Man who visited Tanzanian tribe details 'crazy' feud with local hyenas after baby was stolen

A British man managed to gain access to a Tanzanian tribe and spent the day hunting with them.

Max Gillespie, from Huddersfield, UK, moved to Madagascar for a year at the age of 16. Now 24, Max is based in Egypt and has visited countless countries over the last few years – one being Tanzania.

He visited the East African country earlier this year with a friend and spent a month exploring it, something Max said he likes to do when visiting a new place.

"When I travel, I like to stay in a place a little bit longer," he told UNILAD. "I try to stay at least a few months because, firstly, it's cheaper because you don't have to pay for loads of flights, and secondly, you get to see the place a little bit more."

Max spent time with a hunter-gatherer tribe earlier this year (Supplied)

While he was there, Max and his friend were able to spend some time with the Hadzabe tribe, an indigenous hunter-gatherer group living near Lake Eyasi and the Yaeda Valley in northern Tanzania.

Max and his pal were in Zanzibar and it was while they were there that they got put in touch with a local guide who could help them find the Hadzabe tribe.

On their rented motorbike, they followed the guide 'an hour or two' out of the village where they had met him.

"From what I know, [the guide] had lived with them for around two years," Max said. "He spent a lot of time with them and learned their language."

The Hadzabe tribe doesn't speak English – or any words, in fact. Instead, they communicate through Hadzane, which is an endangered click language. It's thought that fewer than 1,000 people are fluent in it.

During his time with the tribe, Max was told a 'crazy' story about a feud with nearby hyenas.

A photo of one of the huts that the tribe members live in (Supplied)

"Where they live is near Ngorogoro National Park, and they get animals that come from the parks coming over as there are no fences," Max explained. "One crazy thing is that there's conflict between the tribe people and hyenas."

He went on to divulge: "So, two years ago (I'm not sure if it was this tribe or another tribe nearby), a hyena stole a baby. It wasn't at night or even at dusk, it was pretty much daylight when it happened.

"Apparently the baby was on the porch of someone's house and one came and took it."

The tribespeople reportedly chased the hyena afterward but tragically were unable to save the child.

In terms of what the tribe's day-to-day life is like, Max explained that their days largely revolve around hunting.

"They wake up, they plan everything by the fire, then they go out hunting. Basically, you don't come back until you have enough food, so you just hunt until there's enough food then come back," he said.

"They go in smaller hunting groups. Let's say there's 10 people; they would split off into two groups of five."

"They do trade with other tribes for the arrowheads," Max went on to reveal. "With, like, blacksmiths, one back leg of a large animal can be traded for five arrowheads. They trade tobacco and weed as well."

On their hunts, one thing Max witnessed them kill was monkeys. Once cooked, he went on to taste this for himself and explained to UNILAD what the unusual delicacy tasted like...

"It tasted not that bad," Max admitted. "If was like if you imagine mixing chicken and beef together. With a bit of BBQ sauce, it would be incredible."

I'm still not convinced, personally.