Village Wildlife

Tiny colourful bird

There is a lot of wonderful wildlife unique to Africa, and of course going on safari to see lions and elephants and hippos is exciting, but there is plenty of wildlife right here in my own village as well. There are lots of bugs – not nearly as exciting as hippos but I’ve gotten used to it. The other day I put on a shoe without checking it first (I think the first time I have made this mistake since arriving in Tanzania) and sure enough there was a critter in it.... looked like a grasshopper. This surprisingly didn’t make me scream like a little girl. Instead I just made sure to shake out the other shoe before putting it on (if you’re wondering, it was empty). There are also apparently snakes. I have not seen any snakes yet and I hope that I remain lucky and don’t see any in the rest of my time here, because that WILL make me scream like a little girl. I have a rule – I do not like any animals with more than 4 or less than 2 legs, and I especially dislike the less than 2 category. There are also lots of birds – ranging from huge and ugly like the storks to tiny and colourful like birds I don’t know the names of. 

So the other day I was reading when I saw a shadow through my curtains. It looked like an arm and it kind of startled me. I went over and opened the curtains and guess what? It WAS an arm! An arm of an awesome monkey! He was just sitting on my window sill. I startled him and he jumped down and I wanted to go grab my camera before he took off so I looked at him and with my eyes I asked him politely “Would you mind staying right there just so I can get my camera? Please?” He looked back at me and although I saw maybe a moment of consideration flash over his face, he unfortunately decided against it and took off, but not before shooting me one last “I’m not into paparazzi” glance over his shoulder.  So although I didn’t snap a photo of him, I have included a photo of another monkey who looks a lot like Maxwell (by the way.... I named him Maxwell).

Blue balled vervet monkey (actually called this)

I always found it funny how often visitors to Canada marvel at the squirrels as they are just regarded as commonplace pests to most who have been around them for any length of time. I guess that might be kind of the same feeling towards the monkeys here..... but I don’t understand how. I mean they’re monkeys! Who doesn’t love monkeys and all their crazy monkey business???? 

Anyway there is a reason that I was especially pleased to make the acquaintance of good old Max. Several months ago I was told that there were monkeys living in the village so I went on a bit of a hike to go meet them. The village is not very large, so I did not have to hike very far, but much to my disappointment I didn’t spot even one monkey – even though I was told that there was a whole family living in a small wooded area just behind my house. I told one of my neighbours about my little hike and about my disappointment and he looked at me straight faced and told me “Oh, well you didn’t see any monkeys because we killed them.” I laughed, because he must be joking, right? But he didn’t laugh with me, he just gave me a bit of a confused look. “Wait.... you’re serious?????” I asked. And sadly he was. The monkeys are seen by many as pests as they get into people’s gardens and generally cause all sorts of monkey mischief.... so the solution is to off them. I don’t think monkeys are pests. I think they’re awesome and silly. So I’m very happy about Max and I hope that he doesn’t suffer a similar fate as the village monkeys before him.....

I have also been dealing with other wildlife. Remember the lizard in my house? Well I guess he is a she because she had babies. They’re cute and all, but I really just don’t want lizards in my house. It seems that the young ones aren’t yet aware that there is a widely followed lizard rule that if they decide to enter someone’s home, they must stay on the walls and ceiling. No wandering around all over the place.... floors and ceiling. That’s it. 

I was on my computer the other night and I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye, I looked up and there was a little lizard sitting on top of my folded laundry on the desk. That’s right, not on the ceiling and not on the wall, but on my laundry. I’m not into the rule breaking so I had to do something about it. Turns out baby lizards don’t move as quickly as the adults and I managed to catch him inside my glasses case and set him free outside. I really felt as though I had done something good that day. Not only did I catch a lizard, which is tricky in itself, but I also gave the little guy a life of freedom in the great outdoors. Mostly I was just happy to know I wouldn’t have any surprises the next time I put on a shirt. 

Now I don’t know that much about lizards, but I can share with you something that I have learned (without the aid of Google): It turns out that when a lizard has a baby she doesn’t have just one. The very next day I spotted 2 other baby lizards. I give up, they can live with me. 

Miss you all,

V

A bunch of big birds in a tree

Big ugly stork - at least as tall as my waist