Bush stories and anecdotes

The heart of the blog, where I present observations, accounts, funny stories, etc.

Rains at last!

I am sure that you are aware that the “el Niño” phenomenon is very strong this year and this affects the rainfall in Southern Africa. As a consequence we have had almost no rain in Harare and we are really struggling to keep plants and even trees not just going but living. We lost a mature avocado tree that dried and other trees are going that way!

May be not. Last night it rained almost the whole night and today it is totally cloudy! The air is moist now and the garden looks as if has been washed and the dust turned into mud. We were forced to cancel our morning walk and instead perform the odd jobs left for a “rainy day” and focus on the garden. The critters are out in force now!

Apart from termite alates and flying ants, we have dozens of chongololos[1] walking about the garden making Stephen, our caretaker, already concerned about the plants, particularly the edible ones! I placed a small piece of mango and, immediately, I got a few takers to show you.

While dealing with the chongololos I heard shouting from the other side of the house and found both Stephen and my wife contemplating a rather large brown chameleon that had been spotted on a small shrub. Fortunately we have been finding these reptiles recently as we enjoy watching them. As the say goes, they are the only animals able to see where they are going as well as where they have been!

After the chameleon photo and video session my wife left for the supermarket and I focused on some odd jobs. The main one was to repair a damaged umbrella as it will be handy these days. I was about to glue the broken part when more shouting from Stephen and his son Adam, currently enjoying his school holidays, again interrrupted my work. Knowing that when this happens there is always something interesting, I left the umbrella and went to have a look. I was not disappointed…

With wide smiles, they were already walking towards my workshop, each one was carrying one of the largest and most colourful moths I have ever seen! I suspect that their hatching had taken place during the last couple of days. They were really spectacular and I prefer to post a few pictures for you to better understand what I mean!

A quick search in the internet and insect books indicated that they are a member of the Emperor moths. As usual, their colours do not exactly match those from either internet specialized pages and the books I have! However, I believe them to be the Common Emperor or Cabbage Tree Emperor (Bunaea alcinoe).

At the moment they are kept inside the house where they are quiet and I am sure waiting for darkness. They will be released tonight so that they can get on with life so that we can enjoy seeing them again next year!

Oh, I almost forgot that Mr. Brown, our land tortoise that came with the house, made an appearance to remind us of its existence and to steal a lettuce leaf or two!

[1] The local name for millipedes.

A “new” hippo

Those of you who have read this blog on 22 February 2015 (https://bushsnobinafrica.wordpress.com/2015/02/22/hippos-from-hell/) and watched the videos I posted later (https://bushsnobinafrica.wordpress.com/2015/03/23/hippos-from-hell-the-videos/) would remember the extraordinary observations that the hippos present at Masuma dam at Hwange National Park were actually eating Impala meat. A reminder below:

This observation was so incredible to us –seeing it happening in front of our eyes without previous knowledge- that it was almost the sole topic of conversation for the rest of the trip! It was only after we returned and I found an earlier record of a similar event also observed at Masuma almost 20 years earlier[1] that my mind relaxed, but only for a short while. What we thought that happened it was what actually took place! I believed that the observations were of great importance and that they merited further follow up!

Luckily, establishing contact with Joseph Dudley (Joe), the responsible of the observations and publication, was straight forward and he replied to my message telling him of our experience within 24 hours! The possibility of some collaboration to write our observations was considered from the start. Later on Joe realized that there were a few reports and that it was worthwhile attempting a joint paper. On 20 October 2014 he wrote: ” I think that it would be good to connect the dots between these three recent observations ………..”[2] This was the start of Joe’s efforts to put together the people that have had experience on hippo carnivory and although he asserted to me recently (2 December 2015) that ” It was your contacting me after your experience in Hwange that pushed me to made this paper happen…” the idea of the joint paper and the effort of writing and coordinating it was his! My contribution to the exercise was minimal and I could safely say that I was only the straw that broke the camel’s back!

Civilities aside, Joe managed to put together a group of people with complementary expertise and steered it to the publication of a paper that I believe will change the way we look at hippos in the future[3].

In brief the paper postulates that hippos, an essential species within their ecosystem, should be considered not as obligate herbivores as at present but rather as facultative carnivores able to consume carcasses from other animals. Carnivory is not an aberrant behaviour confined to certain instances but a behavioral trait that takes place throughout the hippo’s distribution.

The accelerated rate of transmission of the deadly zoonotic disease anthrax recorded among hippos as compared with other animals is attributed to their habit of consuming meat from various animals, including the hippos themselves. This fact can have important implications for a better understanding and better management of future anthrax outbreaks not just in wildlife populations but, much more critically, in humans. The publication is receiving a rather wide coverage by the world press that I include on a separate page for reference. See: Hippo carnivory press coverage.

Just today (10 December 2015) Joe sent me a video from YouTube that I think is very timely as it rather eloquently shows hippos consuming a zebra and fending off crocodiles while doing so. You can watch the video below although it may be a bit too strong for some. Please accept my apologies but I think it is within the very interesting subject of this post.

I end this post with a picture of a hippo taken on the Kavango river during our recent trip to Namibia that I will cover soon. Does it not look too fierce to be a herbivore?

[1] Dudley, J.P. (1998). Report of carnivory in the common hippo Hippopotamus amphibious. South African Journal of Wildlife Research 28, 58-59.

[2] At the time he had additional information on the subject from other colleagues.

[3] Dudley, J. P., Hang’Ombe, B. M., Leendertz, F. H., Dorward, L. J., de Castro, J., Subalusky, A. L. and Clauss, M. (2015), Carnivory in the common hippopotamus Hippopotamus amphibius: implications for the ecology and epidemiology of anthrax in African landscapes. Mammal Review. doi: 10.1111/mam.12056. The paper can be downloaded free from the following link for the next couple of weeks: http://wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/mam ffollhttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mam.12056/abstract for the next two weeks and then the Abstract will remain there.

Life in Matopos

There were not just stones at Matopos!

As soon as we entered the park we realized that it has had patchy rainfall. It was in one of the wet areas that we saw a congregation of birds of several species. There were a few African kites, Yellow-vented bulbuls, Amethyst sunbirds, Violet backed starlings and others that I was not able to identify as they flew off. The reason for this was not the presence of a predator like a snake but flying termites or termite alates whose purpose is to start new colonies and become the future king and queen, the stuff of fables. If they survived their nuptial flight, that is!

An African black kite.

Female of the Violet-backed starling.

Male Violet-backed starling.

Male Amethyst sunbird.

The flying termites are well fed by the colony because their reserves need to last them until they manage to reproduce and a new colony is established. Being so fat-loaded contributes to their doom as they are slow flyers and therefore a very sought after morsel that most animals in Africa appreciate, including some people that also eats them (friends that had tried indicate their rather good nutty taste when fried in butter).

Apart from the bird vs. termites affair, the most obvious Matopos dwellers were the lizards.

We saw a few different species but the common flat lizard was, yes, the most common! The ones we saw probably belonged to Platysaurus intermedius rhodesiensis, a sub-species that inhabits the area. We saw plenty of them at Rhodes grave so the “rhodesiensis” of the name seems to make sense… At first we thought that there were two separate species: a rather astonishingly colourful one with yellow, orange and blue and another brown with cream coloured dorsal lines.

The apparently different lizards…

They were crawling all over the rocks everywhere and some were even bold enough to come quite close to us searching for food morsels under our lunch table. It was during one of these approximations that both “species” came close and we saw that the bright coloured ones showed -at first sight- some aggression towards the duller ones. Wrong again! It immediately became apparent that we were witnesing sex among lizzards and that the two were part of the same species!

The lizard “Guard of Honour” at Rhodes’ grave.

Clearly it was the lizard mating season! We watched them getting together and separate rapidly very often as the pictures badly show. Love among lizzards appeared a rather casual and sometimes rough affair. It was not rare to see the male biting the female in the head or tail to mate with her. After the event, they went their separate way or at least that is what seem to the non lizard experts!

Further reading at home confirmed that there were both members of the species that abound at the Matopos and, luckily, they are nowhere near threatened with extinction and listed as of “Least Concern” by the IUCN, for obvious reasons… Let’s hope that they continue to reproduce.

Stones and gravestones

I never thought much of the Matopos National Park, until now! The park, located less than an hour drive from Bulawayo, the second city of Zimbabwe, was a great find for us. Until now we had only stayed outside the park and only entered briefly to visit its main landmarks, quite a while ago.

This time, on our way to the Caprivi in Namibia, we decided to stay in the park to get a better feel for the place. In addition, I was reliably informed that some (very) large scorpions dwelled in its rocks. As rocks abound there the expectations were high and I anticipated to unearth a truly scorpion paradise!

We stayed at the Black Eagle Lodge in the Maleme area of the park. Apart from being comfortable, it is sited on a rock outcrop with magnificent views of a dam below, all framed by the rocky hills. An amazing place to relax! An added bonus was that we had first row seats for the first storms appearing over the park as the rains were just starting after the long dry season.

The Black Eagle Lodge and its view, below.

DSCN9400 copy

DSCN9714 copy

The storm in full swing seen from the Black Eagle Lodge.

The sun rays break through the heavy clouds.

During our visit we decided to drive around rather than embarking on the few possible walks, some of them quite long. We also did not go into the game area of the park as we felt that we could see large animals in Namibia. The game section hosts two of the big five: white rhino (number and location undisclosed) as well as the elusive leopard.

An old sign gives an idea of the kind or roads that expect you at Matopos.

We relished the landscape and were amazed by the rocky hills and their beautiful stone formations resembling castles and buildings to me but other things to more artistic people, I am sure. Particularly astonishing were a few weird stone formations that seem to be kept in equilibrium by some supernatural forces. The formations were like those depicted in the old Zimbabwe Dollar notes.

This rockfall must have been rather terrifying.

An inspired view of the hills!

The beauty of fig trees growing on rocks!

A miracle of balancing!

We also spent some time visiting Cecil Rhodes’ grave, reputed to be the most visited place in Zimbabwe after Victoria Falls! The short walk to reach it was well worth it as it offered an unsurpassed view of the surrounds. The view from the top of the hill, known as “World’s View”, was breathtaking.

World’s view.

Another view of Rhodes’ grave.

The Shangani Memorial, erected at World’s View in 1904.

Another view of the World!

A school visiting Rhodes’ grave.

The bushsnob trying to correct and improve Rhodes’ grave (unsucessful and tiring!).

Although we only had one full day at Matopos, we also managed to visit Nswatugi cave, after negotiating a rather tough track only possible with a 4WD and a rather short walk.

An imaginative marker on the way to Nswatugi cave.

The San paintings it displays are considered among the best in Southern Africa. The observer cannot fail to see a couple of giraffes above a mass of animals and people and a large number of red dots, rather unexplained apart from the artistic side of the author. My favourites were a zebra and the head of a female greater kudu. This cave was painted between 10,000 and 6,000 years ago. I have selected my best shots to attempt to illustrate these beautiful paintings.

The bushsnob contemplates the paintings and serves to give an idea of the size (it is good he is useful for something!)

The two giraffes that somehow dominate the paintings.

Some of the red dots at the bottom of the picture.

A very simple zebra was my favourite painting.

The Greater Kudu female head. Another beautiful painting.

I will comment on the scorpions in a future post. The latter aside, what we saw convinced us that the Matopos is worth further future visits.

Mistaken for carrion…

At a hot Mana Pools it was either me roasting some meat or eating from tins as my wife, usually an excellent cook, was feeling too hot to get involved in any heat-generating activities she was busy engaged in the opposite; cooling off with the aid of water and fans in order to survive another day! Resigned and lazy (independent from the heat), I lit a small fire taking some coals from the Tanganyika hot water boiler just at the time when the temperature started to go down.

I am an atypical Uruguayan. I am scared of horses and unable to ride them or -worse still- do a good asado[1]! Hearing only words of encouragement coming from the shower room I attempted at overcoming my shortcoming and managed to get a good fire going. I soon re-confirmed that one thing is to have a good fire and another is to use it well! I did not, as usual as the nice sirloin piece was well cooked top and bottom but very alive inside, even for us that like our meat rare! Anyway, we ate the better cooked pieces while leaving the rest too roast for a while longer until we managed to have a fairly decent dinner.

On account of the ambient temperature, the after dinner routine at Muchichiri was to seat outside by the river to listen and attempt to identify the many bush sounds that are heard in Mana Pools. Ocassionally the sounds or footsteps would be heard very close needing an inspection with our searchlight to identify the responsible both out of curiosity and self-preservation. The main “culprits” would be hippos but elephants and a number of antelope were often found around the lodge. At one stage we caught a slight movement between us and the river and we found a relatively scarce white-tailed mongoose scurrying through the undergrowth.

From the lodge my wife caught the bushsnob napping again, oblivious of the passers by. With the night visitors was different…

The mongoose gone, my wife read and I wrote notes for this posts. I got quite involved in what I was doing so when I heard a hushed “Have you seen it?” Coming from my wife I lifted my head with it still inmersed in my writing. The spotted hyena was looking at me from very close quarters, quite a shock when you do not expect a visitor like that! “!@#$%^&* its huge” was all I could profer. It was indeed a very large hyena that was looking at me from inside the camp light circle!

Although my wife assured me that she heard it coming and got a whiff of its pungent smell for a while, I was caught totally unawares. I experienced a mild panic attack as many years had passed since I had another similar encounter. All I managed to say was “ssshhhhhh”, the kind of noise that -in our culture- is usually reserved to scare away chickens! It was a pathetic and out of place gesture but it worked mainly because the hyena did not have hostile intentions towards me! I am sure it realized that, despite my years, I was yet to reach full carcass status! As usual, it moved off fast but remained around camp until we retired to bed.

The hyena did visit our place a couple of times later on as documented by a strategically placed camera trap (below) while I was safely in bed and inside my mosquito net on the top floor of the lodge, feeling like a safe animal!

[1] Roasted meat on the fire.

Spot the beasts (easy!)

While in Mana Pools last October most game were by the river. During one of our rare inland sorties we came across this sight. It looked rather battered and suffering from the heat as much as we were!

We also found this little beast at Hippo Pools, also in October.

And here are the beasts “revealed”:

A fox.

A tree frog.

The fox was after this fellow:

An African hare.

And this fellow was after the tree frog!

A green grass snake.

The ways of nature!

Harare, 15 October 2015.

Butterflies

During our previous visit to Mana Pools in September[1] we stayed at Gwaya camp. In one of the walks around camp I found a rather derelict water tower that still supplied us with this important liquid. A leaking water tank sat over a square and now door less room. The latter and the surrounding area were very damp on account of the long-term water leakages that run down its walls ending up feeding a number of puddles where animals came for a drink. The area was a green blotch on an otherwise bone dry landscape.

The water tower.

It was near to this spot that my hidden camera trap almost remained secret for good as buffalo and lions moved in[2]. At that time, with my attention focused on recovering the camera I had a brief look inside the base of the tower expecting to find bats. I found butterflies instead but did not spend time there, as I was more concerned about avoiding lions and/or buffaloes!

During the last visit in October 2015, we noted that Gwaya was deserted from both campers and dangerous animals, so we went back to the water tower to have a better look, hoping that the butterflies were still there. There were! This time I managed to enter the room although its floor was waterlogged as water was also filtering in the inside of the tower. The combination of intense heat and abundant water had created a tropical microhabitat that was still home to hundreds of small butterflies, settled on the walls.

The view from the door.

A closer view of the butterflies.

My entrance disturbed them and they took off all at once. As they did not wish to leave the dark damp area, a large cloud of them formed and flew around my head. For a while I felt like Mauricio Babilonia of Macondo[3] with the difference that these butterflies were brown and not yellow! Eventually they settled down again and I managed to take the pictures that illustrate this post.

They took off when I entered.

I believe that they were Elfin Skippers (Sarangesa motozi) that Migdoll’s Field Guide to the Butterflies of Southern Africa describes as an uncommon species found mainly in rain-forests in the region where it feeds on Barleria, Justicia and Perithrophe, members of the Acanthaceae flowering plants.

A lone and rather bloated gecko also resided in the room, his condition revealing that it did not know what hunger is!

I am sure that this resident colony of butterflies would offer a thrilling study to a lepidopterist! Not being one, I left them thinking on how much I enjoyed reading García Marquez’s magic realism and that I should revisit his work.

Muchichiri lodge, Mana Pools, October 2015.

[1] See: https://bushsnobinafrica.wordpress.com/2015/09/23/mana1-pools-safari/

[2] See: https://bushsnobinafrica.wordpress.com/2015/10/06/camera-recovered/

[3] Interestingly, to get to Mana Pools you cross the Makonde District!!!

Hot nights

We confirmed once again that Mana Pools in October is hot, really hot, specially from 12:00 to 16:30 hours. During that spell all you can do is to find a shady spot and sit it out whilst hoping that the Zambezi breeze continues to blow removing the warm air that your body generates. Frequent applications of water help as the evaporation refreshes you, at least for a few minutes. Luckily the air humidity is very low so at least you are not soaked wet.

The bushsnob enduring the heat while enjoying the view.

To have the sight of a beautiful but “out of bounds” river with clean water running a few metres from you is really counter productive! To make matters worse, when the hippos look at you with their exaggerated mouths, they seem to smile while enjoying the cool water!

Zambezi dusk.

Hippos enjoying the coolness of the river seem to be smiling at you.

Although the Zambezi offers nice sandy banks and beaches, you will enter its waters at your own risk. The latter is rather high as, if you are lucky to remain undetected by the numerous and some really huge crocodiles, you may pick up the invisible but equally bad Bilharzia parasites.

A Zambezi hazard in wait.

The heat affects all and for the game is a tough time. The inland pans are dry and the last blade of desiccated grass has been consumed, transforming the Zambezi terraces in the proverbial dust bowl. Luckily the park has many trees that provide shelter to the animals that remain there from the blistering sun, mainly the greater kudu that still manage to find nourishment by browsing.

Greater kudu browsing under the shade.

Although the trees offer good shade, their fruits are by now almost exhausted. The pods and flowers from the apple ring acacias and sausage trees respectively are very few now and the amount available does not justify the effort the animals require to collect sufficient to live upon. The fruits from the sycamore fig trees are ripening fast but they are being quickly consumed by birds and monkeys alike so that they hardly hit the ground!

A fig tree showing its beautiful trunk.

Even the apparently dry baobabs are being consumed, mainly by elephants!

The elephant bite!

Both Chisasiko and Long pools still have lots of water but it is brackish and not liked by all. Although we have seen impala and waterbuck drinking there, we are yet to see an elephant! Chine pool, now just a green ribbon, attracts plains game as it seems to be fed by a fresh water spring. We did not see how Green pool was but I suspect that it is also getting dry[1].

A rather dry Chine pool with a slender mongoose in the tree roots at the back.

As expected, most game now gathers around the only permanent source of water, the Zambezi river. Adjacent to it the plains are still green and teeming with animals grazing intensively in a fragile and unstable truce between different links of the food chain. There are thousands of impala within a kilometre from the river as well as buffalo, eland, zebra and waterbuck that have also moved residence to this true “food land”.

Buffalo taking advantage of the grass by the river.

Impala at Mana mouth, very close to the Zambezi.

Aware of this, the area is now also the home of the predators. These range from water and land birds consuming prey that gets caught in small pools or drying mud to hyenas, leopards and lions on the prowl for larger animals.

A grey mongoose searching for food in the drying mud.

A large grey mongoose searching for food in the drying mud.

A ground hornbill also taking advantage of the dry river bed, feeding on what looked like snails.

The elephants dot the plains with the relaxed attitude that their size allows them. They are all over the place. There are family groups composed of a matriarch and her progeny as well as bulls in small groups or preferring their own company.

Game drives inland only find the ocasional heat-enduring animal so game watching focusses on the river area where being comfortably seated with open eyes normally rewards the observer with good finds. We were well placed at Mucichiri lodge, a two floor building offering an open upper deck from where a great view of the river was available. While hippos were always in the neighbourhood either in or out of the river, impala and waterbuck grazed under the shade.

Muchichiri lodge seen from the river side.

The birds were busy nesting, anticipating the rainy season that it is just round the corner. In addition to spur-wings and Egyptian geese, the bee-eaters were very numerous, both white-fronted and carmine. They were busy going in and out of their burrows in the alluvial banks of the river found on the oposite margin.

A few times a day they their constant chirping noises ceased for a few seconds and then all would take off screeching loudly in alarm as some threat approached.The most common predator seen was the Yellow-billed Kite (Milvus parasitus). The latter would come from high and then gradually descend as it approached the river banks. Although birds did all possible to disuade the attackers, the kite would continue relentlessly on the hunt and it would suddenly swoop down fast and land, either on the banks or on the trees near our lodge. Twice I saw it catching fledglings and land nearby to eat them. Once prey was taken, the predator was quickly forgotten by the birds that will soon return to their socializing, clearly showing “short memories” or being resigned to the inevitable!

The kite feeding.

By mid afternoon Mana Pools was a furnace with the shade offered by the large trees and the hot wind as the only relief. Luckily the lodge has a bathtub and a shower and we took turns seeking refreshment until the sun power finally slacked and we slowly revived. It was time for the evening game viewing drive and, on return, a barbecue kept simple and managed from a distance to avoid getting too close to the fire!

At night the wind dropped and, unfortunately, the little that blew got stopped by the mosquito net. The consequence was that sleep was hard to find. Fortunately there was a full moon and the animals outside the lodge were very active. We are surrounded by impala and waterbuck while the hippos grazed in the grassy banks, their bulk easier seen while they walk about as true lawn mowers.

The full moon gave us good light.

The elephants also passed by in numbers, as usual, in total silence but rather obvious to us sitting only a few metres from them! Loud calls preceded the arrival of hyenas checking for some left overs before embarking into their longer missions in search of substantial prey. Lions were only heard once and far away, clearly hunting much further downriver.

While watching and listening to the Mana inhabitants the temperature eventually dropped to “sleepable” levels and we went to sleep aware that we needed an early start to our game drives the next day, before the heat would set in. Looking at the clear sky we could be sure that on the morrow we could find anything, except rain.

Mana Pools, Zimbabwe, October 2015.

[1] You will note that I now know the names of the four pools, courtesy of a helpful park ranger that we met during this visit.

Javelin throwing (almost Olympic games)

The view of the Mara triangle on the Maasai Mara from the Oloololo escarpment on the way to Intona ranch.

The view of the Mara triangle in the Maasai Mara from the Oloololo escarpment on the way to Intona ranch.

Despite our busy work schedule we did not work on Sundays. We took the morning to explore Intona and its surrounds as there were always interesting sightings, particularly in the area towards the Migori river forest.

A flooded Migori river at the back of Intona ranch.

A notable tree in the Migori river forest.

After lunch and seeing that there was not much to do I hatched the idea of a spear-throwing contest and mentioned it to Ernest. “What about an international spear throwing competition this afternoon?” “We can have participants from Africa, América and Europe, almost like the Olympic games”, I added. Ernest happily agreed and I got on with the organizing.

Apart from Ernest and myself there were also a Ugandan veterinarian and Kikuyu and Maasai assistants, admittedly both Kenyans but from different ethnic groups. “After all, we are in Maasailand” I thought and we should find a suitable javelin” “Let’s find a good spear and get the throwing field organized,” I said as I was already walking towards the herdsmen camp to arrange the details. “Tommi, I need to find a good spear” I said before I said good morning, and added, “I have an idea”.

He and the other herdsmen knew me by now and they smiled in anticipation. Tommi assured me that he could easily find the right tool as there were Maasai nearby that he knew. Good news!

A similar spear to the one used in our competition.

While Tommi strolled through the bush in search for the spear we walked about to find a suitable field where the competition could take place. We found a good site and placed some distance marks while we waited for Tommi’s return. I also went around the farm inviting participants to the event. I managed to engage Joseph (Kikuyu, Kenyan) and Kiza (Ugandan) in addition to Tommi (Maasai, Kenyan), Ernest (Swiss) and myself (Uruguay). We had an international field!

By the time Tommi returned after lunch we were all ready and waiting. He brought a sturdy looking spear that we judged suitable for the task although it was rather long and heavy. It had a long metal blade, a wooden middle part and along steel rod at the end. It was time to start to get done before the daily 17:00 hours shower!

Ernest and helpers examining an animal for ticks. The herdsmen tent can be seen in the background.

A heavy Bont tick infestation on a heifer at Intona ranch.

All participants agreed at the onset that measurements would be done in paces. It was thought that equal throws were unlikely and the need for laser-aided technology[1] was thought not to be required. No bets were allowed, as just by looking at the competitors, an inexperienced observer should have been able to guess who the favourites were! This did not come to our minds while we warmed-up.

As the start of the competition approached, the tension increased and, by the time we drew our throwing terms, it was almost unbearable… For some reason Uruguay went first, followed by Joseph the Kikuyu representative, Switzerland was third, Kiza, the Ugandan fourth and, a fitting finale, the last to throw was Tommi, Maasai. It may as well as he was the “host country”.

Aware that I would not win I argued in favour of some try throws to get the right balance of both body and javelin but, regrettably for me, the other competitors (unkindly in my opinion) refused arguing that this was not in the rules (?). So, resigned to my fate I grabbed the spear and got ready to do my best. It felt heavy and rigid. I threw it and, the second it left me I knew that there were problems with both direction and distance. It was a rather poor show that landed a long way from the cattle boma and far from my possible personal best. “I have never had any strength in my arms” I said, trying to feel better. “about 20 paces is not too bad for my age”.

Joseph was quite fit although he was from a relatively well off Kikuyu family and this was beginning to show around his midriff. His throw was better than mine but stopped at 26 paces. Ernest, the Swiss researcher turned athlete improved my mark by a couple of paces and Kiza, the man from Uganda, despite his relatively small size, did much better than all at about 30 paces. A big smile lit his face, as usual and a lesson to us all that size is not that important but good technique is!

It was the turn of the Maasailand representative, the final competitor. He was perhaps the most relaxed participant and the one that was enjoying the tournament the most! From the moment he picked the spear we all new that the competition was over! We exchanged resigned glances and head shakes and got ready for an Olympic humiliation! We tried our best to disrupt his throw by talking to him but, he just smiled and replied to our remarks without losing his composure.

He held the spear naturally, balancing its weight by instinct. Almost without running and with a fast and wide arm movement he threw it, almost unexpectedly and even casually. The spear flew high vibrating with a “swiiiiiiisshhhh”. It went beyond our throwing field and over the cattle boma. We lost sight of it but run in the general direction where we last saw it to see how far it had gone. Behind the cattle boma it was the herdsmen camp so, when we fail to find it inside the boma we got more worried and started looking around the camp. There was no trace of the spear anywhere and the camp looked normal. For this we were reassured as at least there were no casualties!

We looked around the tent, near the fireplace, chairs, table, up the trees and all over: no spear! Nothing stuck on the ground, nothing visible up the trees or stuck anywhere. “Another mystery of the African bush”, I thought, or some Maasai magic I was not aware of?

As there was no point in arguing in favour of declaring the throw void on account of it having gone beyond the throwing field or even worse, on account of the disappearance of the instrument, we declared our Maasai warrior the undisputed winner. The absence of the spear meant that there was no possible revenge. This came as a relief as a change of the result would have been unlikely!

I apologized to Tommi for having had the idea that has led to the losing of his borrowed spear and offered financial compensation for his loss. He said that he had thrown it and lost it so I did not need to worry. He will eventually find it he said. I expressed serious doubts but gave him the benefit of the doubt and, as the rain was starting, I moved to our tent.

That night, while we were having our dinner we herd loud talking and laughing at the workers camp next door and went to have a look. The spear had been found! In its wild trajectory it had gone through both the flysheet and the tent and it was embedded in one of the herdsmen’s camp beds, luckily empty at the time of the event! I felt great relief that nothing had happened and a lesser one that the spear could now be returned to its owner!

I cannot remember how I explained the tent holes to my senior managers. Maybe I did not and it just remained as normal “wear and tear”!

Transmara, Kenya circa 1986.

[1] I do not think it was available at the time, anyway!

Skewered Maasai chicken

When I was there in the 80’s the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) in Kenya had established various partnerships with universities and research centres outside Africa. I was involved with the collaboration with the University of Neuchâtel on tick pheromones. The idea was to explore ways of attracting ticks to pheromone-baited traps and, with the addition of a tickicide[1], to destroy them.

Bont ticks male (left) and female. A bad picture.

The composition of the aggregation pheromone of the Bont tick[2], one of the important cattle ticks, had just been discovered. It was a mixture of three chemicals that were available commercially. This offered us a good opportunity to test this compound in the field. Ernest was the scientist from Neuchâtel that would work with me at Intona ranch where natural populations of the tick occurred.

Ernest was a very enthusiastic and good-humoured Swiss that had a hearing problem as a consequence of firing cannons during his military service in the Swiss Alps, forgetting about wearing earmuffs! Luckily, we got on well from the start. So, armed with the necessary research tools, we departed for Intona to spend a few days doing fieldwork.

As a precaution, we did take a few ticks from the tick colony in case the bush ones would not cooperate! Crossing the Maasai Mara Game Reserve was never disappointing and, as usual, we spent a night there on the way to the Transmara where Intona was located. Ernest was delighted being able to see the plains game and we wee also lucky to spot elephants, lions and hyenas.

In the morning, as usual, we laboriously climbed the Oloololo escarpment and stopped to admire the breath taking view of the Mara triangle from its highpoint. The almost aerial view that it offered was really thrilling, even for me, a regular visitor to the area. Lines of wildebeest could be seen in the distance as well as dark patches that indicated buffalo herds. As I knew he would, Ernest loved the view. After spending a long while in contemplation, it was time to continue our long journey.

Maasai cattle at the Mara River bridge on the way to the Transmara.

Following the escarpment the road was bad as usual but luckily this time it was dry. However, we needed to stop a few times, not because of getting stuck or having mechanical problems, but because Ernest was amazed at how bad the road was! “Ooohh no, please stop!” he would shout and then get out of the car to photograph it even before I managed to stop. Clearly he was comparing the Transmara tracks with the Swiss roads!

Stuck on the way to Intona on a rainy day.

Eventually, after a few halts, he got used to the rough road but, being a very active person, his attention drifted to other things. As all first time visitors to the Transmara he took a great interest on the Maasai people and their cattle, a normal sight in the area for me but quite so for guests. As the Maasai were not keen on pictures, we did not stop.

Maasai herdsman on the way to Intona.

Maasai Manyatta (dwelling).

Maasai children looking after livestock.

After about half an hour of hard going I heard “Stop” coming from Ernest as we approached a large muddy pond by the side of the road. While I stopped the car he rummaged in his rucksack from where he extracted what looked like an over-sized hypodermic syringe and a tumbler. I was not sure of what was going on and limited myself to watch, together with our herdsmen travel companions. “This is a Swiss water filter that will make any water suitable for drinking” he said as we were walking towards the mud and the terrapins swam away in fear! He added “It is recommended by the Swiss Tropical Institute, so it must be good!”

Without further ado he sucked water into the syringe and, once it was full, it poured into the glass. The water was indeed crystal clear! “You see,” he said, showing the glass. I must confess that it was an impressive feat as the puddle was truly a thick chocolate mud and I had not seen such a contraption before! Ernest offered the water to us and, when we all politely declined, he drank it himself before I could stop him, fearing for the consequences on his guts.

After praising the quality of what he had just drunk, he repeated the operation once more. This time one of the herdsmen agreed to try it and he agreed that it was indeed OK if with a bit of a muddy taste. “The filter must be getting clogged,” declared Ernest, “I must clean it when we get to Intona”. I refrain from commenting on the cost-effectiveness of the device and we resumed our trip, clearly ready for innovation.

Eventually we arrived at Intona ranch. It was almost dark so we rushed to assemble our tent, had an early dinner and went to bed as we both felt the long two-day trip.

The following day we started our work early and spent most of the day carrying out several trials that were quite successful. In the afternoon we decided that we would have roasted chicken for dinner so while Ernest continued working I went with Tommi, my Maasai assistant, in search of dinner. Eventually we managed to persuade a Maasai lady to sell us a cockerel.

Our prospective dinner was killed by me and plucked by Ernest. The size of its talons were unequivocal indicators of its seniority and its leanness qualified it as a Maasai chicken long-distance runner! Its muscular condition spoke of speed and endurance at the service of survival! Oblivious to all this, Ernest assembled a boy scout-like contraption with branches where, after impaling the chicken, it would be rotated over the fire. We invited our herdsmen to join us and they prepared their traditional “ugali[3]” to go with it.

The cooking of the chicken took a very long time. Ernest kept stabbing it and declaring that it was cooked but still tough. The lengthy turning process led to inexorable shrinking and darkening until it was declared fit for human consumption. The cockerel had turned into a “toasted baby chicken”. I saw the herdsmen exchanging doubtful glances over their Tusker beers, a bad omen!

Ernest cut it into equal pieces and -luckily- Joseph placed large chunks of ugali to go with it. Tommi bit the first piece and I heard a “Taargh” coming from him that became a clear “tough!” once he managed to swallow it. Bad news coming from a Maasai! Ernest agreed on its toughness but declared that it tasted like real chickens did a long time ago in Switzerland so he was happy! As for the rest of us, we could have done with a second runner Maasai chicken!

Transmara, Kenya, circa 1986.

[1] Also known as an acaricide, a substance that kills ticks.

[2] Amblyomma variegatum (the Bont tick) transmits Cowdria ruminantum that causes a deadly disease of ruminants known as Heartwater.

[3] From Swahili, maize flour cooked with water to a thick porridge. It is the staple food in Kenya.

	bushsnob on What on earth!? (29)
	bushsnob on Wet creatures’ day
	bewilderbeast on What on earth!? (29)
	PinkShade on Wet creatures’ day
	bushsnob on Wet creatures’ day

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: