Wildlife. Updated November 2026. 4 min read.
On their first night in a Mara tent, many of our guests hear a long, rising call somewhere out in the dark, oo-whoop, oo-whoop, and ask about it at breakfast. It was a spotted hyena, fisi in Kiswahili, calling to its clan. That whoop can carry for several kilometers, and once you know it, it becomes the sound of the Mara at night.
Spotted hyenas are the most numerous large predator in the Maasai Mara, outnumbering lions, and they hunt much of what they eat. The Mara and its conservancies are the best place in Kenya to see them, with clans whose dens local guides know well. Amboseli, Lake Nakuru, Tsavo, Samburu and Laikipia all have hyenas too. The best time is the first hour of light, when adults are coming back from the night's hunting and cubs are out at the den.
Three hyenas, one family
| Animal | How to recognize it | Where in Kenya | How to see it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spotted hyena | Big and heavy-shouldered, sloping back, spotted coat, round ears | Mara, Amboseli, Nakuru, Tsavo, Samburu, Laikipia | Dawn game drives; dens in the Mara |
| Striped hyena | Smaller, pale with dark stripes, pointed ears, a long mane it raises when alarmed | Drier country: Samburu, Laikipia, Tsavo and the north | Night drives in conservancies, with luck |
| Aardwolf | Fox-sized, striped, with a mane; eats termites, not meat | Laikipia, Tsavo and open plains | Night drives; a rare sighting |
How a clan works
A spotted hyena clan can hold dozens of animals, sometimes far more, sharing one territory and one communal den, though members spend much of their time in small groups. The clan is run by females. Adult females are larger than males and dominate them, and a cub takes its rank from its mother. Young males leave home as they mature and join another clan at the very bottom of the order, where they must defer to almost everyone. Much of what we know comes from long-term research in the Mara, where a university project has followed the same clans since the late 1980s.
Hunter, not just scavenger
The cartoon hyena lurks behind lions waiting for scraps. The real one chases wildebeest, zebra, gazelle and topi over long distances, often in groups, and studies in the Mara and Serengeti have found that spotted hyenas kill most of the food they eat. Classic field research in Tanzania's Ngorongoro Crater in the 1960s found that lions there often scavenged from hyenas rather than the other way around. Hyenas do scavenge too, and their jaws crack bones that other predators leave behind, which is why their droppings dry white with calcium. In the Mara, kills are contested all the time: a large group of hyenas can push a lioness off a carcass, and a male lion arriving changes the balance at once.
Behavior to watch for
- At the den, young cubs are almost black, and they are born with their eyes open and teeth already through. Siblings compete from the first days.
- Greeting ceremonies, where two hyenas stand head to tail and sniff each other, reaffirm who ranks where.
- The giggle is not laughter. It signals excitement or frustration, often when an animal is being chased off food.
- Pasting: hyenas smear scent from a gland onto grass stalks to mark the clan's territory.
- On hot days hyenas lie in puddles and muddy pools, sometimes with only a head showing.
- Bones and horns carried back to the den are a sign that cubs are being fed there.
Three things most people do not know
Hyenas are not dogs. They belong to the cat-like branch of the carnivores and are closer kin to mongooses and civets than to jackals or wild dogs. Second, female spotted hyenas have unusual anatomy that looks much like a male's, which led early naturalists to believe hyenas could change sex. They cannot. Third, the reputation is old. In Swahili folk tales Fisi is usually the greedy one, outwitted by Sungura the hare, long before an animated film made hyenas the villains. The science tells a different story: a smart, social, highly successful hunter.
Watching hyena dens well
- Inside the national reserve, stay on the road; in conservancies your guide follows their den rules on distance and time.
- Switch the engine off and keep voices low; cubs will come out once the vehicle is still.
- Never park across a den entrance or between adults and the den.
- No spotlights on dens unless you are on a licensed night drive with a trained guide.
- Do not ask your guide to follow running hyenas off-road where it is banned.
How to photograph hyenas
Dens give you the best pictures: cubs nosing at the vehicle tires, adults lying in the morning sun. Use a 300 to 400 mm lens from a low window and expose for the face, because a dark coat against bright grass fools the meter. Early light brings out the spots and the eyes. A hyena trotting toward you head-on at dawn, with dust or wet grass around it, is the shot most guests remember.
Conservation status
The IUCN lists the spotted hyena as Least Concern and the striped hyena as Near Threatened, at the time of writing. Both are declining outside protected areas. Hyenas die from snares, road traffic and poisoned carcasses left out for lions after livestock losses, which also kill vultures. In some communities hyenas carry an old association with bad luck, which does not help. Inside the Mara reserve and conservancies spotted hyenas are doing well, and their clans are among the best studied carnivores in the world.
Trips where you will see hyenas
Any Mara safari of three nights or more gives you good odds of a den, and the conservancies add night drives that sometimes turn up striped hyenas and aardwolves. Amboseli adds hyenas on the open lake bed. For the shy striped hyena, Laikipia and Samburu with a night drive are your best chance.
