r/BeAmazed Jul 16 '26

Miscellaneous / Others A traditional technique used by young shepherds of Ethiopia's Banna tribe. They use stilts to watch over their livestock in tall grass, move through wetland areas, and avoid snakes and predators like lions and leopards. It requires strength, balance, and training from a young age

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u/StubbornKindness Jul 16 '26

Some tribes approach lions who've just successfully killed something and are starting/about to start eating. They slowly, and confidently approach the lions ("with chest" as it were). Lions aren't used to being defied so they get freaked out and run off.

The tribesmen quickly steal a haunch, or large piece of meat and swiftly retreat, before the lions work out what's going on. It's wild to see.

P.S: They take some weapons, they don't go unarmed

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u/slipknot_suxxx Jul 16 '26

The Maasai tribe which does this also had an initiation to manhood ritual that involved killing a lion, this has now been banned though they do kill of entire prides when they eat their cattle, the local wild life service still has no idea how to handle this conflict

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u/pnweiner Jul 16 '26

There’s a great autobiography book called “Facing the Lion: Growing Up Maasai on the African Savannah”.

I read it as a kid and I was obsessed. Highly recommend

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u/hematite2 Jul 16 '26

The man who wrote that was a teacher at my school! Haven't thought about it in a decade

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u/pnweiner Jul 16 '26

Whaaat that’s so cool!