During our morning drive yesterday (Wednesday), we came upon a single black spotted hyena resting in the shade. It was not far past the location of a dead hippo, which, during the course of our visit at Shinde Footsteps, had evolved from dead corpse in the water, to a rotting carcass next to the water, to the focus of vultures, other birds, and hyenas (to name a few), and now, a rack of ribs and a skull.

The driver stopped the truck. As we watched, the hyena got up from his shady spot and walked over to the front left side of the vehicle. There he positioned himself next to a gray thing that we quickly realized was the hide of the dead hippo and clearly his prized possession. With a side-eye glance our way, the hyena sunk his teeth into the hide and proceeded to drag it back in front of our truck and to the same shady spot he had left a moment before.

Positioning his hide in the shade and lying down right next to it, he looked at us again as if to say “this is mine, you can’t have it!” He was clearly not comfortable having us between him and the hide.

One of many interesting encounters on this trip so far. Hoping for a few more in the last few days of the trip.

I hope you enjoyed this story; keep checking back for more, and, of course, for more photos!