Monday, June 27, 2011
Scorpions, Crocodiles, Chameleons, Monkeys
Written by
Chad
Oh my. We were minding our business watching a show on the laptop when into Tana's hand falls a harbinger of venomous death. For some reason her gut reaction was to squeeze it and as it wriggled away, she noted its squishiness. We then switched on the lights and searched for the squishy critter in question, only to find this dude:
The picture above is a crocodile I spotted from my bike. A tear came to my eye in memory of the great late Steve Irwin. If he were still with us, he might have said, "By crocky, she's a beaut!"
Behold this questionably alive chameleon I also came across while biking. Not sure if he was catching some rays or on his deathbed. I didn't stick around to check its pulse, because in West Africa, superstition has it that if a chameleon sees you, you will die. Tana said if he was alive, he would probably be camouflaged to his red and rocky terrain.
On another night I was biking our car battery (how we charge our laptop) to Beregadougou, the next town over.
I was biking in the spot that this picture was taken from and I saw in front of this tree two grey, white-chested monkeys with long tails in the grass beside the baobab tree. Wild monkeys not twenty-five feet away. When they saw me, one stood on its hind legs and peered at me like a meerkat and the other ran into the bush, tail in the air. We have since returned countless times to this spot near the water reservoir, but we haven't made their acquaintance again. People here eat these little guys, so I tried to keep it on the down low around my courtyard. We think they were either green monkeys or tantalus monkeys.
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4 comments:
WOW! That "Bug from Hell" is creepy! Thank you for sharing your awesome African stories with us. And... I love that you have to ride your bike to charge your battery for the laptop; I found that really funny for some reason. We miss you in America!
be sure to avoid the lair of scorpians. when you exit the shrine of the silver monkey be sure to carry a piece of the pendant incase you come across a temple guard. make your way back to chesterfield with johnny appleseeds pot hat. the choice is yours and yours alone. good luck.
Chad! I hope that things are going well! You and Tana are on a crazy, awesome adventure it looks like. Have fun and stay vigilant against the scorpions; you never know what tricks they might come up with.
Take care!
Chad and Tana- I love reading your stories. I hope to one day go on an amazing adventure that will be even half as cool as this! I love looking at pictures and seeing what you two have been up to! Stay safe and know that your friends miss you!!
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