Wildlife...

We are looking forward to doing a safari sometime this year, but until then, here is a bit of the wildlife we see. Part of living in a rural area is that there are plenty of creatures to keep us company! Here are some of our friends:

Mbwa (dog) – Tito apparently bought him with a couple others many years ago, but he is the only one left and is more like a stray that lives at our house … we give him leftover food occasionally and he sometimes growls at night to protect us from whatever is out there, but mostly he lies around all day. We just called him “Mbwa” for a while until we found out he has a couple other names: “Rhino” and “Marty,” depending who you ask.

Ng’ombe (cow) – We see small herds of like a dozen or so in town being guided down the streets by their herder to graze, etc. However, some people, including Tito, keep a few in stables and feed them as shown in the picture. On our third day in Ribe, one of the guys who lives and works on Tito's shamba (farm), Masudi, came to our house and motioned something about the cows. We had the impression we would milk them, and excitedly put on boots and headed down the hill with him. When we got there, he motioned to some gloves, which Chris put on while Masudi explained in Swahili that was completely lost on us. Then he pointed to a large serrated blade, and made a cutting motion. We looked at each other in pure horror and thought that we were about to help kill a cow. After a few moments of whispering furiously to each other about what to do, Chris began taking the gloves off asking him to demonstrate. Masudi picked up an armload of nearby brush clippings, fed it to the cows, and urged us to do the same. We think it turns out that he had explained that the equipment was for cutting down ndizi (bananas), not killing the cows. Phew, one animal slaughter avoided.

(a relieved Chris with Masudi)

Nguruwe (pig) - One of the duka (shop) owners also has pigs including this mama and her babies that we've been able to peek in on since they were less than a week old!

Mbuzi (goat) – They are around town grazing, often tied to tree stumps, and can be quite loud - sometimes we think it is a child crying for help! There are usually 4-5 near the school each morning.

Kuku na kifaranga (hen & chicks) – These also roam around town and the school, and we enjoy seeing the little baby chicks run around except when they dart across in front of me and I have to watch my step!

Kijusi (lizard) – In this quiet rural life, one of our typical evening activities was sitting after dinner and watching the geckos. At first we were a little creeped out that so many lived in our house, but when we realized that they ate mosquitoes they became our best friends. Some of the regulars include Tom, Beck, and Charlie, whose names are derived from the founding missionaries of Ribe, as well as one that blends in with the door that we call (GI) Joe, a small guy called Tiny Tim, and the even smaller Junior. Yes, we do realize they are very unlikely to be the same geckos from night to night, but they have became fun “pets” anyway. We don’t see them as much anymore because geckos don’t like noise according to Tito.

Kinyonga (chameleon) – Chris found a small chameleon the other day that we tried to keep for a bit. We named it Lucky, because that is a name here (Lesley has a student named Lucky), and also because Chris saved it from certain death. He’ll have to write about it. Hoewever, he wasn't so lucky when Tito's family visited and, as his wife said, "[their daughters] probably gave it a heart attack!" ...as they tried to see if it would turn red on the floor of the porch (it did not turn red - see the picture). So, while they were distracted by something else, we let Lucky go into some bushes.

Dudu (bugs) – there are lots and lots of them … ants, millipedes (this one was on the wall of our kitchen), flies, beetles, bees, wasps, and of course, mosquitoes. DEET is a wonderful thing here – the lesser of evils!