The one that got away....

If you don't like spiders, don't read any further.... I just noticed that all the stories so far are about bugs or snakes. There is more to experience here in Africa then these critters, but we seem to have had some interesting experiences so far, so here goes the next one:

Last week when we had heavy rain in the evening, we were going to put Caleb and Thomas to bed when we discovered a pretty big (about the same span as an adult male hand) spider in their room. It was moving fast, so we quickly got the boys out (they were not in their beds yet) and I (Mike) put my shoes on and went spider hunting. The first problem was that it had crawled up the inside of the boys' mosquito net (refer to picture - yes, of course I had to take a picture first). I shook it down to the floor and tried a couple times to smack it with a shoe that was in my hand, but it kept on getting back under their beds. Finally, it made it's way for the door, and with a camera in one hand and a shoe in the other, I opted to kill it as opposed to taking another picture (if you know my father, you'll understand how genetically abnormal that is for me to do). Success. The boys could sleep in peace.

A few nights later I discovered a similar spider on the inside of our mosquito net in the master bedroom. The ceiling light does not work (yet) in our bedroom so I had to leave the bedroom to get a flashlight and some shoes. But when I came back 30 seconds later, I couldn't find it anymore!! I took off all the bedsheets (carefully) but still no spider. It wasn't the most comforting feeling to know that it was still crawling around somewehre, but at least it wasn't in our bed (at least to our knowledge).

Some Pictures

Some pictures of our house and of us on top of the Zomba Plateau Dam which was completed in 2000.

The Family...

To include the cat ("Schneider") as a member of the family is stretching it.... but the boys feel that way. Sarah and I don't even like cats that much, but they serve a functional purpose here in Africa for keeping the mice and rats away. So for here in Malawi, we can include him/her (we're not sure yet) in the family...

"Daddy, I think we have a problem here..."

Last Monday night the boys were watching a DVD on our computer in the sitting room. I (Mike) was in the kitchen doing the dishes when Caleb calls out, "Daddy, I think we have a problem here."

Assuming that someone pressed the wrong button on the computer or something, I asked if they were having trouble watching the DVD.

"No, something is flying around and around in the room" Caleb calmly said.

I figured it was a big moth or some sort of flying insect. I started walking towards the room when I realized that it was a bat that was flying around and around in the sitting room! Not wanting to alarm the boys, but needing to let them know what was going on, I had to tell them it was a bat. To my surprise, neither Caleb nor Thomas freaked out. In fact they were both quite interested to see a bat in their own house.

Being the brave and quick-thinking father that I am, I knew exactly what to do. I asked one of our night watchmen to come in and catch the bat. Bambo (means "Mister" in Chichewa) Jonas walked in and started to try to catch the flying creature with his bare hands. I gave him a towel and he then had success in capturing the bat and taking him outside to set him free.

We have all the holes in our ceiling blocked up now - so hopefully we won't get any more visitors like that!

I Smell a Snake!

It was a couples weeks after we arrived in Malawi, and I was taking a tour via motorbike of some of the villages we are implementing some water and sanitation initiatives. I was travelling on the back of the motorbike being driven by one of my staff members, Thomas. As we were traveling along the dusty road in the mid-afternoon, all of a sudden he turns his head to me and says, "I smell a snake!".

There are definitely snakes in these parts - big ones and small ones, and most of them poisonous. At first I thought he was joking around, trying to fool the "new guy". But after about 20 feet, he stops the bike and we get off. Sure enough, there are fresh snake tracks crossing the dirt road into a field! We take a few steps into the field but can't find it (which was probably a good thing).

"How did you "smell" the snake?" I ask him, still surprised that he was right.

"This time of year (hot season) they shed their skin and they have a certain smell - like rice almost." Thomas replies.

I couldn't smell anything - but then again, Thomas grew up in Malawi and I didn't. Apparently he used to hunt snakes as a boy so was very in-tune with their scent.