The top African predators are constantly competing with each other. Even though there is some type of hierarchy within the desert, all predators have some type of competition going on. For one thing, when one animal is killed, all of the predators try to get it. Therefore, the strongest, fastest, and smartest usually gets to keep the prey. However, other adaptations like smell and hearing give certain animals advantages over one another. Some interference competition that goes on is when, let's say for example a hyena kills a springbok. Within a few minutes there will be more hyenas, a pack of jackals, and maybe leopard, all competing for the same prey that was originally caught by one, single, hyena. Some exploitation competition that occurs is simply just the order of the top predators. For example, the chances that a leopard will go up to a lion who has a kill and try to take it from him is very rare, mainly because that leopard knows that he will not be able to defend itself. Each animal knows its limits and will not surpass them.
             The predators that have the closest niche are the lions and the hyenas. I do not think that they are close enough for the law of competitive exclusion to occur because the lions are too big and fierce for the hyenas that they don't even bother to compete for prey in the same area. I think that all of the predators are specialists. Over the past thousands of years, animals have evolved to be fit for their ecosystem. Therefore each one of the animals in the African Deserts have special characteristics that are extremely beneficial to them and set them apart from the rest. These special adaptations are what allow these animals to be specialists and not just generalists.
             ...