There is an ancient tradition of wild hyena feeding in Harar, Ethiopia, which is still being practiced today. As far as I understand, this is a rite of peace-offering. The wild hyenas enter the city in great numbers during the night, and they are quite capable of snapping limbs from poor fellows sleeping on the streets. Those wild beasts are really strolling through the city in the dark, I saw them myself!
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For several centuries the rite of hyena feeding has been performed by a single family. Fathers were passing the skill to their sons, and so on.
The guy on the first photo carries a basket full of rotten meat outside the city wall and summons hyenas with scary inhuman shouts. The beasts come and get their portion of stinking meat. For the greater effect the feeding is done mouth-to-mouth style...
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Don't know why, maybe because of the brutal expression on my face, but this guy called me from the crowd of onlookers and asked if I wanted to perform the rite together with him. Next day Ethiopian drivers who worked as our guides greeted me with extra warmth, friendly hugs and handshakes, invited me to their families, offered me the best women. They told me they never saw a white guy feeding hyenas.
They took me to a back room in the market to a woman who sells khat leaves. We sat down around her and chew the leaves. All that day I was glowing from inside out. My brain was crystal clear. I felt so good I loved everything and everybody around...
Well, enough about khat. Here is a couple of more images of hyenas:
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