Hyena Men

A while ago there were some images of a man leading a hyena on a chain popping up on blogs, that was shot from the back of a cab in Lagos with a cellphone camera. There was another blog shot of a few men with hyenas and baboons, also from Lagos. That inspired South African photographer Pieter Hugo go to Lagos and track them down. It turned out to be a group of minstrels travelling Nigeria with some hyenas and monkeys. Hugo accompanied them for a while. The result was an incredible photo essay. And some great travel tales:

"I agreed to travel with the animal wranglers to Kanu in the northern part of the country. One of them set out to negotiate a fare with a taxi driver; everyone else, including myself and the hyenas, monkeys and rock pythons, hid in the bushes. When their companion signalled that he had agreed on a fare, the motley troupe of humans and animals leapt out from behind the bushes and jumped into the vehicle. The taxi driver was completely horrified. I sat upfront with a monkey and the driver. He drove like an absolute maniac. At one stage the monkey was terrified by his driving. It grabbed hold of my leg and stared into my eyes. I could see its fear."