By special request from Judith!
Here is Paul’s blog address for those who may not have it and
who may be interested in a more serious approach: http://paulinzebilla.blogspot.com
Oh
how peaceful living in the country far away from the noisy town,
Oh
how peaceful living in the country, here’s a place to settle down!
Lizards of all shapes and sizes are abundant in this part of
Ghana. First there is the small, speedy
one scuttling like an over-anxious crab on the hot, exposed sand. Yesterday I watched one stretching up on back
legs to catch the drips from a water tank, eyes alert for danger, almost
tripping itself over in its hasty retreat.
The larger varieties are slightly less prehistoric looking and
tend to lurk more around trees and undergrowth than buildings. Some have flashy orange heads used like a
periscope to seek out insects (and danger).
Then there is the gecko, again in many varieties; the ones
with the orange spots or the enormous suckers on their feet; long tails; short
tails; ones that hang upside down from the ceiling or scurry around on walls
and behind cupboards sounding like a plague of rats; and finally the very
communicative ones. Imagine the loud
sucking/clicking noise made by a toddler sucking very enthusiastically on a
dummy and there you have it. I never
knew they made a noise at all!
The pigeons here are also of the loud variety: same size and
shape as the collared dove but with pretty pink and blue/grey feathers and a
much larger voice box! It’s like having
a miniature chimpanzee laughing outside your room. Paul thinks they are laughing
doves. Sometimes we are tempted to call
in the heavy mob – the vultures and black kites which hover around – just to
keep them quiet!
Insects also fill the air waves with their constant clicks,
buzzes and whistles…as long as they are singing and not biting that’s ok with
me! Perhaps the bats living in the roof
of the office block help to keep down the insect population whilst making their
enormous contribution to the harmonies of wild Africa. It’s like working in a large, busy office
where every door is rusty and in need of a good oiling…creak, creak, creak!
Guinea Fowl are the next creatures on my list of outrageously
vulgar and argumentative cacklers, particularly at 5am outside your
window. They are even more annoying when
they chase each other across the road right in front of you; it’s like a
witch’s convention, all screaming at once!
However, I did feel sorry for them yesterday when the tro-tro we were
riding in ran over one. There was really
no need; the driver could see the mother crossing the road with her brood
cackling behind her but he chose not to slow down.
Other creatures roaming freely around the land and adding to
the cacophony of sound are the donkeys (one has just grunted outside as I
type!), chickens (yes, there goes the cockerel, full throttle, …who cares what
time of day or night it is), goats, pigs, dogs and the occasional cow. All are scrawny, lean and mean, half starved
creatures scratching away at the ever decreasing vegetation and ever increasing
piles of rubbish. Most of them will end
up in the pot sooner or later; yes, even the dogs!
A few
animal stories:
1 Without going
into too much detail here, we have to turn our water on/off at an underground
tap every few days. Paul went out to
perform this task at dusk one day and on his return was warned by our friend
Adam that dusk is a dangerous time to be fiddling on the ground as the
scorpions are beginning to forage!
Also relating to the water tap:
2 Paul coming in
from turning it on and looking somewhat stiff and uncomfortable: “Jane, can you
help me take my sandals off.”
Should I panic now? Looking for killer bees or the like: “Why,
what’s wrong, what have you done?”
“Now help me with my trousers…carefully!”
Eventually, after ferretting around in his trousers for a
while, out pops one very bewildered gecko.
It had inadvertently darted chosen the worst possible escape route! It spent the rest of the day hanging on the
wall in great shock.
3 Ghana is full of
unsightly litter. Whilst eating lunch
under a shady tree one day we were surprised by the loud squawking of a
neighbouring chicken. It had inadvertently
stepped on a black plastic bag (known as a ”rubber” here and in constant use at
the market) and was flapping and squealing in terror as the bag chased it
around. Eventually the bag slipped off
and peace was resumed but young chick stayed very close to mum thereafter.
4 Another gecko
story…Never leave your fruit salad unattended!
I had prepared two bowls of delicious, cool fruit for tea and left them
ready in the kitchen. On my return there
were definitely two geckos eyeing them up and possibly leaning over the tops of
the bowls. Honestly, I’m sure of
it! At first I was a little dubious
about whether or not the food had been contaminated but, ah well, needs
must…and we are here to tell the tale!
5 There are few
decent roads in Zebilla. I was travelling
to a school with a colleague recently along one of them, wondering why he was
cruising slowly (usually he dives into all the potholes like a rally
driver). Suddenly, directly in front of
us, charged 4 arguing donkeys braying for all they were worth and kicking each
other…straight out of the bushes into the middle of the road…then proceeded to
battle their way up the highway in front of us.
Clearly my colleague has second sight (or he’s driven that road
before!).
As you can read, life in Zebilla is never quiet. The walls of the house are paper thin and the
windows, where they exist, are permanently open. We live in a world where the outside joins us
inside…whether we like it or not.
Peaceful? Not here!
One day I may be able to add a few photos…
