Creature Feature

This blog entry is dedicated to my sister Pat --- the quintessential animal lover, and to our friend, Tye, the veterinarian. 


Other than the giraffes, which really are spectacular here, we have not seen much "typical African wildlife."  No elephants, no lions --- not even a snake!  Well, I did see one yellow snake after he was dead.  No thanks!  Now camels, burros, goats and sheep (which look like goats) can be seen anytime up on the road or in the village, and if you travel to the river in the capital, you can see hippos if you are lucky, but for true daily interaction, we have the following:

Cute Lizards!

Lizard Climbing on Our Window Screen

I love the lizards!  They are cute and FAST and everywhere outside, and sometimes they get caught inside the classroom - entering through the cracks or the old swamp coolers!  They like to scamper all over the outer walls of our house, inside the screened porch.  The ones outside that are into the gardens have changed to beautiful colors to match the foliage.

Beautiful Colors

The "blue" in the lizard above is really a bright purple, just matching some popular ground cover around the area!

Still My Favorite - The Chameleon!

The chameleon is not as prolific as the other lizards, but he is magnificent!  He "saunters," rather than "scampering" like the others, and can get mad if bothered.  In the picture above, he is "on alert," since someone poked him with a stick (not me!).

Walking Stick

These are the brown version of the green ones we see often in the northwest.  (Sorry, Tye, if I am misrepresenting any of these biological specimens!) 


I am pausing to enter a "disclaimer," to let you know that the following information contains pictures of "creepy crawlies" and may be disturbing - as they are to me when we find them in our house!

Cockroaches 

I reduced their size, but still . . . These things are as big as they look and are FAST!  But I am getting faster!!!  It is impossible to keep them out of the house!  

Scorpion

This was one of our first "welcome to Africa" greeters!  He had just come inside --- but not for long!  I have only seen one, however, one of the med students who was here in the fall, was collecting them to take home as specimens. I hope he got them all!!!  Hmm . . . what is the airport security ruling on scorpions . . . ???


And LAST, but unfortunately NOT least, we have the "mijikunama," which translated means "Husband of the Scorpion!" (Good luck!  They deserve each other!)  In English, that would be "World's Largest, Most Freaky Spider" (WLMFS)!  Before I reveal him, here was my first encounter a few weeks ago:


I was sitting in my chair reading when I heard this scratching noise.  When I looked up, there was  WLMFS (see above) strutting with great attitude across my lampshade, like he owned the place.  After trying to put him down with insect repellent (yes, I know he is an arachnid), I was starting to think he did own the place!  I finally trapped him under a cookie jar . . . and put a candle on top for weight.  I was prepared to keep watch all night to make sure he did not escape, when a friend stopped by and set him free!  Question:  Did WLMFS come alone or was he on a "friends and family come free pass?"  Answer:  The latter!  We have seen 4 since then!  They, too, are fast!  What is it with speed and African critters???  Enjoy:

Mijikunama in the Sink!

Mijikunama Captured!

People here say the Mijikunama will not hurt you; he is just "playfully aggressive."  So is an alligator!  Go play with someone else, I say!!!


And the prize for most versatile, most prolific critter here goes to . . . (drum roll. . .) . . . the ever-present, ever-living  EARWIG!!!  I have no pictures, sorry.  African earwigs appear to look the same as northwestern earwigs!  But the amazing thing to me is that they can successfully live flattened, between the pages of books, stacked at the bottom of boxes, with several other book boxes on top of them!!!  When you open the boxes and get to the bottom of the books, and shake the pages, they fall out by the dozens, and crawl away!  How do they do it?  Unfortunately for them, they alone are NOT fast.  I have reduced their population significantly!


So I am thinking that the next time I see some travel brochure that promises "adventures for the retirees," I shall look to see if they are traveling to Niger!