Where Baby Storks Come From

Originally distributed September 2009

Do you know where baby storks come from? A human carries them in a white sack and puts the baby storks in their parents’ nests.

 (Ok, that took forever. I'm never uploading a video again.)

If you’re curious about what I’m doing in the field these days, I’ve been busy monitoring Marabou Stork nests. Marabou Storks are not the prettiest birds but they’re still interesting. The population that breeds in Swaziland is rather small and would go extinct if isolated from populations in neighboring countries. This year we’re doing a supplementary feeding experiment to see if it increases the number of fledglings produced. Normally, Marabous have 2-3 eggs per nest and often all 3 hatch. But the 3^rd chick rarely survives to fledging. So we’ll see if additional food makes any difference.

The chicks, by many people’s standards, are just as unattractive as their parents. But when you work with them, you manage to find them cute somehow, at least when they’re small. Unfortunately, they grow really fast so they’re not cute for long.

Their nests are in Umbrella Thorn trees, which only reach 20ft tall or so. Still you need a ladder to get to the nest and take the chicks out so they can be weighed, measured, photographed, and this year fed, every few days.

Working with Marabou Storks is a very stinky job. Some of the food we feed them, cow stomach and intestines, stinks. The parents forage at dump sites for the chicks’ food, so that stinks. Sometimes when we handle the chicks they vomit from the stress, and that really stinks! Even better, we have to examine what they throw up, if it hasn’t been too digested yet, to identify what they ate. Sometimes there are maggots crawling in the food that was in their stomachs. So yes, that means the birds had live maggots crawling around in their stomachs. Yummy! And of course they regularly relieve themselves on us so that’s quite messy.

Now there’s a chick that appears to be abandoned by its parents so it’s getting really dehydrated. We gave it some water the other day, which required holding its bill open for a while. We saw maggots crawling in the corners of its bill inside its mouth. Delicious! Anybody want to come help with this project?

BBC News

Originally distributed December 2009

Well, the BBC ruined my 15 minutes of fame opportunity. I was supposed to appear in the black mamba documentary. I hadn’t actually seen it myself before it aired on tv in the US, even though a dvd of it was floating around Swaziland. So I didn’t say “and by the way I’m in it,” and I’m glad I didn’t because all you see of me is the back of my head while riding in a vehicle, and my back as we walked to release one of the snakes, depending on which version you saw. Such is reality in the film and tv business. So all the mamba tracking that they talked about in the program was the same mamba tracking that I did in Jan-Mar.

To fully fill you in, the BBC was there in January when my coworker, Mduduzi, and I went to the park to start the black mamba tracking project that he and I (solely) did for two months. We watched them film the surgeries in which the transmitters were implanted as well as re-enactments of some of the mamba captures they did. I think some of them were real-time captures but some of them had happened before and they were re-enacted for the program. I wonder if that’s why one of those snakes was so ornery. It was probably taken from a terrarium (handling #1), transported across the country, put in a room somewhere (handling #2), captured again (handling #3), transported back, and put back in the terrarium (handling #4).

November was my last month in the field. Very sad. I’m optimistic that I’ll be back to Hlane though. We had our staff Christmas party on the 30^th because several people are off for Dec, including me :)  We did the gift exchange/stealing game and it went on for ages. Here is one of the great treasures someone walked away with.

We’ve had lots of storms lately, mostly thunderstorms with heavy rain and sometimes wind. But we’ve also had a few hail storms and a tornado hit Ezulwini Valley. Here are a couple of funny lines from the Swazi Times about the weather.

Man spends whole night in tree

“There is at least one man who will not be crossing any flooded rivers in the country for the rest of his life. … For hours, he hanged in there for dear life. … The police are said to have taken him across the river and directly to his homestead, where he was instructed to keep warm and was left sitting in front of a fire.”

The sun comes out

“Temperatures as high as 28*C (82*F) are expected for Mbabane by Wednesday, which should be a relief to many members of the public who had been getting worried about their accumulating laundry.”

The Speeding Donkey

Originally distributed August 2009

Swazi newspapers are hilarious. They’re like a 3-way cross between The Washington Post, The Onion, and the Inquirer. Some articles are informative and newsworthy. Others are like tabloid gossip, but still somehow entertaining, and some pieces are so crazy they seem unreal.

The story I’d like to highlight for you is unfortunately a tragedy, but the way it was written I couldn’t help but laugh. A donkey was being led by a 9 yr old girl to get water. The girl was going to fill some water jugs at a nearby stream and transport them back to her homestead using the donkey. For some reason the donkey was not in the mood so it decided to run off. Unfortunately, the young girl had tied the rope that was attached to the donkey around her neck. So you cam imagine what happened when the donkey took off.

Here are a few quotes from the article:

“…donkey outruns residents and motorists for a kilometre.”

 “The speeding donkey dragged the girl into the thick bush and into rocky surfaces and injuring her in the process.”

“They ordered that a doctor be called to inspect what might have caused the animal to behave in such a manner.”

Losing Streak

Originally distributed July 2009

I’ve been quiet for a while because I’ve been traveling and losing stuff and trying to reconstruct my life. It began with a pair of field pants that I couldn’t find. I thought I had brought them to Swaziland in January but I couldn’t find them anywhere. Maybe I left them in the US after all? Well, I visited home for a very brief period at the end of June and they weren’t there. So they disappeared. I also had a neat little solar radio that I was planning to bring that also vanished into thin air.

But it got better on my way back to Swaziland. So much better! I’m pretty sure it was the baggage handlers in Johannesburg, South Africa who broke the lock off my luggage and stole a ton of stuff. I just realized tonight one more thing they stole! That’s how much stuff it was. They stole my tennis shoes, shorts, battery charger, camera cable, field pants and much more. Those are just the things that hurt the most to lose.

Fleece and first pair of field pants lost

But that wasn’t the end of it. My first day back in the field here in Swaziland I somehow lost my fleece. It vanished into thin air. That was quite bothersome. Then I was helping a friend with her field work and she needs power from car batteries to run black lights in sugarcane to attract insects. She’s collecting them for her master’s research. While carrying a car battery, battery acid leaked onto my pants, my one and only pair of field pants for cold weather at this point. The next day they ripped wide open from my hip to my knee. Great…..

I also managed to lose one of two keys to my bike lock, so I’m now down to one. And, when I washed my sleeping bag in the washing machine, which it’s supposed to withstand, it came out with 6 rips. Awesome…. At least I was able to stitch that up. I don’t know what kind of curse I have on me at the moment, but I can’t wait ‘til it’s over! This is insane!

Everybody's Doing It!

The breeding season gets under way here much earlier than it does up north. Some birds begin molting into their breeding plumage and even building nests in what would be considered late winter in the northern hemisphere. But of course here the average winter temperatures are higher so things heat up sooner.

That said, the White-fronted Bee-eaters have already fledged their first offspring for the season. You’d think after spending your whole life in a cavity excavated from a bank of red clay that the last thing you’d want to do is roll around in it some more. But that’s exactly what they did… vigorously, in the dozens. No fewer than 27 of these little birds, fledglings and adults, formed a vibrating mass of green feathers with a red dust cloud above them. Occasionally one left and others joined. But this went on for a good 15 minutes. They were having a ball! They were too far away for me to get a video, but someone else in the world did! Check it out.

What happened in Saint Lucia?

First of all, can I tell you how confusing it is to have a St Lucia in the Caribbean and a St Lucia in eastern South Africa? When I first moved here and spoke to travelers about their itineraries and they’d say, “I’m headed to St Lucia from here.” I’d think, “Wow! That’s quite a leap!” until I learned about St Lucia, South Africa.

Once adjusted to the idea of St Lucia, South Africa, I met a guy from St Lucia who was doing some contract work as an engineer for the sugar cane industry in Swaziland. No, of course he’s not from St Lucia, South Africa. He’s from the Caribbean. So once again I was initially confused. But that explained his unusual accent and lack of knowledge on the region and cultures.

Originally distributed October 2009

I visited St Lucia, SA in May. I won’t go over all the details of the trip, but I will tell you this. While staying at the backpackers there I came back to my room one afternoon to find it had been raided. Stuff had been taken out of my bag and strewn about. Clearly, someone had been in there. Trying to contain my angst I went to the front desk to report the matter. They asked which room I was staying in, “the one in the back corner, near the pool.” Were my windows open, “yes.” Oh it was the vervet monkeys. They’ve gone in that room before when the windows have been left open.

Monkeys! Whew! What a relief. I went back to my room and took stock of the situation with new perspective. Suddenly I was able to laugh about it. My inventory survey showed that nothing was missing. They had pulled out some clothes and my glasses. Come to find out later when I looked through the photos in my camera, they had put my glasses on and taken pictures of themselves! Hilarious! Monkeys with a sense of humor, I love it!



Oh, yeah. That last part was just a joke. But they did break into my room and take out my glasses.

Weddings and Funerals

Originally distributed June 2009

Within a month’s time I’ve experienced a Swazi wedding and a Swazi funeral. In mid-April one of my coworkers got married. It was a Christian wedding in a church but it had several different elements that I haven’t seen in America. First when the kids in the wedding party walk down the aisle, one of them carries a basket of candy and she throws it out to the congregation. The little girl at this wedding was actually chucking it at us, so you had to pay attention or you might get hit in the face by a piece of hard candy. The rest of the members of the wedding party dance down the aisle! I loved this part! It really added to the celebratory atmosphere. If I ever get married and end up getting married in a church, whoever’s in the wedding will be dancing down the aisle.

During the wedding there were times where the congregation would get up and go to the front of the church and dance with the bride, groom and wedding party. It wasn’t paired dancing, everybody was just dancing together in one big crowd. Also there was a choir that would perform songs periodically and they danced while they were singing as well. The bride, who is my coworker, actually sings in that choir so once all the usual marriage rituals were finished she joined the choir to sing with them. It was cool to see her standing in the middle in her wedding dress (a western style white wedding dress).

As the wedding went on….and on and on, I realized why they handed out candy in the beginning. Because it’s really long and you get really hungry! So it’s handy to have something to keep you going. The bride’s uncle was the videographer and after about 2hrs he came to some ladies sitting next to me and asked for a “provision of sweets.” Altogether, the wedding started about an hour late and lasted for 3 hours! Plus, we all got there almost an hour early. So we were there forever. But it was really fun. And we all ate after the ceremony was over. The wedding party took pictures outside after eating and then people left. So there’s no long reception or party afterwards because the party essentially takes place during the ceremony. Oh! And when I go to another Swazi wedding I’ll know to bring earplugs because the music and preaching are really, really loud.

Sorry I always put the sad stuff last but I’m covering these topics in chronological order. Another of my coworkers died tragically in a head-on collision on May 24^th. He was at the wedding in April and I took a picture of him outside dancing with a girl’s scarf tied around his head. That sort of captures his laid-back, fun-loving spirit. He was always happy and playful, and it’s such a shock to us all that we’re still trying to accept. His funeral was a week after his death and it took place at his mother’s homestead in the far south of the country in a very rural area. There are a lot of preparations that need to be done for a funeral in Swaziland because they’re not all taken care of by a company like they usually are in the States. All of us at All Out pitched in to help with things throughout the week.

The funeral was a typical 12hr overnight affair starting on Saturday night. First, the night vigil began around 10PM. Then the funeral service and burial took place at dawn on Sunday. Several staff went down on Saturday morning to build a tent where the vigil and service would be held, and string extension cords and light bulbs from a place with electricity to the homestead. One of the Swazi ladies on our staff helped cook food for the people who were there all day Saturday, making and serving lunch and dinner, and cooking food for the masses of people who would come later for the funeral.

I went Saturday evening with a few other coworkers and we helped prepare the food that would be served at dawn. Then we went into the tent where the night vigil had already begun. There were several pastors there taking turns preaching. The services alternated between sermons, which are delivered with much energy and volume, and songs that all the attendees participate in. Somehow, without having hymnals, everybody seems to know all the words and the tunes, because there are also no instruments. We non-Swazis, and non siSwati speakers, stayed until about 2AM at which point we were too cold and tired, so we took naps in the car.

Around 3:30AM I was too cold to sleep. It was about 45*F outside and windy, so it was really cold. I sat at one of the fires where the women were cooking and the guys were warming themselves. I talked with a Swazi guy for a while who was my late coworker’s brother-in-law. We talked about funerals in our countries and other aspects of our cultures and political systems, since they’re ruled by a king here. I also learned that he along with several of my coworkers and other guys took turns throughout the night digging the grave at the burial site nearby.

At 5AM they started the viewing and that’s when women started wailing and sobbing. The funeral service was held in the tent. As the sun rose, a group carried the casket and we all walked to the burial site about ¼ mile away. It was a huge procession and people were singing all the way there. At the burial site the pastors talked some more and people sang. Then we all took turns throwing dirt into the grave before the guys again took turns burying the casket. A group of women went to collect rocks which were placed over the grave. Everyone stayed until the burial was completely finished. Then we all walked back to the homestead and ate. After saying our goodbyes to his family we headed back home.

The Horrifying Part of Biking

Originally distributed April 2009 as “Cute, exciting, horrifying”

One morning I was biking to the nearby town of Simunye while Mduduzi was driving the volunteers there. It was so delightful cruising along and seeing vultures flying overhead, catching thermals and rising higher and higher, then cruising along in a string across the sky. Farther along several impalas were running parallel to me in the grass about 50yd in from the road. Beautiful!

As I made my way to Simunye there was an unexpected explosion. Flesh and car parts were suddenly flying in my direction. An impala had run out into the road at the wrong time. An SUV was coming toward me and the impala just darted out, giving the driver no chance to avoid it. I saw the impala run out and knew it would be hit. Within a split second the impala and the car merged. The majority of the impala’s body disappeared as soon as the impact happened, probably having been hurled into the bush in the direction from whence it came. But its intestinal contents burst all over the road. I slowed and swerved away from the road, flinching as the debris flew in my direction. The car pulled over several hundred yards past me. I stopped near the scene of the accident to take it all in. I must’ve been in shock because in hindsight, why would I want to see the remains of an animal hit by a car? What was I going to do? What if it was still alive? What if it was disturbingly mangled? Luckily, I didn’t see the body. And the smell from the intestinal contents was putrid and strong. So I continued on my way, trying not to vomit from the smell, which lingered for a while because the breeze was blowing in my direction.

Several minutes later, still on my way to Simunye, I cried. It was so sad and so shocking I was momentarily overcome. I still ride my bike on that road though as often as possible and just hope I don’t witness that same scene again. Sadly, it’s very common, and impalas are the most frequent victims because they’re the most numerous.

Biking with the Bulls

Originally distributed April 2009 as “Cute, exciting, horrifying”

In Hlane Royal National Park, where I live most of the time, I stay in a tent on the ground—no platform, nothing fancy, just your run-of-the-mill tent. I’ve been at Hlane for 6 weeks now so my tent hasn’t moved in all that time.  One morning when I was getting up I kneeled on the floor and I heard something move under the tent. My first thoughts were “lizard or scorpion” because they’re around and scorpions like to live under the tents. There was a crease in the floor of the tent so I pushed on it gently and I heard the critter move again. I kept doing this until I effectively chased the mystery animal out from under the tent. It turned out to be a cute little toad. It lived with me in that little space for about two weeks. Then it decided to move on. It was fun knowing I had a little neighbor there, even if I rarely saw it.

I recently bought a bike here in Swaziland and increased my happiness level by several orders of magnitude. Now I can get more exercise and move around more freely. My bike fits inside the kombi, so I brought it to Hlane right after buying it so that I can ride it out there during the week.

My first day riding it, I decided to leave the park and ride it on the tar road because there’s no place to ride it inside the park. Between the campsite and the road is a big game area, with hippos, rhinos, elephants, giraffes, etc, but no lions or big predators. You have to go through there to get to the road. Before I headed out, my field assistant Mduduzi told me he had seen elephants near the gates so I should be careful. Will do! As I pedaled out I looked carefully all around until I was again in safe territory at the other end. I rode along the road and had frequent adrenaline rushes as cars whizzed by at high speed. Mental note: next time ride against traffic so you can see them coming and see how much space they’re giving you.

On my way back into camp I remembered “elephants” so I was on the lookout. I went through the reception area and was cruising toward the gateway to the big game area. Screech!!! I grabbed the brakes and skidded to a stop on the dirt road. About 50yd to my left was a huge bull elephant. I got his attention by stopping so abruptly. Uh oh! I jumped off the bike and quickly turned it around to head the other way. He started coming after me. I ran, pushing the bike along next to me. There were two buildings near the gateway in the area I was in, Reception and a building across from it. I ran around the building opposite reception hoping that if the elephant couldn’t see me he’d stop his pursuit and move on.

Meanwhile a lady at reception was yelling to someone in siSwati. Then I saw the head ranger strolling down the drive, radio in hand, toward the elephant. I peaked around the building and saw the elephant standing in the gateway swaying back and forth as if he were thinking, “Should I chase that stupid girl or go back to browsing?” As the ranger approached, the elephant raised his trunk, appearing to sniff the air. There was chatter on the radio, which I’m sure the elephant could hear as well. He appeared to size up the situation and decide it would be in his best interest to stay inside the big game area and just continue on his way. After several seconds that’s exactly what he did. Thank goodness! I watched the elephant mosey along until he was a good distance away. But I stayed in my hiding place until the ranger gestured for me to go on through. Before I left though the receptionist cautioned me, “Be very, very careful or else you will become bulls@&$.” Thanks.

If I hear those sleigh bells ring-a-ling one more time…

I’m moving to Mars! I’m getting on the next space shuttle outta here, via Russia I guess. I’ll be back in mid-January after all the “ho, ho, ho” and “Oh my God! What am I going to get so-and-so for Christmas?” and “black Friday that now happens on Wednesday” and post-Christmas deep discount sales are over.

You’d think living in an impoverished, nearly unheard of nation in the southeast corner of Africa would mean that Christmas doesn’t bear down on us until oh, I don’t know, December? But no. Congratulations America! You have managed to influence even this tiny country to haul out the Christmas decorations in OCTOBER and play Christmas carols over the speakers of every store since at least NOVEMBER 10^TH!

So I was thinking, “Where is a Christmas sufferer to go?” Not to a Muslim country. They pray over loud speakers EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR, morning, noon and night, plus. So that won’t do for someone seeking religious peace and quiet. Hmm, maybe a predominantly Buddhist country then. That’s an option. More of an option than boarding a space shuttle and launching into space until the Christmas season has passed…though that would be my first choice.

Maybe I should just start stocking up on water and non-perishable foodstuffs in September and just avoid all shops at all costs until mid-January. I’ll start my shopping list for next year now and get a head start on the 2012 Christmas onslaught. Enjoy the holidays everyone!

Batman – short and sweet

Originally distributed April 2009

We’re now doing a project on bats that roost in people’s houses. The project does not focus on the fact that they roost in these places, but we have to catch them there as they leave their roost at sunset.

The bats have to be tracked by vehicle because they cover a lot of ground quickly and often change direction. So we can only track one bat at a time because we only have one vehicle. Each bat is followed for 3 days, so every few days we trap bats and tag a new one. The roost that we chose is in a house that has a vent on one exterior wall that the bats enter and exit from every day. It’s about 10ft above the ground. As the bats take off in the evening they swoop down out of the vent and start flying as they’re falling toward the ground. They don’t fall on the ground, but they do have to drop to take off. They can’t leap off of something and start flying. We figured out that a simple trapping device, a 5 gallon bucket nailed to an 8ft wooden post, would do the trick. You simply hold the bucket under the vent and as they come out you catch them in the bucket before they can start flying. It’s brilliant!

There are 5 of us in the field—the two Danish grad students Kristine and Christina, their Irish field assistant Adam, Mduduzi, and me. We take turns catching the bats as they come out of the roost. One evening, Mduduzi was off and Adam was on bat catching duty. He was in position ready to catch them as they emerged. Kristine, Christina and I watched from a distance and told him when they started to come out so he’d know to move the bucket into position. As they were coming out we shouted, “Lift! Lift! Higher! Higher!” With a satisfactory catch we all started walking back to the vehicle, where all the tagging equipment is. Kristine was walking near Adam and I was walking ahead with Christina. Then Christina and I hear from Adam, “Kristine, what are you doing?!” Then we hear Kristine, “What’s wrong with you?” We turn around to see Adam. His jacket is on the ground. He lifts the back of his shirt and a bat flies out! We all died laughing.

Watch Out For the Black Mambas

Originally distributed March 2009

I can’t tell you how many times I heard that before I left for Swaziland, especially from one particular uncle. Well, hold onto your hats. You won’t believe what I’ve been doing lately. Basically, I’ve been radio tracking black mambas for the past 7 weeks.

I didn’t know I would be tracking black mambas when I interviewed for or accepted the job. I did find out before I left for Swaziland though and decided that was one little tidbit of info I’d keep to myself…until after the project was over and I was still alive and well to tell about it. Many of you are worrying enough as it is. You didn’t need to know I was purposely following and approaching one of the deadliest snakes in the world.

In Swaziland they grow lots of sugar cane. The sugar cane attracts rodents and the rodents attract snakes. The snakes are dangerous to the people who have to work in the sugar cane fields. So there’s a couple in Swaziland who dedicate part of their time to responding to calls about venomous snakes in their homes, schools, sugar cane fields, etc. They capture the snakes and provide them refuge. Over time they began to wonder what would happen if they were to re-release the snakes in protected areas, like nature reserves. Would the snakes stay there and make themselves at home, or would they leave and try to return to their previous territories? To find out they partnered with animal tracking experts, namely the science director at All Out Africa, and snake biologists to release several snakes in a particular park and follow them around to find out where they would go.

Generally, very little is known about black mambas, but I can happily confirm firsthand now that they are not aggressive snakes. If they were, I would’ve been bitten a long time ago, because sometimes we approached to within striking distance of the snakes. Not on purpose, mind you.

Roughly 10 snakes were used in the study. Several were resident to the area either within or surrounding Nisela Nature Reserve, where the study took place. The rest were captured from many km away and translocated to Nisela. A veterinarian operated on them to insert the radio transmitters. After a couple days of recuperation the snakes were released and our work began.

At first the snakes didn’t move much. Some would move 50-100m in a day but that was it. We figure they were still healing from surgery. But once they were well again, some of them started trekking around the park.

We used two types of transmitters, because each researcher brought their own to the project. Unfortunately, within 10 days of release one set of transmitters failed and we lost track of all 5 of those snakes. So for the last 6wks we were only following 5 snakes. During that time, 3 of the 5 shed and we actually saw one slithering around in a bush with skin coming off. I disturbed one while it was eating a rat—total accident as I didn’t know exactly where the snake was until it was thrashing around in the grass regurgitating the rat because I was standing so close to it at the time. We also followed one from one end of the park to the other as it headed toward the housing area and later had to be recaptured and released because it perched itself on the roof of one of the beehive huts, where park visitors stay.

The snake that I disturbed had a sad demise. It had originally been captured near some rat cages at the park, where they breed rats to feed to their captive snake collection. When we released it we put it back in the same general area. Eventually, it returned to the rat cage area. The rat I saw it eating was an escapee though, the snake had not gotten it from the cage. But one day the snake was too tempted. It slithered in to one of the cages and killed several rats. The survivors, however, got revenge and killed the mamba. They bit it to death, and once it was dead they bit most of its head off. Gruesome indeed.

I’m sure you have lots of questions so I’ll do my best to answer them when I return from the field in two weeks. We’re now tracking bats though and we do it from a vehicle so it’s very tame. Yes, we had a few close calls while tracking the snakes. We were mandated to try to spot the snakes as often as possible so that meant we had to approach them pretty closely. At times we were practically on top of them. We often had to go through tall grass to get to where they were and that was hair-raising. One time we had a snake strike at us but it was at least 10ft away at the time and it didn’t strike in our direction. The snake felt our vibrations as we approached so it rose up and struck behind it, while we were actually to the side. But it was still scary. My partner, Mduduzi, had just spotted it in the grass and was pointing it out to me. That’s when it rose up and struck. I was very grateful for his extraordinary ability to spot snakes at such distances. I managed to spot several snakes during our tracking as well. It was cool to consciously experience how you can develop a search image.

Mduduzi and I never captured any of the mambas ourselves. Several staff at the snake park have special training to capture and handle them. But I did hold the body of one once while the snake park staff held its head to administer medicine in its mouth for an injury it had. So yes, I have held a black mamba, though not entirely by myself.

You’ll probably hear more about this project later in the year. But for now, you’ll be hearing about my work with more benign creatures—bats, storks and possibly vultures.

I’m an Alien, But I’m Not an Idiot!

Originally distributed February 2009

The song by Sting that goes, “I’m an alien. I’m a legal alien…” has been in my head the past few days. Here’s why. In Swaziland visitors get 30 day visas when they enter the country. When I interviewed for this job the director and I discussed the visa issue. He said Swaziland issues work visas but they’re complicated to apply for and can take up to a year to get. Well, with the prospect of a 1yr position, it was entirely plausible then that they could apply for a work visa on my behalf when I arrived here and I still wouldn’t have it by the end of the year. In that light, the recommendation was to just get a new 30 day visa every month. They’ve had lots of 1yr contract staff who have done that.

With the opportunity to go to Kruger with new volunteers every month that’s a piece of cake. Every month I’d naturally leave the country and get a new visa when I reentered. In fact, in January, after less than 2 weeks in Swaziland I was already leaving the country for my first visit to Kruger. That’s where the lion charge took place.

Since returning from Kruger, we’ve been working in one of the Swazi game reserves tracking wildlife, and I’ve kept in mind that sometime in late February I’d need to cross the border briefly to get a new 30 day visa. That time would be this past weekend. So back at the lodge on Saturday I pulled out my passport to see the date of my last Swazi entry stamp. They’re all jumbled on the 1^st 2 pages and some are hard to read. So I searched and searched for the one that was somewhere around January 23^rd. The latest one I could find was January 16^th. But, how could that be? As I racked my brain I came to a terrible conclusion. We had gotten back from Kruger on the 16^th and spent several days back at the lodge before going to the game reserve for tracking work on the 23rd. Uh oh….

Saturday night I saw my coworker Roland, who’s one of the head staff and a local Swazi, at a party and I told him my predicament. He said, “What you should do is go to the border tomorrow. They probably won’t even look at it, they’ll just stamp it. If you run into any problems give me a call.”

Sunday morning I found out a 3 month volunteer also had an expired visa. She said she’d go with me. The lodge manager, who has the same issue I do and has been crossing the border for a new visa every month since last March, suggested that we bring disguises. Nothing major, just hats and plain clothes, so we wouldn’t be so noticeable going and coming back within a short period. She also suggested we hang out at the nearby gas station for a ½ hr or so in South Africa before coming back through so it wouldn’t be so obvious that we were just leaving to renew our visas. Clearly, unlike some other countries, they don’t have a rule that you have to be out of the country for a minimum amount of time before reentering. In Costa Rica, for example, you have to be out of the country for 72hrs before reentering but apparently not in Swaziland.

Sunday afternoon we headed out and got to the border in about 45min (Swaziland is a very small country). We got to the counter and handed the guy our passports. He opened mine up, scanned the ID page with a machine, typed in some info and stamped it. Whew! One down, one to go! He opened the other passport, scanned it and typed in some info. Then he said, “You’ve overstayed. Why have you overstayed?” I told him we had lost track of time, which is entirely true. I had incorrectly remembered when I had reentered the country from the Kruger trip. But this was not reason enough to let us go. He told us this was an offense and to follow him behind the counter and into a back room. Great…..

A woman came in and he went back out to the counter. The three of us sat down. She asked why we overstayed and why we were there. Now we had to lie. We told her we were tourists. We borrowed a friend’s car, which was true, and we were headed to Jo’burg and Pretoria for a while, which was not true. Long story short, she could’ve fined us each about $50 but instead gave us a warning. I was relieved until I heard the warning. Upon our return to Swaziland we would only get a 2 day visa. Ok, not good. Not good at all! She led us back out to the counter, stamped our passports and wrote in them “final warning.” Great, just great!

So we left the Swazi border post all freaked out and went to the South Africa post. We got our passport entry stamps there with no problem because they automatically issue 90 day multiple entry visas. Outside the border post we looked for the gas station where we were advised to hang out and couldn’t find it anywhere. We drove about 15 miles into South Africa and there was nothing but a few homesteads sprinkled around. On top of that, once in South Africa we lost our cell phone service. Great!

We had nothing with us—no overnight bags, no food, no map of South Africa and now no cell phones. We turned around and drove back toward the border. Once within range again we called the lodge manager and told her what happened. She called Roland and told him to call us. Outside the US some countries only deduct credit when you make calls or send texts, you don’t lose any credit when receiving calls or texts. But they charge a hefty rate for the calls you do make. So it wasn’t a good idea for us to start making a ton of phone calls.

At the South African border there was nothing there. So I parked in a dirt parking lot behind a row of produce vendors, and there we waited and contemplated our fate. My friend was in trouble but her situation was not as bad as mine. They offer 60 day visa extensions, which are easier to get than temporary residence visas, but you can only get them once. So if you get a visa extension you can’t just leave the country at the end of 60 days and get a new 30 day visa. Once you get an extension you have to leave for at least 6 months (see, here they have a set minimum!) before you can come back. So that would work for her, but it wouldn’t work for me. Plus, now that I had “final warning” tattooed on my passport I would probably get hassled every time I tried to get a new visa. So I was really worried.

A while later, Roland called and told us to go back across the border and get the 2 day visas. We would sort it out first thing Monday morning. He was already making phone calls to Senators and immigration people he knew (his family is well known and well connected). Ok, but we told this woman we were going to Jo’burg, so how are we supposed to show up without an explanation? He told us to tell her that we talked to our friend and he advised us that this is something to be concerned about and we should come back right away to straighten it out. Ok, makes sense. And it’s the truth, yay!

Bolstered with moderate confidence, we went back through the border post and got our stamps in Swaziland. The guy who processed us didn’t ask or say anything. Thank goodness! We were so relieved to be back in Swaziland. Swaziland is familiar. Swaziland is pretty safe. Swaziland is where all our stuff is and we have beds to sleep in and we know how to get there! I really can’t overstate how relieved I was to be back on the other side again.

Quickly wrapping up, Roland took our passports to Immigration first thing Mon morning and got us 30 day visas. Otherwise, I would be back in South Africa right now. He applied for a visa extension for my friend and I’ve spent the past two days amassing documents and materials for a temporary resident permit with help and support from various people, chief among them being my parents.

To end on a lighter note, one of the things I had to get was a medical certificate. The form says, “I hereby certify that I [a dr.] have examined _Elaine Franklin_ and find that she is not mentally or physically defective in any way, that she is not an idiot, epileptic, insane, mentally deficient, deaf and dumb…” So now, folks, despite this recent blunder I have a certificate signed and stamped proving that I am not an idiot!

Don’t Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch

There are some sayings that fit life in Africa so well it wouldn’t surprise me if they originated here. “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch” comes to mind because of potential up-coming work opportunities. But as with so many things in life, especially in business and start-ups, don’t get too excited about something that hasn’t transpired yet.

First, I am relieved and delighted to say that, since July, things have finally been working out in my favor. That was my first break-through. I can pretty comfortably say that from January up until then I was encountering huge obstacles, hindrances, delays, etc. It was really wearing me down. In fact, when I was visiting the US in August I was constantly mentally exhausted. I was sincerely astonished when people told me “You look great!” I thought, “Seriously? Because I haven’t felt great for most of this year. So that’s truly amazing.”

People have approached me about doing environmental activities for their kids’ birthday parties or with their visiting volunteer groups, but nothing materialized. So, for future unknowns I use the word “potential” because, until it has actually happened, it only has potential to be great. One of those exciting potential opportunities is leading birding trips at Maguga Dam in Northwestern Swaziland. A reservoir has been created in one of the most beautiful parts of the country that has been stocked with fish for fishing, and a lodge has been built on the slopes to accommodate travelers and vacationers. The lodge staff have chosen me to lead birding trips for their guests. One of the benefits is that I got to stay at the lodge for 2 nights and watch birds to my heart’s content on land and on the reservoir on their boat. It was a great, relaxing trip and I hope birders will come to enjoy the same experience.

For the birding crowd I tallied 83 species over 2 days, 68 species the first day and an additional 15 the second with about 50 species tallied while on the boat. Highlights included the striking male Scarlet-chested Sunbird (click and scroll), a Gymnogene (renamed African Harrier-Hawk) and a pair of Barn Owls perched under one of the dam structures. I heard the Gorgeous Bush-shrike and Emerald Cuckoo, but sightings still elude me. Sometime when I have time to hunt them down though, I’ll see them.

While resting at the cottages, a very active pair of Red-winged Starlings was busy collecting big, fat, black millipedes to feed to their chicks. These millipedes are about as fat as your thumb and at least the length of your hand. So one is quite a meal, and quite large, which means the parents had to do a lot of beating and flailing of the millipedes on a hard surface to break them into bite-sized chunks. They’d take a chunk to their chicks leaving the rest on the stone steps or some concrete structure they used. Occasionally they’d remember that there was some left and come back for it. But more often than not they would forget and just go find another one. So that explains some of the dead millipedes lying around in pieces.

In addition to the potential birding guide work, I was contacted by a local non-profit that teaches life skills to orphaned and vulnerable children. They have asked me to lead some hikes and environmental activities for their group of teens in December. I had been tormented for months about putting together a nature camp in December, mainly because overnight camps are more appealing than the day camps I ran last year. This means I’d need to either find friends/acquaintances who’d be willing and able to help for free, in exchange for a fun and free experience while assisting and supervising the kids, or hire a couple of people to assist with the camp. So this opportunity with the Moya Center has been a real blessing. I am so relieved to have that sorted out, assuming nothing derails the plan of course.

So, the fact that in Africa you really can’t plan on anything and you can’t assume that something will happen just because you’ve set things in motion for it to unfold might explain some of the strange experiences I’ve had with other people. For example, I have known people working in particular places and suddenly they’re gone. I find out through others that they’ve left. They had opportunities to tell me they were going to leave, but they never did. Or they may have hinted but never said anything concrete like,“March 26^th will be my last day here.” Maybe it’s because you just don’t talk about something until it has really happened. Until then, who knows! It’s just talk. So, don’t count your chickens before they hatch. And encourage your chickens to lay lots of eggs!

Swazi Reverse Part 2 of 2

Originally distributed February 2009

My next big driving adventure took place in Nisela Game Reserve, where we’re currently working for the month of February and maybe into March. It had been hot, dry and dusty our 1^st few days there. But one afternoon we got a big thunderstorm that cooled things down dramatically. It continued raining lightly all night, so in the morning everything was adequately soaked. Mduduzi, my field assistant who usually does the driving, was not in the mood to drive so early in the morning after having a few drinks with friends the night before. Thanks, man! As much as I was not excited to drive on those roads I figured maybe better me than him! So off we went – Simone, Mdu, me and 3 other people who were helping with the field work that day. It felt like I was driving on ice and snow. You make a turn and the kombi doesn’t turn, it just slides. So I took it very slowly and we slid here and there, nearly crashing into barbed wire fences, trying not to slide into gullies and topple over. It was quite exciting. And once again the steering wheel was spinning left and right like it had a mind of its own. Somehow I managed not to crash or get stuck once. I was praised for my driving skills. I think Simone was most impressed, having seen my quick evolution as a Swazi kombi driver.

After our first stop, Mdu took over the wheel. Either his hangover had warn off or he was tired of me driving so slowly. So off we went and a few times we really went off! Right off the road. Spun perpendicular to the road once. Had to push the kombi 4-5 times before we finally got back to the campsite.

We continued to have intermittent rain showers over the next few days. So just as the roads had dried out enough to drive on, they’d turn to slick mud again. Luckily, the reserve managers, Clifton and Tia, have a couple of 4 wheel ATV’s (they call them quad bikes here) and said we could take those to our research sites. So one day, Mdu, Simone, one of the reserve staff named Pilani, and I went out on those. That was fun! They can handle the mud slicks and large puddles. Never mind that you get a mud bath at the same time. The only thing about one of the quad bikes is that Reverse doesn’t work on it. So you have to pull it backwards until it’s in a position to go forward. Pilani was calling this “Swazi reverse.”

This past week, Tuesday, Clifton and Tia had to go back to Simunye in the northeast where they own and manage a country club. They took the quad bikes with them because they needed to be serviced. Of course the rains came again. This time we didn’t have as many people to push the kombi when it was certain to get stuck. So we talked with the reserve staff and they arranged for one of the game drivers to drive us in their Land Cruiser, which they use for game watching drives. The only hitch with the land cruiser is that the starter was broken so it had to be kick started.

Wednesday morning, Mbazo, the game driver, tied a rope between the kombi and the cruiser and Mdu towed the cruiser until Mbazo was able to start it. Then off we went. At one of our research sites Mbazo decided to park the cruiser on a “hill” and turn it off, because we were going to be there at least an hour. When we were ready to go Mdu, Pilani and I got behind the cruiser and pushed. Unfortunately, Mbazo didn’t wait until we had enough momentum before he tried to start it. So it lurched to a halt. Now, this “hill” he was parked on wasn’t much of a hill at all. In the lowveld you’re hard pressed to find any real hills. This hill was really just a mound of dirt created when some animal dug a tunnel. So there we were completely stopped on flat ground. Oh well. So we gave it our best effort to push it into motion again. We got it rolling, but once again not fast enough before over-eager Mbazo tried to start the engine.

Plan B was to walk back several miles to the camp site and get the kombi. The comedy here was that the kombi was 1) supposed to make it to where the cruiser was and 2) pull the cruiser through the mud until it was going fast enough to start. Yeah, right! This is gonna work! But we tried it anyway. Of course the kombi got stuck 2-3 times just getting to the cruiser. So we had to push it to get it unstuck. Then we got to the cruiser, tied them together, and Pilani and I pushed the cruiser while Mdu and Mbazo drove the cars. By a miracle it actually worked! Woo hoo! So we headed back and called it a morning. I’m getting a workout in the field after all, and mud facials at the same time.

Swazi Reverse Part 1 of 2

Originally distributed February 2009

Once again, lots of stories and not enough time to tell them all. I’ve picked up a new skill though. I can now drive a stick shift on the left side of the road, which requires shifting with the left hand. It wasn’t as hard to get used to as I thought. What has made it more of an achievement is the fact that I haven’t been driving a small easy-to-maneuver car. No. It’s been a 14 seat van….on the crappiest, most beat up, slick, muddy roads. With trees, wildlife and barbed wire fences to contend with. Now that’s driving!

When I found out I would be driving in Swaziland, a stick shift van on top of it, I was apprehensive. As usual, instead of a gradual build up (drive an automatic on the left to reacquaint myself with the other side of the road) I was thrown into the deep end. One day in Lobamba, where my home base is, I was told to drive my volunteer, Simone, in the van (called a kombi here) to a nearby nature reserve where we would chase reptiles around all morning.

Before we left, one of the local guys named Sifiso, who leads a bunch of volunteers in community improvement projects, asked if I would give him a ride to his project site, which was on the way to the reserve. I said sure. I still had to gather some equipment before we set off. When I returned to the kombi there were about 14 people standing around waiting for a ride! “Holy s@#t!” I exclaimed. I’m not driving all those people down this beat up sloping driveway the first time I ever drive this vehicle. So I handed the keys to Sifiso and insisted that he drive to the project site and that I’d take over from there.

It was a good decision because we needed gas and I wouldn’t have been in a state of mind to even notice that the gauge was solidly on E. So Sifiso took us all to get gas and then we were on our way. Once at the project site I took over. I’m sure Simone was peeing her pants, as I had been very open with my apprehension about driving in Swaziland. But she was outwardly calm and I did fine. Never stalled, didn’t have any trouble handling the kombi. I was relieved.

Getting it back up the driveway was like handling a bucking bronco. The driveway is so torn up you bounce around a lot and the steering wheel goes flying left and right. You have to just take it slow and let it do its thing, as long as that doesn’t include crashing into the fence or a parked car. So we made it safely and I started breathing again.

Too Close For Comfort

Originally distributed January 2009

Did I mention before that we were busy for 18-19hrs/day everyday for 2 weeks? That means there are more stories than I have time to write or you have time to read. But here’s another must share.

After Mlawula we drove up to South Africa and spent 3 days in Kruger National Park. Amazing place! Wildlife galore, everywhere! Just driving from the entrance gate to our campsite, which was a long drive in itself, we saw tons of animals—giraffes, zebras, the usual antelope species, baboons, vervet monkeys, ostriches, elephants, hippos, rhinos, lions. They offer game drives and game walks there. These rangers carry rifles, loaded, with a hip belt full of additional ammo. Brass bullets. They don’t mess around. On our last day there I did a game walk with 7 other people from the group. By this time several of them were tired of elephants. I never get tired of elephants. I could watch them all day. But that’s me. Some of these younger folks have ADD and think real life should be like a 1hr Animal Planet show. So they were over elephants by this time and wanted to see predators.

It turned out to be their lucky day. Within the 1^st 15min we found 2 cheetahs. One was perched conspicuously on a log and the other was clawing a tree stump. They were having a face-off with a herd of zebras that were only about 30yds away. Then the zebras trotted off and the cheetahs followed. They weren’t hungry though because they had just eaten a young impala. We knew because some vultures took off from the area upon our approach which led us to the remaining 3 legs and half a jaw from the impala. From there we started tracking a lone bull elephant. But on the way we heard a lion calling. So we debated whether to forget the elephant, because of the ADD kids, or approach the elephant since we already knew where it was. Long story short, after approaching the elephant part-way we changed course and headed for the lions.

When you go on a game walk, before you go anywhere the rangers explain how things are done to keep you safe. Hand signals, commands, “don’t run,” etc. You always go out with 2 rangers and both are armed. As we approached the lions the lead ranger told us, “If I signal to get down, get way down, right away. Pay attention.” We got to within about 40yds of the lions and he signaled for us to crouch down. The lions noticed us and started growling. Great. Then he said, “If I tell you to scream, scream. If I tell you to stand up, stand up slowly and don’t turn away.” He cocked his rifle. So there we were crouched down with the lions growling at us and he’s saying, “Take pictures, take pictures, take pictures.” I was behind several people and couldn’t even see the lions. I thought, “Geez, if I’m going to die for being too close to these lions I at least want to see them. That’s why I’m risking my life out here after all.” So I got up a few inches and leaned around and saw two lionesses growling ferociously at us. My heart was pounding, of course. Meanwhile, one of the women behind me was snapping away with her professional camera.

Then he told us to stand up slowly. At that point I saw one of the lionesses start to lunge in our direction then immediately change course and run in the other direction. They disappeared from sight. We slowly backed away several steps, still facing their direction. Then the other ranger led us farther away to where we could relax a little. There, the lead ranger told us where the lions had moved to. There was a male with the females, but I couldn’t see him from my vantage point. Once we had moved away the lions split up and moved too. The male was watching us and flicking his tail in agitation. After a minute or two there we moved farther away to a safe distance. Whew!

I really don’t need that kind of excitement. During game drives we encountered several male lions and a pride of females with a juvenile male, all on the road and we were in the safety of our vehicle. That’s enough for me. Being out there on foot and knowing they were there…that’s enough for me. I’m good with that. Seeing giraffes up close on foot was cool. They’re not scary or dangerous. But I don’t need to get face to face with lions even though I did.

It turns out my head was partly in one of the lady’s shots. She was frustrated about it. I told her, “Send it to my parents.” It turns out the ranger wants that picture because it’s good advertising, showing how close you can get to the animals. So it all worked out….and we survived to tell the tale. And here’s the picture!

By the way, how many lions do you see in this picture? Look carefully!

Late Night Bathroom Run

Originally distributed January 2009

The first night at the campground I had quite a scare. After going to bed I had to get up and go to the bathroom, and of course the toilets were way across the campground. We were the only group there and people don’t use the park very much. I had my headlamp with me but the moon was pretty bright so I didn’t use it the whole time walking back and forth.

When I came out of the bathroom I heard a huffing/grunting sound right near the bathroom door maybe 15-20yds away. I turned on my headlamp and couldn’t see anything but I could tell it was something large that I didn’t want to be near. So I ran across the grounds toward our tents where there’s a large gazebo, which also served as our kitchen. At the gazebo I heard a plastic water jug fall over. The wind was blowing lightly so it could’ve simply been the wind but I couldn’t tell and didn’t want to take any chances. So I ran over to the tents and walked along the line of tents toward my own. The whole time I heard the grunting sound and it sounded like it was across from me. So either one animal was moving and following me, or there were many of them…whatever “they” were.

To top things off, Simone and I were stuck with a crappy old tent that had temperamental zippers. So when I finally got to the tent I had to fight the zipper to get it open. The whole time I’m hearing this grunting sound behind me and I can’t see what it is, or where it is! Finally I got the zipper open enough to get in and I just jumped in. Simone woke up to my headlamp shining in her face and colorful language. Luckily the mystery animal was still grunting so she heard it and knew I wasn’t crazy. It/they continued grunting for a minute or 2 before settling down. My heart stopped racing as well and I went back to sleep.

 

The next morning I asked around and other people had heard it too. The local research director whom I work with, Ara, said they were probably wildebeests. I had heard wildebeests grunting at us in Hlane during our game drive, so I wondered if they were the ones scaring my pants off. But even if it was “only” wildebeests, they have sharp horns and if they thought I was a threat to them, how did I know whether or not they were going to try to do me in? So it was scary.

Soft Core Herping

Originally distributed January 2009

This is not going to go in chronological order because I need to provide some details on what I was/will be doing on a day to day basis in the field. It’s been a crazy 2wks. Bob McCleery the head professor on the TX A&M group’s trip, runs a boot camp schedule. Up by 5AM, working all day, up until 11PM-12AM and then up again the next morning by 5AM. Day after day. Everyone was exhausted all the time.

Barring that introduction, the TX group was great. They didn’t complain much, they all got along well the whole time and were really motivated. The trip was run by Bob, another professor, and a PhD researcher who had a superiority complex that became a common topic of conversation amongst the others. The students included 5 grad students and 11 undergrads who were all in this short field course together. Their job was to develop mini research projects and figure out the methods for collecting the data. They studied moths, bats, amphibians/reptiles (affectionately referred to as herps in the science world), predators, and game animals.

I was part of the bat crew since that’s what I’ll be doing for several months this year. I also have one volunteer for this month, named Simone, who was out with us in all the chaos. She’s from Germany and is a great sport.

Simone and I headed to the field with my immediate boss, Belinda, and met the TX group at one of the national parks, Mlawula (say M Lawula), where we all camped in tents for a week. For the bat research we set up mist nets and a specialized bat trap called a harp trap (because it kinda looks like a harp). The first night we caught bats and glued radio transmitters on them. I went to bed at 12:30 that night once we were all done. Then I got up at 6AM and I was late! Everyone else was up and ready to go find the bats in their roosts. Schedule-wise, that’s pretty much how the whole 2wks went.

For the week at Mlawula we tracked bats while they were foraging 7-11PM then started at 6AM finding their roost sites all morning. It was interesting. Unfortunately, the bats didn’t stay in the same roost sites everyday. That meant we found bats in a particular tree one morning and the next morning they weren’t there.  So we had to track them down elsewhere. And they didn’t all roost together in one place. A few hung out together but the rest were scattered around. We also tracked more than one species so they don’t all use the same kind of roost sites.

Simone and I also got to go out on a couple of game drives. For that you go out after sunset with big spotlights and count the number and species of animals you see by looking for their eye shine. Since this was a well-equiped group from TX they also had a night vision scope and an infrared camera. The goal was to see how many animals you pick up with the infrared vs the spotlight. They figured out people miss 1/3 to ½ of the animals with the spotlight. That info is useful to park managers who want to keep track of animal population sizes in the parks.

There’s a well-known herp expert who joined us at the park for a couple nights to lead herping expeditions. One night the group was so tired several of them didn’t want to go full-on searching for 3hrs. So as we were driving back at night from another location, and after a rain that left puddles everywhere, several of the students agreed to “soft core herping,” which was simply searching for frogs and other critters on the way back to the campground via the car’s headlights.

Now, going back in time, our first day out with the group we went to a neighboring private game park called Hlane (forget about pronunciation). We went on a game drive in the morning and saw a family group of elephants with a 2 wk old baby! It was so cute. I was amazed the adult females let us get so close! We were sitting in the jeep practically in the middle of the herd while they grazed and browsed. Then we went and found a family of hot, sleepy lions. There was an adult male, 3 lionesses and a cub or two hiding in the bushes. We drove right up on them too. They were too hot and tired to respond though.

In the afternoon we went on a game walk there. As far as I recall the ranger didn’t carry a gun. My group encountered a lone bull elephant, but we backed up and kept our distance, a group of hippos and a crocodile in a pool, wildebeest, kudu, impala, waterbuck, nyala, a young leopard tortoise, and a variety of birds. For the animals you don’t know, browse around my photo pages or Google Images. We were looking for rhinos and found evidence of them—footprints, droppings—but no rhinos in the flesh.

In Mlawula, I saw my first zebras and warthogs. All the warthogs have little babies right now, and they’re surprisingly cute! I also saw grey duikers, a genet, baboons, and all the other antelope species listed above. There weren’t any elephants or lions so it was safe to wander around in the dark when tracking the bats.

There’s a Skink in the Sink!

I really don’t have to be creative. I don’t make these things up. I just observe and end up in the right place at the right time from time to time. The longer I’ve stayed at Mlilwane Park’s campsite the longer the list of intriguing things I’ve encountered in the bathroom. Last weekend there was a striped skink, a common type of lizard here, in one of the sinks. I don’t know how it got there, but it didn’t seem to be able to get itself out. First I tried putting a stick in there to give it a way to crawl out on its own. But I felt a little strange about leaving a stick in the sink unattended as the next bathroom user would surely find that even more puzzling than a lizard if the lizard was gone by then. But staying there just made the skink nervous. Hmm.

I reluctantly decided to just “rescue” the skink by hand, which of course freaked it out quite a bit, but I figured it was better off in the long run. First I grabbed it and put it on the countertop, holding it captive for only a second or two. But this animal clearly wasn’t equipped to move on stone countertops like a gecko does so easily. It skittered on its belly, wiggling its body and tail and using its limbs like paddles in water. Not very effective. So I picked it up again and put it on the ground outside. By this time the poor thing was really stunned. It sat there on the ground with its body kinked up in an unnatural position. I watched it for several seconds and it just stayed there, frozen. So I left it alone to regain its composure and move to a more sheltered location on its own.

Meanwhile, at the very same time, there was a tiny green frog on the wall. I left it alone, other than taking its picture, because it was free to move around at any time. Turns out, it stayed for several days. I don’t know how it ended up on the bathroom wall or why it hung out there for so long.

Now that I’m posting these stories on an actual blog site, there will be an initial flurry of activity since I’ve been sharing these stories for almost three years already (assuming the internet connection is functioning). What can I say? In some ways I have to be dragged into the 21^st century. “An mp3 player? What is that, and why should you even want one?” Ha! I learned the answer and promptly got one. But yes, I tend to be slow to adopt new technologies (unless they’re green technologies, of course).

Posting all the old stories will give newer recipients a chance to read old stories if they feel so inclined. Plus, I’ve gotten behind in the past few months and have at least a few new experiences and thoughts to share, so I have to get caught up on those too. One more handy feature I’ve realized is that I no longer have to remember to include the link to my photos page. It’s always here at the bottom of the home page. And yes, I’m behind on that too. But I’m working on it!

I’ll be playing around with the layout and distribution methods for the next little while so if you prefer one way over another just let me know! And as always, if I’m sending things to you and you don’t want to receive them anymore, don’t hesitate to communicate that. As long as you do it kindly and gently, I won’t be offended.