Sun, Aug. 18: Critters

Emma: I've seen at least 8 monkeys today, and who knows how many birds. It's sort of hard for me to believe that the monkeys are so comfortable near the humans here at Bunda College. At one point we saw a mother monkey with her baby clinging to her belly. I'm so amazed at how long and thin monkeys' tails are. Initially, we went out to see the crocodiles in the tank Provi Maliro pointed out to us as we drove back from church, but they weren't there, and we took a scenic route back to our house, which ended up leading to another walk in which we were equipped with binoculars, a bird book, and of course the camera. Afterwards, when Joel and I went to get a roll of biscuits (cookies) in the snack shop, we saw a rat eight or ten inches long including the tail.

Also, Dad and I have seen some very quick little lizards that have the most astonishing blue tail you could imagine. We have seen many other lizards and such here in Africa, and are very likely to see lots more.

Joel: On Friday, I saw a gecko in math class! When the teacher left the room, I caught it. I played with it a little, and Lauren let it scamper around on her math notebook. Geckos in math are awesome, and not to be found in State College or Greenville.

Andrea: The most ever-present critters in our house are the tiny black ants that swarm around the kitchen within minutes of a crumb hitting the floor or the top of the mini fridge. Around 7 p.m. they come out for Ant Happy Hour, streaming across the window sill above the sink and surrounding little drops of water to drink, but they soon disappear.  We usually don't see many at a time unless we've inadvertently fed them.

(Pictures to be posted soon)