Hatari!

Walking through Rubondo forest is dangerous not only because we have hippos and elephants roaming around– we saw 2 elephants this morning on the road– but also because many of the trees and small shrubs here have thorns on them; the caterpillars and ants bite and sting us, and occasionally we also bump into the odd snake or two.

This hairy fella I stroked for several minutes, his hairs didn’t sting, so not all hairy caterpillars are dangerous. Although I wouldn’t dare touch the one below… because his spikes scream out Hatari!

The fella below I managed to accidently brush against my cheek one wet morning…it stung like hell, and left me with a rash for several days.

The palm spikes are about 3 inches long and v. painful, apparently they contain poison.

These samplings of the crocodile tree are always catching my legs in the bush.

A visitor in July unfortunately managed to impale her hand on a crocodile-tree spike whilst trying to catch herself from falling; her poor hand swelled up. This is what they eventually become (see below).

Luckily we haven’t experienced any bites from snakes…

Here a Rock python

(photos of python by J.S.)

and Jameson’s mamba

(Photo by J.P)

The house cont.

Rubondo Island is full of wonderful creatures some very big and others small. 

I share my bedroom with the sweetest little creature and each evening she pops out to finish the food on my plate and nibble on left over fruit. At first I thought it was a bush baby, but one day I caught it eating a banana in one of my bags and after closer inspection I came to the conclusion that it is definitely a mouse. 

 

 

 

Yesterday we found her in a bucket in the bathroom, and I don’t think she was feeling very well so I left her to rest in my bed before heading out to the forest