A cute bat lives in my chim, rats eat my stuff while I'm away, and a snake crawled over my foot in the river. It sounds like the start of the children's book "Alexandar's very bad horrible no good day" but in fact it's just my life here in Zambia.
This time of year the rains are driving out and in some cases into our homes the creatures big and small. The bat who lives in my chimbusu was only speculation from the regular and centered droppings but on a rainy Saturday I finally met the little fellow face to face. He was actually quite adorable and I felt a little bad shooing him out into the rain but alas I don't want to be pooped on while I'm pooping!
The rats and mice, well they are always around but they've taken refuge in my roof where the cat can't get them. So instead I hear them running around up there in my plastic lining all the time. Unfortunately while the cat is away the mice WILL play. And by play I mean eat through books, boxes, plastic bags, and poop all over my house! It makes me never want to leave my house for vacation again.
And the snake: this time of year a lot of their burrows have flooded from the rains and they are out and about for your viewing pleasure (not!). I had previously seen a few small, probably harmless ones and killed one with a stick but the ones out and about now are no joke. The other day I was at the river intently washing my clothes when I felt something on my toe. I looked down and a 4ft long black snake was resting its head on my presumably warm and comfy foot. Now I'm not overly scared of snakes, I think one could say I have a healthy appreciation of them but I won't hesitate to hold a pet snake and I was the kid who freaked mom out by bringing ones I had caught inside. However, here in Africa just about every variety of snake is darn near deadly and even if the venom doesn't kill you the resulting infection from a bite sure could. So needless to say when I saw a blackish grey head of the sleek and smooth variety resting on my foot I screamed and ran away. Admitidly this was a stupid move because motion and noise only irritate snakes. Luckily this guy wasn't an aggressive snake and didn't pursue me out of the water but he sure did lift his head and hiss. I looked around for a big stick to kill the snake with and I don't know how exactly it's possible since there are always bamboo poles laying about, but I couldn't find a single stick in the vicinity. I tried a different method and started yelling "insoka!" the bemba word for snake. Usually this results in 1-5 villagers popping out of places you didn't even know existed and coming to kill it, but I timed my washing just right and there wasn't a soul around. Just me and an angry snake chilling by my laundry. I was contemplating what to do and when I looked back up it was gone. I hadn't seen where it went, I hadn't heard it go, and there was no trace that it had ever been there. Feeling sufficiently creeped out and slightly questioning my sanity I cautiously returned to my washing. I kept thinking, "there is nothing here and it happened so fast, maybe I was just imagining it." I didn't understand where a 4ft snake could've disappeared to in an instant. After a while I forgot about the snake and was in the home strech of finishing washing my clothes. I was reveling in the accomplishment when that same darn snake poked his head around the other side of my bucket. I again screamed and stumbled back a bit but not so far this time, the snake didn't seem to care at all. It's almost as if he was just saying "what's up, you doing some laundry over here? Let me see what your washing in this bucket." And when my reply was just to carefully watch him he got bored and moved to the rocks on the side. I tried my "insoka" tactic again but nothing. This time I didn't take my eyes off the thing. Instead I studied it. It looked far longer now that it was stretched out instead of scrunched up preparaed to strike. At first I could only see black but now that the sun came out I noticed the grey/silver coloring and I immediately made note of the head shape since this is exactly the color of our deadly friend the black mamba who is called so not for the outter skin but the pitch black inside it's mouth. Luckily mambas have a coffin shaped head with a more pointed nose, this one clearly had a more circular/oval shaped head. Whew! It also probably explains why it didn't chase me as a mamba would've. I watched this thing slither around the rocks and then dip back into the water. The thing swam completely submerged under water silently and almost invisible! It wasn't until it neared a tree that it began to swim with its head up. It lifted it's body out of the water an impressive distance until it grabbed a branch and pulled the rest of its body into the tree. I watched it like a hawk while I washed my last clothing item and rinsed everything. It blended in with the branch so well I couldn't tell if it was still there or not but I definitely high tailed it out of there once everything was clean. Having a valid case of the creepy crawlies I flinched at every movement in the bush on the path home. After hanging my clothes I called my friend and he identified it as an olive web snake from my description, only mildlly venomous and not at all aggressive, but never the less reccomended investing in a machete or something to carry with me when I'm in the bush this time of year. The villagers laugh at me now when I take it to the river, but just wait what they will say the next time I meet one!
Welcome to rainy season in the bush my friends! And snakes, rats, and bats are only the beginning of the life that has emerged from the foliage.
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