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Published: March 11th 2014
Little thief!
The camp is their favorite playground!Let's see...there was the night in Croc River camp, an un fenced campsite in lush Zambia, where all day monkeys had terrorized us stealing sandwiches, water bottles, lens caps...anything that wasn't nailed down. Where hippos (and hopefully not crocs) had wallowed in the river not far from where we were camped and lions roared mightily in the not so distant distance
That evening we were briefed on proper night time safety protocol:
1. Walking to the toilets at night always hold your headlamp in your hand and sweep the area far in front of you 180% from side to side with the light....you don't want to surprise or be surprised by anything large and aggressive on its way to some important rendezvous.
2. If possible let someone know where you are going or go with a buddy
3. Always keep your tent flap closed....you don't want any nasty (probably venomous) visitors, large or small, to slither in.
Yeah yeah yeah...I'd heard it all before plus was on top of my game, had my swagger on...I was a seasoned bush camper. Too cool for school....in any case the Maasai armed with their spears as usual were there
hired to pad about all night long and guard the camp.
An't nothin going to happen to me! What? I'm just sayin!
Fast forward to 2am....I'm awakened out of a deep sleep by an uncomfortable feeling, something had disturbed me...but what? Holding my breath and moving only my eyeball muscles I scanned the darkened tent from the cozy cocoon of my sleeping bag...ohhhh crap! My heart catapulted to the very pit of my stomach....pure cold fear....staring at me from the corner of my tent nearest the zippered flap was a pair of bright beady eyes belonging to.....SNAKE!.....I thought...how did it get in? I'm so careful!! (Guess not careful enough)!
Barely moving I slowly felt next to my pillow for my head lamp and switched it on...there crouched in the corner was a large, fit and extremely springy looking FROG?!! Thank God, at least it wasn't a snake but now what? Game on!
Look I'm not afraid of frogs but I certainly don't want to share my tent with one and have it jumping on me in the middle of the night!
The problem at hand: how do I get rid of the frog without having
Zambian village
Serenity & beauty it jump on me which of cause would precipitate wild flailing, crash down my tent and wake up the entire camp?
There is no way I can call the Maasai... For a snake yes, a nearby croc...for sure, even a monkey worrying my tent flap would qualify, but a frog?! Never happen! They would think I'd lost my mind not to mention my swagger!
So see me now with my head lamp on, my mosquito racket in hand (thank goodness my sister had bought it for me as a parting gift) of cause I was not going to zap the frog with an electric current, I was just glad to have a tool to shoo it with other than my bare hands!
In one violent tug I managed to unzip the tent flap to the benefit of the hitherto frustrated mosquitoes and a mad dance ensued.
Headlamps' beams shine straight forward, let me assure you the frog made it his business to jump anywhere but forward! Across the beam of light from one pool of darkness to the next he leapt with me in hot pursuit. For a good half hour I crouched (you can't stand
Break time for Mayhem!
Exhausted from day of terrorizing camp upright in the tent) spun and lurched in every direction racket in hand chasing the frog...light beam always in the wrong place... frog going wild! Eventually I managed to oust it, zipped my tent closed, flicked on the current in the racket, zapped the heinous mosquitoes, turned off my headlamp and tried to get some rest. Phew!
Next morning 5am, I sauntered from my tent - the queen of cool, silently saluted the Maasai with a barely perceptible head nod as was our way....'my brothers'....offered them the customary tea and toast, then inspected every inch and fold of my tent for any wayward creature no matter how small, before I rolled it, stowed it and took my place in the truck.
Maybe it was just my imagination but there seemed to be an extra twinkle in the eyes of the Maasai as I waved goodbye that morning, for, after all, in the velvet darkness when a light is on in the tent, to the onlooker outside everything is revealed in silhouette against the screen of the canvas.
They must have thoroughly enjoyed the show!
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Earl
non-member comment
That's a good one!!
Too much wild life for me…oh my!!