Lizards, and Spiders and Snakes, Oh My!

Lizards, and Spiders and Snakes, Oh My!

Oh yes, there are many creepy crawlies in Southern Africa! This is not safe Colorado any more. We share our hut with lizards, sort of like geckos but without the accent. Most of them are small and help control the bug population. There has been an occasional big yellow lizard which has gotten my attention, but mostly we know about their presence by the small droppings they leave behind, and sometimes by quiet skitterings we hear along the roof at night. I did see one big and very colorful lizard, maybe a monitor, during training, and hope not to encounter him again. The lizards for the most part are good neighbors.

The spiders come in all shapes and sizes. The big ones in our latrine (outhouse) can be pretty scary. Mark has been wonderful to rid the outhouse of spiders, but one recent spider even surprised him. Its body was bigger than a man's thumb and the rest of him (the spider) was the size of your palm. I didn't stay in the outhouse long! The centipedes are a good four inches long. To keep our huts bug free, we were advised by the Peace Corps to use “Doom”, a white powder which I have generously sprinkled around. We find lots of dead bugs and I can only wonder what effect the powder has on our bodies.

It is the equivalent of early April here – remember we are in the Southern Hemisphere so our seasons are just the opposite of yours - with hints of a long hot (very hot) summer ahead. Summer here is the rainy season and brings much anticipated moisture. Last year there was little rain and a poor maize crop. The result is many hungry people. With the rain also come the mosquitoes. Swaziland has almost eradicated malaria, but not quite, As a result we are on Mefliquine for 2 years and sleeping under mosquito nets. We spent some time this past weekend putting up netting on our windows. At night I feel a nice sense of security (maybe false) with my mosquito net all tucked in around me.

And now the snakes. First, I really don't like snakes and Swaziland has many snakes and they take them seriously. There are several types of vipers and the black mambas. I am told you can encounter them day and night. So far I have managed to not have any close encounters, but a small black mamba was killed just outside our hut recently. I was happy to miss his demise, but have had to alter my nocturnal habits as a result. Our latrine is some distance from our hut. I no longer visit the latrine at night. We have purchased a pee bucket! I know it is just a matter of time and the snakes would rather not see me, but rationality doesn't help.