Dire Dawa

Dire Dawa exists because of the railway: when the French-built line from Djibouti to Addis Ababa reached this point in 1902 and the engineers could not take it up to Harar, a new town was laid out beside the station, and the city grew from there. The result is two halves separated by a dry riverbed. Kezira, the planned quarter, has a grid of wide streets, arcaded buildings and the old station, its architecture Mediterranean and colonial in feel. Megala on the other side is the older market town, with the Kefira market where Oromo, Somali and Harari traders meet and where khat is a major business. The railway itself is now largely replaced by a new standard-gauge line on a different route, and the old station is a monument.

History

Rock paintings and Middle Stone Age tools in the caves of Porc-Épic and Laga-Oda show that people lived here in Mesolithic times, and the area is thought to have been settled by the Harla; it later belonged to the Adal Sultanate and then the Emirate of Harar, until Menelik took Harar in 1887. The town itself is recent: because the railway from Djibouti could not climb to Harar, Menelik II agreed in a letter of 5 November 1896 that the first section could end at the foot of the mountains, and the line arrived on 24 December 1902, the date taken as the town's foundation. The railway did not continue until 1909 and was completed to Addis Ababa only on 7 June 1917, and meanwhile Dire Dawa boomed, drawing most of the trade that once passed through Harar; the customs post for Red Sea trade had already moved here from Gildessa in 1902. The town grew in two parts on either side of the dry Dechatu River: a regular quarter laid out by the railway engineers, where French, Greeks, Armenians and Arabs opened shops, hotels and workshops and the French Capuchins settled in 1909, so that it looked like a French town, and a market quarter of Somali and Arab traders (Wikipedia, Dire Dawa).

What you'll find

• The old railway station - the French-era terminus and its buildings.
• Kezira quarter - arcaded streets on the planned colonial grid.
• Kefira market - the trading heart of the older Megala side.
• Khat trade - the leaf moving in bulk through the market.

When to go

October to March; Dire Dawa is low and hot, and March to May is severe. Mornings are best for the markets. The city is a common stop en route to or from Harar.

Before you go

The city is hot and much of the old fabric is run down. The historic railway no longer runs on this line, so the station is a relic rather than a working terminus. Khat is central to daily life here and the afternoon slowdown is real. Facilities for visitors are limited.

Nearby

Harar lies southeast; the Valley of Marvels is beyond it.

Key facts