Nature in all its glory

The month of May has gone by so quickly. In the blink of an eye we are half way done with our 6 months in village. We were very busy last month. We held two festivals and got through 7 lessons in our primary school. Ups and downs this month just like all the rest but now I'm starting to feel comfortable here. With only three months to go I'm starting to think I'll miss it when I return to the states.

The quiet is what I'll miss most. We live in a house off the main road surrounded by corn fields. It's so quiet here at night all you hear is the sound of the corn stalks rustling wind and the crickets. Jogging out past the corm fields is like entering another world. It is so much different than the hustle and bustle of the town center. It's true kijijji (Village). Out past the farms are pastures where the cattlemen take the cows to graze. Out past the pastures is a small brook I like to run to. Out past the brook is nothing for miles and miles, just pure raw African nature. To the west you can see mountains in the distance. There is an office of Natural Resources and Conservation in Ilembula. The conservationist were hired by the Tanzanian government to identify animals and plant life in the area and clear paths to create a conservation area at the foot of those mountains. They say there are lush forests, exotic plants, hidden waterfalls and many species of birds and other animals. No lion though thankfully!

However with any paradise there also comes a bit of danger. The villagers tell me there are many poisonous snakes in the area. They say they live mostly in the pastures out past the fields and they come out during the day when it is warm to soak in some sunlight. In American our sense of civic duty usually does not go beyond remembering to vote or picking up a piece of trash at a public park. Here is Tanzania people through trash on the ground all the time mostly for lack of trashcans, but one thing you will never see a Tanzanian do is run from a snake with out trying to kill it. They don't try to kill it out of bravery, although it does take immense bravery to beat an angry snake with a stick. They kill it out of civic duty. The mentality is that if they don't kill the snake than it will just go and find someone else to bite.

I witnessed the aftermath of this highly dangerous act of civic duty when I came across a massive 3 foot black snake dead on the tarmac road right in front of the shop I buy bread from everyday. It's head was chopped off. I went into the shop and asked the shopkeeper, Adam, what happened. He said the snake had come out onto the road in the middle of the day when the black tarmac is hot. Adam saw the snake got out his machete (which every self-respecting farmer has close by at all times) went out into the road and walked very carefully up to the snake and WHACK! The snake was most likely a Black Mamba. They are known to live in the southern highlands, they are also one the most venomous and fast moving snakes in the world. One bite of their venom can kill a man in 20 minutes. I clench my fists and jump every time I hear a rustle in the brush now, but I have no plans to stop running in the pastures at sunset. It's far too beautiful and too peaceful to give up. Besides if the black mambas are catching rays on the tarmac road in the middle of the village they could be anywhere. Winter in upon us and it's getting colder in village. Devota says snakes sometimes look for shelter in people's homes when it's cold outside. Today I'm not afraid. If I find one curled up in our toilet maybe I'll change my mind.