Khat leaf in Ethiopia
When many tourists come to Ethiopia, they go to many places to visit like Gondar, Lalibela, and the great renaissance dam, and they also enjoy seeing lots of festivals and holidays unlike others but there is more. I have been showing some tourists about Ethiopia which is my country, and we went to many places, and we visited the tribes of Omo valley, and then traveled to Harar which is one of the cities in Ethiopia.
The tourists were attracted by the view of people eating leaves and the leaf is called Khat. Khat is an addictive plant containing alkaloids that cause euphoria in the people who chew it. Much like Betel nut, it is a natural high and it is legal in Ethiopia.
Harar
The city of Harar is also known as the city of peace. The tourists wanted to do two things in Harar. One, feeding hyenas the worst ways possible, and trying khat. Khat contains the alkaloid cathinone, a stimulant, which is said to cause excitement and euphoria. The WHO classifies it as a drug of abuse and can cause psychological dependence, but it's everywhere here.
After I took the tourists to the streets of Harar in Ethiopia. The tourists just kept greeting the locals and it seems they were getting along very fine. And I took them to the border near Somalia and I wanted them to try to do something a little bit crazy when it gets dark.
But before it even gets dark, we saw all these people holding these big bags of green leaves. It's khat. We wanted to find some, try some, and talk about it.
After a while, I found some for them and after I told them it will give them pleasurable excitement, they both started laughing and said 'ok let's try it' I bought it for 500 Ethiopian Birr for a handful of Khat which means about 5USD. When I showed them that Khat they thought it was for a whole week, but actually, it was just for a day, that's how Ethiopians do it.
We are about to try the khat but before we start, I knew we need to get some sugar or peanuts because that's how most Ethiopians do it. It goes well together and for beginners, it is a must to try it with peanuts because it has a bitter taste when you are fresh with khat.
The streets in Harar are heavy traffic, all people on the road most of them holding khat and driving a three-wheel vehicle and it's like people are walking 24/7 every time. And all the Ethiopian men are like "Brother, Brother, Whoo!" to the tourists, and the tourists would look over and give the thumbs up.
Now we carried a big bag of the green leaf called khat and the tourists were like "we gon' get high boy!" I had a friend named Abye, who had a perfect spot to meet the locals and chew. So, we dive into the back-alley markets of Harar. One tourist expressed the taste as strong basil or like a dandelion leaf. Seeing his reaction and everything the locals were laughing and watching in excitement.
Khat is everywhere, and it was one of the most apparent things we saw when we first arrived in the city. And the peanuts are supposed to cut the bitter taste, the locals use them freely some advise to you to swallow them and some say don't. The effect of this thing is that it keeps you awake and energetic it's like coffee and some say they even put some of the leaves in the coffee they make when you drink the coffee you will be so awake that it becomes so difficult for you to sleep.