Relationships and interactions among predators are multifaceted and intricate and they affect the fitness and survival of individuals. We followed and watched nine habituated honey badgers, Mellivora capensis , during > 5800 h over a 42-month period to investigate their direct interactions with sympatric carnivorous mammals and birds in the southern Kalahari, South Africa. We recorded foraging associations between honey badgers and seven other species (two mammals, five birds), most commonly facultative commensalist or ‘producer–scrounger’ interactions between honey badgers and pale chanting goshawks, Melierax canorus , and black-backed jackals, Canis [= Lupulella] mesomelas . The goshawks and jackals benefited from increased hunting opportunities and intake rate. In addition, goshawks showed increased strike success and an expanded prey base when hunting with honey badgers compared to hunting alone in similar habitat in the Little Karoo. Overall honey badgers did not show any significant differences in digging success, intake rate, or predator vigilance when foraging in association compared to foraging alone. The only exception relates to the jackal–badger association, which resulted in a significant decrease (5% of their prey overall) in the amount of prey caught above ground by honey badgers. This form of kleptoparasitism by jackals may have costs for honey badgers in the cold-dry season, when prey availability is low and the foraging association is most common. Based on our field observations and previously published dietary analyses, we recorded or inferred antagonistic interactions between honey badgers and 12 other carnivore species. The outcomes of interspecific aggression (i.e. interference competition) could be predicted from relative body size and were largely asymmetrical. Intraguild predation was common and honey badgers preyed or attempted to prey on all mammalian carnivores smaller than themselves, as well as the young of medium-sized carnivores. Lions, Panthera leo , leopards, Panthera pardus , and probably spotted hyenas, Crocuta crocuta , preyed on honey badger adults and cubs, and cubs were killed by black-backed jackals. The web of interactions observed to date in the taxocenosis of Kalahari carnivores is complex and we encourage further investigations to help better understand how interactions between carnivores shape the whole community structure, both in pristine and altered ecosystems.