and 16th centuries, and UNESCO's listing records 82 mosques within them, three attributed to the 10th century, alongside 102 shrines; UNESCO's description also repeats the widely cited claim that Harar is the fourth holiest city of Islam, which is an attributed claim rather than an established fact. The city was long a center of Islamic learning and trade, home to scholars and saints whose tombs dot the lanes, and UNESCO singles out the traditional Harari houses, with their distinctive interior design, as the most remarkable part of the heritage. Harar also carries 19th-century literary history (Rimbaud's later years) and a living daily culture of markets, coffee, and trade.
The best-known ritual is the hyena feeding: families of Harari hyena men feed wild spotted hyenas by hand at the city gates at night, a tradition the Harari region's own communication office describes as a longstanding local practice tied to protection of the town. It is a real, living practice, not a show, though tourism has commercialized parts of it; this entry keeps that distinction. Ethiopia is under a US Level 3 Reconsider Travel advisory (updated August 27, 2026) with specific do-not-travel regions; the Harari region is not on that list, but land routes toward it cross areas that are, so plan air travel and local guidance accordingly.
Visiting
The UNESCO listing describes the town; the Harari region's own page describes the hyena-feeding ritual. There is no site fee; individual shrines and museums may ask small donations, and local guides are customary and recommended. Walk the Jugol walls and gates, the shrines and mosque exteriors, the Harari house museums, and the markets; watch the hyena feeding at nightfall. Ethiopia's security situation is fluid; verify current route advice before any trip.
Photo: Adam Jones, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Architectural_Detail_-_Old_City_(Jugal)_-_Harar_-_Ethiopia_-_01_(8750600770).jpg))
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