Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Game for a laugh
LAUGHING hyenas have long been portrayed as terrible, villainous beasts.
Those three gnashing horrors in Disney’s The Lion King were enough to cement their reputation for me, and they weren’t even real.
But wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan wants to understand the true nature of one of Africa’s most loathed and feared creatures.
Weighing up to 90 kilos, they have the strongest bite of any animal and can even kill lions. “Hyenas send a shiver down my spine,” he tells us.
The result is this highly stressful series finale, which sees Gordon heading into hyena heartland in Ethiopia and mainly hoping not to be attacked.
“How do I not get eaten?” he asks a local in capital city Addis Ababa, where a surprising number of urban hyenas lurk, ready to sneak up on their prey. Gordon is told: “Never show him your back, don’t run or it will be your last run, and never show him you have fear.”
Apparently hyenas are tolerated in the area because people believe they ward off the devil.
As dead of night falls, the show becomes more tense than an episode of Most Haunted as every crack of a branch or rustling of leaves has Gordon glancing around wide-eyed with fear.
Later on, Gordon travels to the remote Omo Valley to meet a cattle-herding tribe called the Bodi. They are less respectful – they destroy hyena dens to protect their livestock.
In an effort to help the Bodi ward off the predators, Gordon agrees to sleep outside overnight. A decision that most people would think was extremely stupid. But in a fascinating turn of events, Gordon gets an insight into hyena life and even starts to like them...