feeding the hyenas and kites of Harar

After the Danakil, we were joined in Ethiopia by a few more people (those who didn't want to camp out).  We explored Addis Ababa - the best bit for me being an impromptu evening out for some of us when a group member found information on a very hip bar with live music (Ethio-jazz followed by traditional music - drums and masengo) - and then moved on to Dire Dawa, where the highlight was the old train station, completed at the start of the last century for a train running between Ethiopia and Djibouti, and now partly abandoned but with some working to refurbish old wooden train carriages using salvaged parts and equipment left lying around. 

Then we were off to Harar, a beautiful and atmospheric city I visited in 1997, but where I missed out on one activity, something I've regretted ever since.  That is the nightly feeding of the hyenas.  Started more than fifty years ago I think, first by one family and now I believe a second family do the same, just at the edge of the city, feeding raw meat (the meat that was not sold during the day) to a fairly large number of hyenas.  Tourists can watch or participate, and OF COURSE I participated, firstly holding a stick where the man in the photo here put meat on the end of my stick for a hyena to take, and then also holding the stick in my mouth - so you get a really close view of a hyena!

In the same city is a place where you can feed black kites - which of course I also had to do.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

time out in Hanoi

Image
I've been in Hanoi nearly three weeks, trying to see the sights but also trying to get some 'down time' - what would be days at home just pottering about if I had a home.  Not always easy, as for example this morning I'd planned to do just that, but then before I'd finished my breakfast I got into conversation with a couple of other guests staying at my hostel, and suddenly it was 12:45 and time to go out and buy a bread roll for my lunch.  So right now I'm hiding behind the curtain that screens my bed from others in my dorm; I'd rather like a cup of tea, but that would involve locking my laptop away in the locker, going down four flights of stairs to the kitchen, and risking getting into another conversation.  Not that I'm complaining, as meeting other travellers can be as interesting as seeing the sights, but sometimes you do have to work at managing your time and personal space in this type of life. You also have to work at being 'present' in ...
Read more

central Vietnam

Image
I had heard how very touristy Hoi An is, so wasn't sure what I'd think of the place.  & it's true that there were thousands of tourists there, and the vast majority of the buildings in the UNESCO-listed old town are restaurants/bars/cafes/tourist shops - but it is still beautiful.  I happily wandered its streets for days, although helped I suppose by my staying in a hostel-homestay in what I can only describe as a "middle class suburb".  A twenty-minute walk out of town, it was so clean and quiet, probably one motorbike going past every ten minutes on otherwise empty roads. The town is crowded full of old houses, temples, community centres and museums, and there are also a few venues which put on cultural performances.  But walking the other way out of my hostel I could avoid all of the touristy sights and walk beside rice paddies and a nearly-deserted beach - so a nice mixture.  & nearby are towns with yet more temples (most of them seeming to contain a...
Read more

more cats

My time at the cat sanctuary passed quite quickly, particularly since the owner returned as she drove here from the UK with piles of provisions (mostly cat toys and blankets…), all of which has had to be unpacked, washed, sorted through, etc.   I managed to get talked into coming back here for nine days in August, when I should have been seeing as-yet-unvisited bits of Turkey, but I suppose it will save me a little cash again. I think the biggest down-side of being there was the inability to get any exercise.  Whilst I wasn’t doing anything measurable for much of the day (when not cleaning litter trays, watering the plants, etc), I had to either lock the little kitten and one of the disabled cats in a bedroom, or allow them to enjoy the garden but watch the kitten constantly, as it was small enough to escape between the gate bars into the big outdoors where there were feral dogs (as well as the sheep, goats, donkeys and bulls that wandered the area).  After seven weeks of...
Read more