I meant spotted. I thought spotted but for some reason I typed out striped. Striped are supposed to be smaller, but I never actually saw one of those.
*shrugs*
One of the hyenas got lose on our camp and was running around all over the place. There is a town close to Dire Dawa called Harar that the hyenas are so used to people (I wouldn't say tame) that you can hand feed them. Lots of our guys on facebook have pictures with them feeding the hyenas bacon like Lady/Tramp with their spaghetti.
The last trip out there was before I arrived though, so I never got to go.
I was doing one of the well drilling missions when I first got there and went to take a leak (the well drilling missions are in the middle of nowhere in Somaliland). I heard the cackling laugh they have and it sounded pretty close, grabbed my flashlight and was shining it all around and saw a huge pair of glowing eyes directly in front of me. Needless to say I cut the leakage off pretty short and backed away slowly toward the camp. It actually gets cold in Dire Dawa during winter (compared to Djibouti where it is always hot) and I threw a couple of pallets on the fire to keep the flames up.
Hyena give me the creeps. The very first one I saw looked like a bear with a kid in its mouth. In actuality it was just a big sumabitch with a dog in its jaws. When I saw they are taller than my waist I really mean that first one's head was probably just under my rib cage.
