In Harar now and went to see the hyena feeding at the shrine outside the wall. Harari hyenas really are beautiful with such a placid look in their eyes and when they look at you, you feel a kind of recognition but also a species gap so wide that understanding seems a long way off. My intrepid fixer, Nabile, introduced me to the hyena man and he agreed to let me sit in on the hyena feeding to learn their names and just observe.

It was interesting to hear a visitor from France commenting that they were cowardly. They certainly had their tails wedged firmly between their legs and were reticent to go up to Yusuf for the scraps. And the hyena man was complaining to the hyenas, saying that they weren’t doing their jobs properly. But considering they had three sets of headlights on them and were surrounded by a dozen strange humans staring intently, and pointing cameras, I thought they were pretty brave.

And if you think that the hyena feeding here is a tourist trap, then I suggest you go to the sportsground (dustbowl) near the Tewodros hotel at 4 in the morning around the time of the call to prayer. You’ll see a butcher, opening his store and a couple of locals arriving. And then twelve or so hyenas will turn up to be fed by these men in the darkness with not a tourist in sight.