This post was meant to be part of the previous “Up the patience ladder”. However, in my literary incapacity, I failed to link the two in a convincing way. However, I think that the issue of the present post is worth it as my attempt at expanding it enabled me to learn more about Nature and I wish to share it with you!

I am not sure that all of you know about the Monkey-ladder, a vine called Entada gigas, found in Central America, the Caribbean, northern South America, and Africa.

A bunch of seeds of the Sea heart, Entada gigas with a wallnut as a comparison.

We first came across its seeds in the Kenya coast where, in the eighties, we collected a couple of these rather interesting kernels among a few stones. They remained stacked away while we stayed in Kenya and Ethiopia, only to resurface in Zambia, after the birth of our daughter. It was a frightening re-discovery.

Somehow our daughter, a toddler at the time, unearthened one of the pods and placed it in her mouth! We thought that her choking was certain but, somehow, we persuaded her -to our relief- to give it back to us. At that time we realized that its size was such that it was impossible either to choke with it or to swallow it! The seeds range in size but they are normally about six centimetres in diameter and about two centimetres thick, far larger than my own throat! So the seed was forgotten and became the favourite teething aid for both of our children! If the seeds are impressive, the pods are even more as they are truly humongous, reaching up to two metres long and twelve centimetres across!

The pods are large. Please note that each floor tile is 25cm long. The wallnut also serves as a comparison.

Once out of the pods, the seeds that reach the water are able to float as they have an air bubble inside. They eventually find their way to the oceans and are able to drift very long distance on ocean currents turning up in far off places where they can germinate even when they are two years old!

Our “teething aids” were forgotten and lost again after our children grew up and they would have joined other facts and objects in the recesses of our minds (and house!) if we would not have re-found them again in the beaches of the Maputo Special Reserve, Mozambique, in 2011. There were many and came in different sizes and shapes. Of course, we duly collected a few more! Subsequently we found the actual vine in Maputo and were able to appreciate the pods in situ. Do I need to add that we also collected a couple of pods too?

A segment of the pod once it released the seeds that I -before this post- thought gave the name to the plant as they looked like a ladder.

Now we come to the new part of the story. I thought that the name Monkey ladder came from the look of the pods once they release the seeds. However, when looking for an explanation of the name I found another vine known as Monkey ladder! This is Bauhinia guianensis a different plant named in such a way as its flat trunk resembles a true ladder going up to the trees above.

Having found the “true” Monkey ladder, I haste to add that this post has now the wrong title! Entaba gigas should really be known by its other names of Sea bean, Cœur de la Mer or Sea Heart. I prefer the latter as some of the seeds (about fiver per cent) are heart-shaped. In addition, it gives a dreamy touch to the name!

More info:

http://waynesword.palomar.edu/plmay97.htm

https://books.google.co.zw/books?id=8FqmWCAwdsIC&pg=PT602&lpg=PT602&dq=Bauhinia+guianensis+vs+entada+gigas&source=bl&ots=kKUrYFusQG&sig=edrUmPk7P_-RU12paLhUj8kECL0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiukqbAyOPKAhUE7B4KHYf4CL8Q6AEIGjAA#v=onepage&q=Bauhinia%20guianensis%20vs%20entada%20gigas&f=false (Please note that you need to scroll down the pages of this book to find the two vines together).

Our acquittance with Vervet monkeys in Harare started with friends telling us that they were lucky to have the frequent visit of a troop of vervets in their garden that they enjoyed very much. We felt mild envy but there was not much we could do. Their house is about one km from ours and located in a less populated and wooded area.

We forgot about monkeys until one day last year when, to our delight, a monkey was spotted in our garden. The original sighting was done by Stephen, our caretaker, and we were soon searching for the primates up our trees.

Our very first picture of a Vervet monkey in our garden!

A close-up of the intruder.

Of course, we found them eating our passion fruits, behind our backs! They had climbed the first step of the ladder!

We forgave their sins as they were nice to watch! However, as often happens, soon they reached the second step that consisted of opening dozens of seven-year bean pods only to eat a few of them. This produced a change of mood among the humans of the household and instructions were passed around (by my wife, the serious gardener) that the monkeys should be “discouraged” from being in the garden! The method to be used was left often and it fell on Stephen to decide. As he is, I am afraid, is softer than my wife, I imagine that he only shouted and ran after them!

The monkey caught with the camera trap.

Despite the soft methods employed to keep them at bay, a period of relative calm ensued and we were all happy sharing the garden in harmony. Soon, however, with the progress of the dry season, the monkeys accelerated their climb up the ladder going through the avocados, the guavas and even the tomatoes! This was the situation when we left Harare in late January but we believed that the advent of the rains had re-established acceptable human-monkey interactions but, as usual, we were off the mark…

Yesterday (5 February 2016) we learnt that the “status quo” was broken and that the monkeys had reached the very top of the ladder: they had destroyed the weaver nests killing the fledgelings and they were taking bites from Stephen’s butternuts. The weavers had just moved into the garden this year and the butternuts are highly appreciated for our pasta sauce! This was indeed a very serious escalation and, during the phone conversation between my wife and Stephen I could not help overhearing the exchange of unusually strong adjectives as well as one name: catapult!

I trust that a new equilibrium will be found before there is bloodshed…

I am very pleased and proud as well as most grateful to the “Muy Interesante” publication of Spain that printed a spot on my blog in the Issue printed on 20 January 2016!

To María Victoria Gonzalez Rodríguez, Coordinadora de Contenidos y Comunidad Muyinteresante.es, Coordinadora de Contenidos y Comunidad MuyHistoria.es and
Redactora Mundo-geo.es as well as other colleagues of the “Muy Interesante” printed magazine, many thanks!

Translation to English (by Bushsnob).

Julio de Castro, a veterinary parasitologist, former employee of the FAO of the United Nations and traveler, is the author of the blog bushsnobinafrica.wordpress.com. He has lived many years in Africa and now from his retirement in Zimbabwe he has a lot of curious things on his blog, illustrated with nature photos that he himself takes during his excursions.

Among the reasons for having undertaken writing the blog, de Castro cites sharing his knowledge, acquired after many years of working and visiting places of Eastern and Southern Africa, and to know their landscapes, wild nature and people. No reader who likes to dig into these issues should miss this miscellany that brings together memories of past activities, business trips or fun and curious facts about various fields. As a sample it is worth mentioning two recent entries: a family trip to the Mozambique’s coast and a post on the custom of hippos’ group defecation.

***

NB. I can hear (some of) my friends and (both my) children saying “how typical of him” when referring to the end of the spot! Please do not pay any attention and keep reading the blog…

While at Main Camp in Hwange National Park last January, we repeatedly drove through the accommodation exit gate and in front of the door without detecting it until a walk around the camp brought us behind a hedge that was hiding it from “public” view.

An important and well known benefit of termites is that they break down tough vegetable matter, burying dead and decaying trees into new soil. While doing this, they dig tunnels and in so doing they not only bring down wood material but also aerate the soil, increasing soil fertility.

Aware that the door’s days were clearly counted and that it will never open again, I decided that it was worth taking a picture of before the termites finish their job.

You may agree with me that the metal handle is the only sign that behind the really thorough termite work, a door used to be there!

The location of the door made picture-taking difficult so perhaps I am not able to show its real condition.

An attempt at a close-up.

After our spell at Matopos National Park in Zimbabwe in November 2015 we continued our journey towards the Caprivi area of Namibia, our final destination. To do this you need to cross the border into Botswana at Kazungula, drive into Botswana through the Chobe National Park and then enter Namibia at Ngoma. Luckily the border crossings were straightforward and we managed to arrive in Katima Mulilo in time for a necessary “safari shopping”.

We remembered Katima Mulilo from our visit in 1992 and did not have much difficulty finding the same hotel we stayed then, on the banks of the Zambezi river. The latter is one of the four main rivers in the Caprivi together with the Kavango, Chobe and Kwando. Often we had difficulties knowing which one we were crossing or looking at!

After an uneventful night at Katima Mulilo, we drove along the Caprivi for a few hundred kilometres to get to Ngepi Camp, on the banks of the Kavango river. From there we planned to explore the Mahango Game Park as well as the Popa falls area. Soon after taking the entrance road to the camp it became obvious that this was a camp with a sense of humour as the sign posts we found showed.

On arrival the camp did not look very impressive as the area outside its fence is severely overgrazed and cattle and goats abound! However, once you got to the camp things changed as, its proximity to the river, makes it a real green oasis with a nice view of the Kavango river and magnificent trees. Things were looking up! This lasted until we saw our acommodation! This time I had made the bookings and, looking for economy and without a lot of time to investigate, I had booked what was called a “Bush hut” as I thought it would be appropriate…

Unfortunately it did not pass my wife’s quality control procedure. The place had all the facilities expected from such accommodation but it was surrounded by thick bush in its four corners! Not only we could not see the river but there was no air moving and it felt like an oven! It was a bad start and we agreed to stay one night while we attempted to find an alternative. Eventually, the staff were very kind in swapping our hut for a house, known as a Tree house. This was a wooden contraption built overhanging the river and it was fresh and had a lovely view of the Kavango and its hippos. I even attempted to fish for tiger fish from our balcony (obviously without success, as usual…).

The large tree trunk came handy to hide from river traffic while showering!

The bedroom.

The bushsnob enjoying the view.

The sense of humour that we saw through signposts at the entrance became more “practical” at the camp itself! It clearly specializes in having special toilets and washing facilities that are, to put it mildly, rather surprising! My favourite was the “rocket”, a tower that looked like a water tank that has a toilet seat on top, offering an intersting view of the surrounding area!

The flower and shower interior.

Rocket toilet user’s instructions.

Inside the shower and flower.

The rocket…

A “tree” toilet.

Flower & shower toilet

Original toilet door!

Bar’s advice…

Our accommodation sorted out, we dedicated a couple of days to explore the Mahango Game Park and to visit Popa Falls. The northern section of Mahango was about 10 km from our camp, on the way to Botswana. It offered two tracks, one to the East, following the river and another one to the West, towards a waterhole.

While the former offered a variety of water birds, the road was a bit too far from the Kavango river and viewing was not ideal. Along the road to the waterhole, however, we found lots of elephants, wearier than the Zimbabwean colleagues. This took us by surprise at first as they stood their ground and even mock-charged us on a few occasions before retreating tail up.

The area have had some rains as numerous ponds and mud holes indicated. The elephants were enjoying them fully and, as usual, being the only occupants. We thought that they would be occupying all of them but we were wrong. A rather large one had a very different user: a land tortoise enjoying a swim! It was inside the water when we found it and, as we we approached, it actually swam away, something we have never seen before but not unexpected, of course.

Buffalo was the name of the remaining area of the reserve located across the Kavango. Entering it we drove through military ruins, a left over of the wars that ravaged this area not that long ago. After clearing this rather large area, we joined the Kavango river and drove over black cotton soil, luckily dry as we are well aware of its stickiness from our Kenya days. As if we needed a reminder, we found a young buffalo and an elephant that, mired in the black mud, had starved to death!

The saying “being in the right place at the right time” came to mind when we postponed our U-turn until the next river bend where we were taken aback by the sudden arrival of an elephant herd that decided to come for a drink and a swim in the river at that particular time! Luckily for us they changed our otherwise dull game-viewing into probably the best entertainment of the trip!

After Ngepi and Mahango we visited Popa Falls and were disenchanted to see that is now been taken over by the Namibia Wildlife Resorts organization and it is much more impersonal than when we visited twenty four years back!

I am afraid that our disenchantment continued with the final part of our trip that took us to the Kwando river area to explore the Mudumu Game Park Not only the Camp Kwando was devoid of character and badly managed but the long drive through the park failed to produce animals, despite the praise from both safari operators and park authorities met. We had clearly run out of luck and it was time to go home!