Disconnecting April 19, 2011

The above photo is my favourite hyena photo of all for reasons more than its aesthetic appeal. It’s a photo of Willi and his mother, Hadha Kamar, standing on a garbage mound in the sunrise, listening for the arrival of the next truckload of garbage. The sun in Harar rises up from the Somali desert [...]

For Hashim II April 16, 2011

Sorry to say that my friend Hashim died yesterday of his wounds. The body is being returned to Harar for burial. Thanks too for your kind words. Right now some cracks are opening up in Harar. Some people have been reacting violently and the ethnic divisions are coming to the fore. The Unesco prize for [...]

For Hashim April 14, 2011

Yesterday, my friend Hashim Idris was shot twice in the head by a gunman in Feres Magala (in the middle of the old town). Right now he’s in a coma in a hospital in Addis Ababa where the medical staff are waiting for the bleeding in his brain to subside. Nobody is sure if he’ll [...]

The Unseen II April 11, 2011

Whenever I start thinking that nothing blogworthy is happening at the hyena place, something blogworthy inevitably occurs. Last night was just such a night. All the usual hyenas were there and being slightly more aggressive with each other than usual but not remarkably so. Tukwondilli scared the guff out of an Ethiopian tourist who was [...]

Getting bigger, sinking lower April 6, 2011

The above photo of Yusuf and his hyenas looks pretty unremarkable. Well, it does if you’re accustomed to seeing someone feeding hyenas on a nightly basis. But it’s a telling and depressing photo when you know who the hyenas are. The one standing behind Yusuf is Willi and the ones in front are Burisee (formerly [...]

Meat… your ancestors March 31, 2011

Time for a hyena history lesson. The hyena pictured below is Pachycrocuta brevirostris, a species that lived from 3.5 to 0.5 million years ago. These hyenas were big, really big, with the type specimen’s skull measuring 32.2 centimetres at the base. To give you an idea of just how big that is, the length for [...]

Biting the comb that grooms March 24, 2011

Last night was our first time back at the hyena feeding place after our visit to Kenya and, after having dinner with the family and doling out the presents from Kenya, we went out to the shrine to visit the hyenas. Kooti and Juggie were in front of the shrine, pretty much dominating everything within [...]

Hyena Tea Party March 13, 2011

Arriving early in the morning at the garbage dump, I saw three sets of those teddy bear ears pointed at me in the gloom. The hyenas recognised me before I recognised them and stayed prostrate on the ground while I went over to a straggly-looking Habuka tree and sat on some relatively clear dirt. One [...]

Wishing for Fruit March 7, 2011

This is the Masai Mara. Vast expanses of grassland and scattered trees stretching across to the escarpment that delimits the Trans Mara. We’ve been here for a mere three days and seen a lifetime’s worth of wildlife, from bushbuck to eland to elephants and all of the animals that eat them, including the Talek hyena [...]

Visiting far away hyenas February 23, 2011

We’re arrived in Addis Ababa after an 11 hour bus ride across the Rift Valley. I’ve come to realise that Ethiopians have a mortal fear of fresh air. In any vehicle, be it minibus, taxi or coach, people open the windows while they’re sitting in the vehicle, waiting for it to set off. But as [...]