On Sunday, we decided to join the tourist throngs in Harar again. We had a VSO volunteer from Arba Minch (South Ethiopia) visiting and Calum hasn’t done the touristy stuff yet, plus Susan and I have yet to see the famous Hyena man so it was the perfect excuse if one was needed.
Hyenas are common here. We see them all the time around the university campus, in the early mornings and at dusk. They generally don’t cause too much trouble except that the dogs tend to chase them in the middle of the night and cause a racket with all their barking.
There were reports recently of the hyena attacking people in the local village of Bati. According to locals, a hyena had fallen into a pit that had been dug for building works and couldn’t get out. Rather than risk trying to rescue an angry hyena they decided to bury it alive. The subsequent attacks were revenge from the hyenas mates! More likely I think, is that the amount of building works being done here are disturbing their habitat and changing their behaviour. Whatever the explanation we were all being a bit more cautious of the hyenas than we were initially.
All except the hyena man that is. He has been feeding the hyenas every night on the outskirts of Harar for the last 50 years or so and invites any brave tourists along to watch the spectacle. So on Sunday night a group of us piled into some bajaj (little vehicles like India tuktuks) and headed out to see him do his stuff. It’s pretty spectacular. The hyenas are big up close, bigger than your average dog with enormous haunches and very large teeth. The hyena man has named them all, although the only one I can remember is Jambo – the name of the local beer! He feeds them bits of meat off a stick and then he invites you to feed them, even putting the stick in your mouth and letting them take the meat off the other end. We all had a little go and the photographic evidence follows.....
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