Living Free Range Travel: Feeding Wild Hyenas in Harar, Ethiopia

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Martin walking the Market Street in Harar

The colours in the market street

Landing in Dire Dawa after a free nights stay in a fancy, but dated massive room in Addis, we were on our way to Harar. Another battle with mini-bus drivers as the asking price always kept going up. Luckily, some locals stepped in and straightened them out, allowing us to pay the normal price! It was an hours drive through the dry, hilly terrain on the Eastern side of Ethiopia towards Somalia.

Harar is an ancient walled city, with 368 alleyways crammed in to 1 sq km. Again, in the Unesco books as a World Heritage Site, it has hidden gems of architecture deep within the walls. We decided to tour ourselves around the alleys first, getting a feel for the place. We did this with relative disappointment. We are usually able to find some great places and cool people, but we had limited

Loaded Down Peugeot 404 taxi

success in Harar. At first glance, it was a pretty scruffy Muslim city, with little character.
However, what it lacked in charm in the daytime, it made up for in adrenaline in the evening. Mostly on our own, we tracked down the local hyena man outside the city walls. What I know of the story is, the wild hyenas around town were becoming a pest, as they would come in to town looking for food. A wild animal with jaws that can chew through bone, is not great to have around the playing kids and such, so the animals were being killed. One of more men took it upon themselves to feed the hyenas nightly, therefore, take away the threat of them coming in to town, and therefore, preserving them. Well, this has continued for about 30 years or so, and may now be some sort of religious ritual, as well as a bit of a tourist attraction.

Martin feeding the wild hyena

Nervously, we awaited the arrival of the hyenas, as the locals actually 'call' them each night. And, slowly, the hyenas crept towards us. Before we knew it, there was about 8 or 9 hyenas within 10m of us. They seemed quite timid though, and more scared of us than we were of them. Up close, they are actually quite beautiful animals, with wonderful eyes! And then, the hyena man started pulling out pieces of meat, and one by one, the hyenas came to get a piece. Then it was our turn, and I must say, I was quite nervous. Even more nervous when he convinced me to place a stick in my mouth, with a piece of meat only 20cm away from my head, on the other end of the stick. Watching the powerful jaws, gingerly taking the meat from the stick, SOOOO close to my eyes was a nerve-wracking experience to say the least. Michelle was also brave enough to feed them from her mouth, but was pretty scared too. I think I was shaking

Local Coffee Pots in the market

after the experience. But it wasn't over there. He actually made me get down on all fours, and hung a piece of meat over my head. The hyena climbed up on my back, with it's massive paws on my shoulders, reaching up for the meat. Whoa!!!! That didn't feel right, but I made it out in one piece!!! What a crazy evening. We went out for dinner with two nice Japanese girls who also took part in the feeding. After feeding the hyenas, we fed ourselves with some delicious local injera and stews!!

The next day, we had arranged to get a local guide, as we figured that we had to find the gems in town. It was a great decision as Abdi would walk us down little alleys, and through some non-distinct doorways, finding wonderful buildings that were so hidden. We were in traditional houses with crazy decorations, museums from where Ras Tafari

Abdi and Michelle in a Traditional Harari Home

(the former name of Emperor Haile Selassie) used to live, another in Rimbaud's (the famous poet) House. City walls and gates, temples, churches, merchants, tombs, coffee factories, and markets (in which we bought one of the traditional coffee pots). All the while, giving us good historical information and having a wonderful personality. We enjoyed our time with Abdi, and meeting some of his relatives and friends in town. He even took us to another hyena man that night, a similar experience to the previous night, but still no less scary. It really changed our feeling of the town, and made it much more special. We met lots of locals on his tour, having Coca Cola with the kids and taking photos with them, being a very special time. Thanks Abdi for making our time more special. And thanks to the people of Harar, for their culture, colourful clothing, friendliness, and bizarre nightly rituals!! *Stub