Tuesday, January 25, 2011

The Local Fauna

Two very interesting things happened to me over the past week. Both things directly related to the local fauna. The first thing occurred on a very unsuspecting morning. I was sitting at my desk working on something which I can't remember what it was now when I heard a rustling outside. I was the only one in the office. I figured it was probably just the chickens running around or climbing on the roof like they so often do (those crazy cocks!) so I left it alone. So I'm working away and once again I hear the chickens but then I thought to myself, 'that is too loud to be a chicken'. But then it got quite again and I ignored it. Anyway this little song and dance went on for the better part of an hour before I finally decided to put my curiosity to rest. I opened the front door of the office and there was a water buffalo standing 2 feet from me and staring right at my face. We both froze. I stared into his tantalizing eyes for what seemed like 10 minutes but which was probably only 12 seconds. after a long moment the freeze was broken by the water buffalo abruptly turning his head to eat a bar of soap sitting on the bench next to him. He chewed exactly twice and then swallowed the bar of soap and continued starring at me. I paused again more briefly this time and then burst out laughing which scared the water buffalo away. hahaha! Man that was funny.

The second story is a little less funny. I went on a rafting trip this weekend with a couple friends (soooo fun), in which I managed to let the rapids throw me off the raft twice.... no one else on the trip got thrown off once. Anyway, at one point our guide steers the raft into the river bank and runs up the hill without a word. He is rustling in the bushes for a minute leaving the rest of us to only guess what he is doing. After a minute or so he pops out with what looks like a parakeet, her two wings pinched at the ends between his fingers. Of course we all launch in with the questions. He said the bird was endangered and she had been injured, probably from a larger bird (maybe an eagle he said) that tried to eat her. I have no idea how he spotted her or knew that she was injured from 50 meters away, but somehow he did. This guy has talent what can I say. Anyway it had become our mission to get the bird to the end of the river ASAP so that we could get her some medicine and hopefully nurse her back to health. Margery wasn't going down without a fight! (I named her – it kinda stuck) Unfortunately this tale of heroics has a sad ending. Margery died on the way back. She now lays to rest buried in the beaches of the river where she lived. That was a beautiful story that I'll never forget. 

1 comment:

  1. Wow what an experience! The only meetings I have with animals is when squirrels jump out of garbage cans

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