Water monitors, Puff adders and a bit of work
THE WATER MONITOR
A hike down to the W. Lunga river two weeks ago proved to be very interesting after I convinced a friend to float down the river to cool off. While floating we spotted a 2 meter water monitor between some rocks on the shore. So we quickly pulled ourselves out to take a closer look. (Any wildlife we see is interesting because the lack thereof) I thought I would do my best steve irwin impression and sneak up behind it to grab its tail. So I grabbed its tail while it furiously tried to get away- fighting with all the strength I could find. It was then that I realized the lizard must have some nice steaks on it the way it was fighting me. I called for a knife and attempted to kill it for dinner. All I was able to come away with was about 18 in. of its tail. Lets call it hunting and releasing (slightly shorter).
PUFF ADDER
Late one night I was awoken by a rat eating away at a cardboard box under my bed. So according to my zero tolerance policy for rodents inside the house I groggily got up to see what I could do to find it. After a few minutes of searching it was whacked and killed by a crumpled bat of Newsweeks. I wandered outside to toss the rat over my bathing shelter wall and upon re-entering the house I heard a distinct hissing noise. Faced with either scaling my 8 foot shower wall in my underwear or jumping over the unidentified hissing object, I chose the later. I immediatedly grabbed my grass slasher and headlamp to see what I was up against. It turned out to be an angry 2 ft puff adder. With a few quick whacks I thought I had ended its life and went peacefully back to bed with the thought of preventing a snake from coming in the house. In the morning I went out to dispose of the carcasse, but much to my surprise the snake was gone. I started to frantic a bit as I tore my house apart- armed with a slasher in one hand and a headlamp in the other. After 15 minutes I found an even angrier puff adder, nearly chopped in half on the opposite side of my house. This time I made sure the job was finished.
WORK
Clinic update- I finally was able to get cement, iron sheets and the other supplies on a truck from Mwinilunga. There is a huge cement shortage currently in the country and I paid the equivalent of $25 for one 50kg sack, nearly double the price a year ago. Tough to get much development done when nobody can afford to build with anything but mud. The foundation has been dug and will be poured this week. Convincing the community that the project is a "community project"and therefore they will be providing all of the labor is a concept that is slowly being grasped. Thanks again for everybody's help on making this project a success!
Fish farming-I finally have some farmers digging a pond in the nearby village of Chibwika. In my village I tried the "If you build it, they will come theory" on a dam I have been working on for over a week now. It left me with a total of 9 blisters and a half finished dam. The only work that came was a group of 5 kids about 14 years old. But, better than nothing.
A hike down to the W. Lunga river two weeks ago proved to be very interesting after I convinced a friend to float down the river to cool off. While floating we spotted a 2 meter water monitor between some rocks on the shore. So we quickly pulled ourselves out to take a closer look. (Any wildlife we see is interesting because the lack thereof) I thought I would do my best steve irwin impression and sneak up behind it to grab its tail. So I grabbed its tail while it furiously tried to get away- fighting with all the strength I could find. It was then that I realized the lizard must have some nice steaks on it the way it was fighting me. I called for a knife and attempted to kill it for dinner. All I was able to come away with was about 18 in. of its tail. Lets call it hunting and releasing (slightly shorter).
PUFF ADDER
Late one night I was awoken by a rat eating away at a cardboard box under my bed. So according to my zero tolerance policy for rodents inside the house I groggily got up to see what I could do to find it. After a few minutes of searching it was whacked and killed by a crumpled bat of Newsweeks. I wandered outside to toss the rat over my bathing shelter wall and upon re-entering the house I heard a distinct hissing noise. Faced with either scaling my 8 foot shower wall in my underwear or jumping over the unidentified hissing object, I chose the later. I immediatedly grabbed my grass slasher and headlamp to see what I was up against. It turned out to be an angry 2 ft puff adder. With a few quick whacks I thought I had ended its life and went peacefully back to bed with the thought of preventing a snake from coming in the house. In the morning I went out to dispose of the carcasse, but much to my surprise the snake was gone. I started to frantic a bit as I tore my house apart- armed with a slasher in one hand and a headlamp in the other. After 15 minutes I found an even angrier puff adder, nearly chopped in half on the opposite side of my house. This time I made sure the job was finished.
WORK
Clinic update- I finally was able to get cement, iron sheets and the other supplies on a truck from Mwinilunga. There is a huge cement shortage currently in the country and I paid the equivalent of $25 for one 50kg sack, nearly double the price a year ago. Tough to get much development done when nobody can afford to build with anything but mud. The foundation has been dug and will be poured this week. Convincing the community that the project is a "community project"and therefore they will be providing all of the labor is a concept that is slowly being grasped. Thanks again for everybody's help on making this project a success!
Fish farming-I finally have some farmers digging a pond in the nearby village of Chibwika. In my village I tried the "If you build it, they will come theory" on a dam I have been working on for over a week now. It left me with a total of 9 blisters and a half finished dam. The only work that came was a group of 5 kids about 14 years old. But, better than nothing.
posted by Kit at 2:49 AM
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