27 September 2009

Afternoon Mini-Hurricane


I love these storms that come barreling down the mountain. The heavy rain only lasts for 20 minutes or so, but the storm dumps plenty of water.

21 September 2009

Now I know what snakes eat for lunch

Ellie and I had a run-in with a snake this afternoon. I'm telling myself it was a harmless house snake and even though I can't find an exact match for it online, as long as it wasn't a green mamba I'll sleep soundly tonight. (Click on the photo to see it full-size.)

I was settling in with some afternoon studying when I glanced toward the front door and wondered why Ellie was beside herself at the screen, watching a piece of green string out on the patio. Duh, of course that's not green string. I did what anyone would do. Not close the door, but grab my camera and wonder how close I could get before finding out if it was venomous or not.

It was a few feet from the door but because of the screen I couldn't get a good shot. It was green with some blue and it had a white underside (and according to wikipedia, where everything is always correct, that coloration indicates not a mamba). Its "neck" seemed unusually thick. I was ninety percent sure it was a harmless house snake so I opened the door and took a couple steps out (stupidly, I'll admit, in bare feet). My running shoes were just outside the door, but it didn't occur to me to put them on and anyway I might have scared the snake away before I could take a picture. I was able to get around it so I was parallel to it and snap a better photo. 

But then it started moving toward the front door, putting itself between the door and me. There's about an inch of space between the floor and the bottom of the door and I really didn't want the snake going inside, where Ellie was waiting for it not-so-patiently. But I was frozen in place. All I could do was watch it slither over my running shoes, up the screen a few inches, then back down onto the patio. It stopped for a few seconds, then slithered off into the yard. It left behind a present for Ellie and me -- a half-dead, half-digested gecko. So that's why it looked so thick right behind the head. We disturbed its lunch.

As I've been writing this, a third snake species has popped into my head: boomslang. The coloration is similar to the house snakes and they eat chameleons, geckos, and other small reptiles. They are quite venomous. However, they aren't usually terrestrial and even less likely to be out in the open. I'm sticking with house snake.

I'm not afraid of snakes, but I prefer that they stick to their territory and I'll stick to mine. And I really don't want another gecko hunter hanging around. Between Ellie and our woodland kingfisher (he's back; we've had two great sightings this week!), we're on the verge of a gecko shortage.

(I just went back to open the door; it's too stuffy in here with it closed. The half-digested gecko has disappeared.)

13 September 2009

We Have Coucal Confirmation

For weeks some big birds have been skulking about in our bushes. We suspected they were coucals and I was even pretty sure black coucals. This afternoon, however, we were treated to a clear view of not one, but two white-browed coucals sitting in trees and sending out their calls. We'd always assumed this particular call was from laughing doves, but after today there's no doubt that what's referred to as a "water bottle bubbling" sound in our bird books comes from these white-browed coucals. 

I'm not giving up on the idea that at least one of the skulkers is a black coucal. I've seen some flashes of black and rust that seem brighter than the white-browed coucal. 

One of our bird books refers to coucals as "cumbersome." They certainly do not seem very graceful. They plod along the ground awkwardly and they are not inconspicuous when trying to find cover in bushes. The black coucals have a somewhat sleeker appearance, but the white-browed coucals have a blustery look. They make a lot of rustling noises, which you'd think would attract predators. But, maybe they let their guard down in our yard because it's a relatively safe area.

Top photo: White-browed coucal from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-browed_Coucal

Bottom photo: Black coucal from http://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/~amit/birds/index.html

12 September 2009

It's going to be a long short rainy season

The short rainy season should be starting any minute now and I couldn't be happier. We had a terrific preview of it on Wednesday, with the wind blowing so hard it rained under the doors and windows into the house, and our terrace became a shallow pond. The filling that had been stuffed into many potholes washed away and a stream came rushing down the gully behind our house. It was quite a storm. 

And everyone hoped it meant that the rainy season had officially begun. But instead, impossibly it seems like the last few days have been even hotter than the rest of the dry season. Humid, too, which is cruel if it's not going to go ahead and rain. 

The electricity is certainly acting as if the rainy season is here; it's been fluctuating like crazy for the last week. 

Do you remember that Sesame Street clip where it's hot and still and everyone's waiting for the rain with great anticipation? That's what it's been like here for the last few days.

We are among some of the lucky people here who have air conditioners. I hate using it during the day unless it's absolutely necessary (for the most part the heat is bearable with a fan on; plus I like all the animal noises from outside). The last few days it's been absolutely necessary, but because of the wonky electricity I've been trying to turn on as few appliances as possible.

Right now I see some ominous clouds forming behind the mountain. I hope they develop into rain some time between now and the next two hours, before we leave for an outdoor party.

The photo is from one of the first big rains last year. Wednesday's was like that, only during the daytime. 

02 September 2009

Avoiding the Burundian Health Care System, Just Barely

"In the dry season of his thirty-third year, Michael Tannenbaum was run over by a parliamentarian riding a motorcycle."

Mike took a Wes Anderson approach to his incident last week. His knee's a little banged up, but nothing serious. He was crossing the street, on foot, at a busy intersection that we have to walk through nearly every day, when a motorcycle hit him. And it wasn't just any run-of-the-mill moto-taxi driver. This was the personal bike of a member of Burundi's parliament. We can laugh about it since no one was seriously hurt. But the danger from auto accidents here actually is no laughing matter.

Probably a greater health risk than contracting malaria is having an auto accident. They happen all the time because of the lack of any sort of safety and driving training for the local population. (Yet they have numerous Auto-Ecoles here. I can't figure out what they're teaching.) All we can do is try to take care of ourselves on the road to avoid accidents. There are no medical or emergency services that are any where near American standards of care. I've met several doctors and nurses, and they all genuinely work hard. Some have even been trained in France and Belgium. But even the most well-intentioned doctor can't do a good job under the working conditions here. Training is usually sub-par. Health worker salaries are dismal. Equipment is always broken or missing. Many hospitals do not have electricity 24 hours a day. When a friend broke her arm, she went to five different clinics before she found both a working x-ray machine and a technician who knew how to use it properly.

We do our best to stay healthy and in one piece. Sometimes maybe we border on paranoia with our carefulness. But you never know. Even when you look both ways before crossing the street, a motorcycle driven by someone who is virtually above the law could come out of no where.