How to Spot a Hyena
Look deep into nature and you will understand everything- Albert Einstein
How to Spot A Hyena
Ingredients
1 night in Sub-Saharan African wilderness
A listening ear
The sound of wild cackling laughter
1 wake up call
Coffee and biscuits
1 safari guide
1 open safari vehicle
A watchful eye
Method:
Don’t be scared when you hear an ominous Whuooop! Whuuuooop! Whuoop! and wild cackling in the darkness. There is life and death drama going on out there in the night. Still your heart, tuck your blanket under your chin, you are safe in your tent.
Accept a wake up offering at 5:00am of coffee, milk and biscuits. There is no time for a full breakfast if you want to witness those beings with the demonic giggles returning home from a late-night orgy.
Meet your Maasai guide at dawn by the Land Cruiser. Set off in the direction of the sound of that disorderly screeching. Keep a watchful eye for hyenas, those large doglike animals with maniacal grins and sloping backs. Don’t worry about the noise of the truck, when hyenas are eating nothing else matters to them except getting a place at the table.
Look for a large spotted animal with a rocking gait and round teddy bear ears.
They don’t always go directly home after a big meal. Check out the puddles. There’s always the chance you may find a hyena sleeping it off in the cool mud.
If all fails and the sun rises with no sighting, look for large holes in the savannah where they make their burrows. With luck you might even meet some curious cubs.
Hyenas have a bad reputation. It’s true, they don’t have table manners, don’t share and steal food at any opportunity. They are greedy eaters with sharp teeth and bone crushing jaw strength. In fact, they eat so many bones their scat is white. Because they never leave any scraps nothing goes to waste or rots. Fresh or decayed, their stomachs handle it all. They are important members of the savannah’s cleanup team.
Please don’t judge them harshly. They are wily hunters doing their best to stay alive and feed their families. If you meet a hyena on the plain, give them a wave of gratitude for their essential role in the circle of life. And you know what? When they’re cleaned up, they’re even kinda cute!
Come see the hyena and other African wildlife on an extraordinary safari next January. Contact me for more information and be part of the solution to protect the iconic wildlife of East Africa.
About your guide: Kathy Karn is an international award-winning wildlife photographer and visual storyteller who fell in love with Africa on her first visit in 2010. She loves to introduce others to the wonders of Africa and the need for preservation of wildlife. Subscribe to Heartfelt Stories to learn more about what awaits you on safari.
In traveling to a truly foreign place, we inevitably travel to moods and states of mind and hidden inwards passages that we’d otherwise seldom have cause to visit. Pico Iyer