On Lock-down inside Kruger National Park – Day 5
Honey, A Hyena ate your flip flop!
Day 5 of our lock-down started with a bit of a conundrum. I was up early with the boys this morning. Even after two weeks at home, they still wake up around 5 as if they have to go to school! While I was making them some breakfast, Alex went outside. He was inside within a split-second! “Mama, papa’s skoen is stukkend!” (Mama, papas shoe is broken!) He said with a mortified look on his face. I followed him outside and there it was right next to the front door: Steven’s flip flop – chewed up and with only a part of the second one remaining…
What on earth…? My immediate thought was a hyena came through our side fence that is still down. So I did a bit of CSI trying to find out what happened. I could not see a single track at the fence on the side of the house. Nor could I see much in the immediate surroundings of the crime scene. I did find an interesting track that wasn’t hyena. Could a honey badger have made off with half of Steven’s flip flop? I decided to wait until Steven was up to see if he could piece together the events of the evening.
When he walked into the kitchen, the first thing he said was: “Love, guess what happened last night….” I will leave it to him to tell you the rest of the story!
“So last night after Lin and the boys went to bed I was still up and waited for the president’s speech about the current situation in our beautiful country.
After a while, I went outside and noticed immediately my one flip flop is gone and the remaining one was chewed up and badly wounded.
“What the…. Cheeky bugger!” And as I said that I see a young hyena bolt for the gate with my flip flop in his mouth. He was in such a hurry to get away with his prize that he crashed into the gate before crawling under it to get out. I quickly grabbed my spotlight and went after him.
Yes, I broke lockdown to try and get my flip flop back from a hyena! As I followed the young hyena, still with the flip flop in his mouth, he just kept ahead of me and refused to drop my flip flop so after a few words with him I let him go and stood there a few hundred metres from the house. I switched off my spotlight and marvelled at the stars while listening to the hyena now actually chewing on my flip flop.
“Fine, you can have your chew toy!” I yelled at him! More chewing sounds came from the Hyena. I walked back home and had a chuckle about the cheeky hyena. Then I decided to bring all the garden shoes inside and set up the trap cam outside to monitor the mortally wounded remaining flip flop. Just in case the hyena wanted to come back and finish it off. But the footage revealed nothing.
A patrol of our fence revealed at least one point where the outside fence has been compromised by the warthog and one potential entry point. I set up both our Trail Camera’s to see if any culprits decide to break the perimeter because they want to be locked in lock-down with us!
Cheers everyone! Stay safe! Steve”
We have had some other funny experiences with hyenas! Have a look at the links below:
The day it snowed in the staff village
Dear Hyenas of Wolhuter. We need to talk!
Trailcam Tragedy and Tickbite Fever
Hi Linda,
Baie dankie dat jy jou ervarings in hierdie moeilike tyd met ons deel, ons geniet dit geweldig! Jy is op hierdie stadium ons enigste bron van inligting oor ons geliefde Kruger Park. Geniet die stilte, kyk mooi na julself en hou ons op hoogte van gebeure daar asseblief! Mag dit baie goed gaan met julle!
?? you’ve described so well what Linda’s stories mean to us. Best wishes to you all.
I’m loving your writings Linda, it gives me and my husband much joy and a wonderful escape during these dire times. Keep safe.
Thank you Linda, Steve and the boys. Just love your regular stories about life in our beloved Kruger, empty of people but full of animals exploring the new normal. Best wishes to you all.
Ek moes glimlag. Dis ook net julle wat dadelik ‘hiena’ sal dink as ń skoen gekou is. Dis eintlik fassinerend, hierdie wêreld van julle, Linda.
Thanks Linda and Steve for bedtime story each night.
Too funny, maybe some stomach cramps for the hyena.
I am so enjoying this thread – and rather envying you in that environment. Are you not allowed to go for drives in the park as long as you stay in your vehicle? You will still be isolated as a family and unlikely to bump into anyone with whom you might cross-infect!
I am sharing the link to your stories on my own timeline for my friends to get a look at this fascinating and different isolation.
Hi Erik! No unfortunately the lock-down rules apply to us all. They would have to make an exception for people in game reserves and it doesnt look like they will do that because the other people will complain.
Thanks for sharing our diary! Stay safe that side! ??
So funny, but sorry about your flip flops. I wonder why hyenas have such a fascination with flip flops? The smell perhaps? I watch Wild Earth live safari’s from Djuma in Sabi Sands and they are always having hyenas chewing up their flip flops and other things that are left outside in camp.
Thanks for your posts, I really enjoy them. x
Fantastic Post!
I so enjoyed this tale this morning :0)
Cant wait to see tomorrows diary!
Flippin’ funny! Thanks for the laugh and another great story.
Pleasure, Sal!!!??
Hi Linda,
This is by my favorite one yet! Those cheeky hyenas, always into something. From stealing the trail cams to now eating the flip flops. I’ll never forget Steven coming back into camp our first morning on the Trail last July thinking we had gotten some spectacular footage of the leopard we saw the previous night muttering about the hyenas stealing his trail cam and how the morning walk would be an impromptu tracking mission to go find the missing camera. Thanks so much for sharing these with us all, they are really helping to make confinement a bit more tolerable.
Cheers,
Joe
Hi Joe!
Hahaha we almost lost another Trailcam to an inquisitive hyena over the weekend. Probable the flip flop eating one. Naughty buggers!
This is the real world, the rest is fake
Thanks for sharing with us, the Kruger will forever be one of the best destinations in the world