Animals of Mabalane

Animals have become a large part of my life in Mabalane.  Partly due to the large graze-fed domestic animal population, and partly due to the open door, open window life-style of Mabalane (see Summer Swelter blog).  I’ll take a few minutes to introduce you to our newest neighbors and house guests.

Cows and Goats

In the district of Mabalane there are approximately 45,000 cattle.  Everyday, roughly 200 wander through our front and back yard.  Many of these cattle have horns.  The females’ horns appear to be the biggest, although when I came to Moz I thought only bulls had horns.  They’re not afraid to come right up to the door and give a hearty hello either.  One can be surprised to glance out the door and see a 1000 lb cow staring at you as it literally floods the path between the house and the bathroom.

I’ve not had much experience with goats in my life.  What I’ve learned so far in Mabalane is that they’re rather silly animals.  For our first few weeks in Mab, the sound of someone screaming would often take to the door, only to lead me to look upon a goat grazing in the yard.  Some goats sounds something like the last middle-aged man to leave the bar on a Thursday evening after he’s fallen in the street and is yelling at apparently no one in single syllables.  If the door to the house is left open, the goats have no problem trotting into the house to check out the food stores.  I have fun with those goats.

Chickens and Ducks

Our neighbors have a family of ducks, one of whom has recently hatched a group of nine little ducklings.  They are very cute to watch run around after food, mostly escaping insects.  However, one of the ducks, who I consider to be the alpha, is not cute to watch.  He often takes the female ducks, and I say takes very intentionally.

Our neighbor also recently bought a hen and a cock.  At sunrise, every day, I hate that chicken more and more.  It was interesting to watch the meeting of alpha and the cock.  The alpha asserted his dominance quickly and there has been no quarreling since.

Insects

One of the hardest things to get used to in Mabalane and the open-door lifestyle is the constant presence of insects in ones life.  The flies come in two varieties.  Your typical housefly who is a constant pest, and a giant fly whose bite actually hurts.  The big flies make for good sport though, as they move quite slowly.  Cockroaches are a constant presence both in the house and the latrine, but are a quick fix with the broom.  The wasps and hornets have put the real problem forth.  Since moving into the house, I would venture to guess we have removed near 20 nests, some the size of a cigarette butt, others the size of a baseball.  No stings have been suffered to date, and it appears that the colonials have more or less retreated.

Mabalane/Our house also showcases an exquisite mantis population.  These cool critters tend to show up at night and vary in color from a leafy green to a sandy brown.  Camouflage is big in the animal world here I’m finding.  Several stick bugs have graced our estate as well.  Just last night Charlie encountered a stick bug that was nearly ten inches in length.  The lower mandible is like something I’ve never seen before and is, to be scientific, gnarly.

Oh, and scorpions.  Don’t forget the scorpions.  They are a scarce sight, but they’re about.

Spiders

As far as spiders go, I expected to find your typical daddy long-legs wherever I ended up.  They aren’t so bad and they do a decent job of maintaining the pesky flies.  We also have a few small spiders living with us who are relatively flat and can scale the walls with ease.  They tend to hide themselves behind and under objects.

On the other hand, one night, upon our return from the village, the biggest spider I’ve ever seen ran out of my room.  I’m uncertain if camel spiders inhabit Mozambique, but this guy was a close cousin if not one himself.  Quickly reaching for the broom I banished this foul creature from our house before it could make an attempt on our lives, as I’m certain was its intention.  Sleep was uneasy that night.

Currently, a large, black spider with long, skinny legs and yellow markings (four, quasi-elongated hexagons) on an apparent plate covering its back inhabits the space below the tin roof above our veranda.  Watching this master of death spring onto the insects (including preying mantes) that get caught in its double-layered web is better than TV.  We’ve grown to appreciate this spider and are hoping it continues to grow and reduce the insect population.  However, if it enters the house, for fear of my own life, I’m going to destroy it immediately.

Frogs and Lizards

The frogs of Mabalane are somewhat skinnier than the frogs one finds near the water logged areas of Iowa.  They also have the ability to change color.  I don’t know if this is completely voluntary or a effect of the heat and light of the daytime hours, but they tend to be docile and of white/grey hue during the day and are more active and of darker greens and blacks during the night.  I don’t recall often seeing frogs during the daytime in Iowa, but maybe this is true of them too?

The lizards have a generally speckled appearance, with a coarse texture, but have the ability to vary in the color with which they present themselves.   For instance, the large lizard that has made his residence behind my trunk/nightstand has a dark hue to him because he lives in the dark most of the time.  Whereas the lizards who spend the majority of their waking hours (our sleeping hours) crawling our walls in search of insects drawn to our lights tend to have a lighter color to match the cream color of our walls.  I don’t know how many lizards live with us, but I’ve counted as many as seven visible at one time (plus the big mother living behind my trunk).  Another type of lizard (who lives on and around our house, but scarcely finds it necessary to grace our home) is black with two stripes down the sides of its back and has the appearance of a snake with legs.  Unlike the other amphibians of our home, these lizards seem to be more active during the daytime than during the night.

Bats

I’m not certain of where the bats lived in Mabalane before the construction of the secondary school, but I know where a great number of them live now.  As the sun begins to set in the west, one can have a seat and be absolutely astonished at number of bats that fly out of the concrete/tin roof structures.  Try to remember the “Fly my pretties!  Fly!  Fly!” scene from the Wizard of Oz.  Upon the settling of darkness, the bats hunt recklessly.  We’ve taught more than one night class with a bat circulating the classroom to collect the insects drawn towards the lights.  During the daytime the bats return to their “caves” (read: our house and other school buildings) to sleep through the day.  The family living with us is relatively quiet during the day (we hardly ever see them except when they leave the house), but will sometimes get riled and have a minute or two of annoying bickering.  The same is true in the classrooms. 

The main drawback of the bats is…the feces.  It’s enough having to walk through the stuff on the classroom floors, but the time when they’re dropping their droppings is primarily when you’re teaching.  The chalkboards are on the walls under where the bats are residing.  Check your hair. 

Sheeba

Sheeba.

Ohhh Sheeba.

Upon our arrival in Mabalane, we found out that we inherited a dog named Sheeba.  He appears to be some type of breed between a yellow lab and a greyhound.  These types of dogs are prevalent in our area, and often are used to herd cattle and goats.  Sheeba can be rather playful at times, and rather stupid at times.

“If you’re a child, you’re a threat.”  That’s a direct quote from Sheeba; at least I imagine it would be judging by the way he reacts to any sort of adolescent who wanders into the proximity of our home.  You can imagine the problem stemming from this as we live roughly 200 meters from a secondary school.  The trick is not to run, but to stay calm and just stare him down.  However, the kids in Mabalane (and from what I understand much of Mozambique) are scared to death of dogs, so they run.  I’ve seen a kid leap into a bush to get away from Sheeba.  I’ve seen a kid freeze on the spot and start crying.  I’ve seen a kid drop everything he had and run away.  I wont deny that I laughed really hard each time, but it’s annoying when kids come to ask for water or for me to teach and they can’t get within 10 meters of the house without me having to reign in Sheeba.  He’s also very protective against any sort of cow that tries to get close to the house.  Altogether, Sheeba seems to be very loyal to us and, most of the time, we’re happy he’s here.