Uncle Albino was a specially gifted story teller and we can see him surrounded by his nephews and nieces, telling stories about the jungle and wild animals.
Hyenas, being a very noisy and enigmatic animal would rate very high in his stories. We all grew up hearing the native Angolans -Ganguelas in particular- telling us that hyenas were dead people's souls that had sinned and therefore were not allowed to go to heaven.
They believed that if you were caught a sleep by a soul "incarnated" in a hyena your body would be stolen and your soul would be left to the hyena and uncle Albino never told us otherwise.
Uncle Albino never ceased to enchant his nephews and nieces with the story of his encounter with an hyena . He loved the story and, forty five years later he still captivated his grand nephews imagination, in the same way it delighted their uncles and aunts.
It goes like that: He was a lumberjack in Lubango and had to venture into the jungle to select the best trees. Wild animals were a constant danger and the hyenas occupied a special place in the Angolans minds.
One evening walking in the jungle, back from work, he came face to face with an hyena. He did not have a gun and therefore he saw his life ending at the strong jaws of this scavenger. He tried to run but the hyena follow him laughing at his efforts.
Exhausted from running he was just about to give up when he had a brilliant idea. He grabbed a long branch of a bissapa, wild bush, stuck his hat on top of it and fronted the hyena standing looking brave -but shaking inside- behind the bissapa.
The hyena stopped in front of uncle Albino, measured itself against the bissapa with the hat on top and run away with the tail between the legs, scared to dead of such a tall man.
We were not sure if that really happened but when we were kids we always grabbed the hat when he heard the hyenas.
Luengue river in the Southeast of Angola
Leopard
Hippos Southeast of Angola