Geckos, Hippos, and a River Expedition

 Geckos

The geckos have a good life here. Our ceilings are tall, approx 15 ft. There are windows at the top with screens for ventilation and a covering with several wide slits in them vertically. This inadvertently traps many moths and bugs attracted to the light coming from the house. We then watch as those geckos sit and wait for bugs to come through the slits and then have a captive dinner. It is a wonder they are not the size of monitor lizards by now.

Hippos

River Kwilu is just below our house. We go nearly every evening (except when it is already dark when we are finished with work) to swim and get clean. We have been warned about the hippos several times. They are a deadly animal when provoked. In fact, Katherine said that as a child, she would spend many days rolling inner tubes up the footpaths and then floating down the river back to Vanga. Many years ago, the float trips were abandoned when some visitors who were not well acquainted with the river nor the customs of the boatmen (who know where hippos are) jumped in and floated right over a mother hippo and her baby. One lost her life and another was injured in that tragic accident. Last week, we heard the hippos and ran down to get a better look. They nearly always are on the opposite bank, and this was true again that evening. We stood waist deep in the water, watching the evening sky and talking of the events of the day. Suddenly, we heard the hippo again from behind me and it startled us. We were out of the water in a jiffy. We laughed because in actuality, the hippos were probably across the river, but they sound very close when there is very little ambient noise and the sound echos so clearly. You can certainly hear people talking distinctly from across the river.

River Expedition

Sunday afternoon, we were able to take a boat trip in a dugout canoe. It was a gorgeous day. It had rained the night before and was cool. The two boatmen stood on either end of the canoe, using very long paddles for locomotion. We floated downriver toward an island. Along the way, we stopped several times to see the local economy. There was a place where mud bricks were made from clay, placed in molds, dried the sun, and then stacked in such a way that fire could be lit underneath to cure them. In another stop, the palm oil industry was shown. They take the palm nuts from the abundant palm trees, stir them in a barrel similar to a millstone process, and use the inside of the nuts for fuel for fire. We continued down the river when we heard commotion to our right. There were 3 or 4 hippos on the bank of the island, walking into the water! The boatmen paddled faster to get to a safer distance as we tried to capture the moment on our cameras (unsuccessfully). The hippos were not aggressive, but stayed near the bank. The boatmen hit the sides of the boat to try to get their attention for pictures. It was to no avail, but it was awesome to hear how well that echoed throughout the riverbanks. The boatmen said that when we use our cameras, it is like we are shooting the hippos and they don't come near. :) We continued around the island and as we started going upriver, we hugged the bank of the island (opposite side of the island as the hippos). We were so close to the bank that we were going under large tree branches and it felt like we were going through a swamp. We crossed the river (now opposite Vanga) and then set out on foot to see a village. This was definitely a swamp. I was glad I had my Chacos as we "fell" into the mud/water several times as we traversed the land. We came upon a water source in which a small child was pumping and several women were filling containers of water. As we took turns at the pump, it was good to know how easy the handle moved and how much water came out. We continued on into the village, which was the boatman's village. We stopped at several huts of people he is related to. What an industrious guy! Not only does he run a  boating operation, but he also raises guinea pigs, a pineapple field, and has a very large field for growing peanuts and manioc and green leafy's. Throngs of children followed us like the pied piper, wanting us to take pictures and show them. We continued on, then reaching a solemn gathering. Saturday (the day prior), two 15 yr old boys drown in the Kwilu up the river not more than 50 yards from our swim area. One of them could not swim, but was following his friends to bathe. The river is up due to the rainy season and rains upriver can cause a huge difference in the water height. From verbal reports, the boy who could not swim lost his footing and was starting to struggle to stay afloat in the swift current. A second boy reached out to try to help him, and instead of taking his hand, he panicked and grabbed his rescuer around his torso with great strength. They both went under and were swept away. One of the boys was from the village we were now walking through. A group of teenage boys walked by us on the path and one was loudly weeping. At what must have been this boy's family huts, many people were gathered outside, some crying, some solemn and silent. They sleep outside after a death like this, if I understand correctly, so that the spirits can see them and know they are mourning the death.

We continued up the path and finally reached our rendezvous point with our boat. We got back in and went further up the river in order the be able to cross and come out near our house in Vanga. As we neared our bank, we jumped or dove off the canoe so we could float home just a short distance with the canoe for safety. What a blessed afternoon!