Wildlife

Wildlife has not been a typical part of my Moz experience thus far, unless you count geckos, birds, and the stray cat that sleeps on our veranda.  However, one day last week brought several species into my lens. 

Dad picked up this snappish fellow on the beach.  He was less than amused at having an audience.  

On the drive home, we encountered a small troop of baboons in a grove of gum trees.  Most snobbishly ignored us.

This one looked like he wanted to leap through my open window.  Can we say, "Cheeky monkey...er, baboon?"  :)

The next creature declined a photo.  Truthfully, I couldn't think for a few minutes after we met, anyway.  Do you see the smooth line in the sand that goes through the center of the picture?

My parents have not seen a snake in their six months here in Moz, unless you count one dead snake on the road.  Well, we were at the beach on our day off this week, a bit further north of the city.  After having had enough sun, we decided to relocate to one of the little thatched shelters for some shade.  As I walked over the sand dune, I saw the brown sand in front of me twitch and move at an astonishing pace towards the brush that grows over the dunes.    I jumped back and said something along the lines of "Ohmygoshijustsawasnakeitwentthatway."  Dad gave me a strange look and passed me to continue on his way into the shade.  Mom also walked by me, but she at least attempted to understand what I had said.  

I didn't think either believed me, and then I realized they simply weren't bothered.  I don't know if I will ever reach that level of comfort with the more scaly elements of nature.  To them, a snake was here but isn't any longer.  To me, a snake was here so we shouldn't be!  I did move to sit under the shade with them, but I did not forget that I was a mere three feet from the brush which now sheltered "it."  

As we left the beach, we asked a fellow named Lloyd what types of snakes live on the dunes.  When I described it (three feet of sand colored slither), he told us it was likely a green bush snake.  They are members of the constrictor family and prefer lizards for dinner.  Their name is because their heads are a bright green, even though their bodies are more olive toned.  Lloyd said he witnessed a green bush snake climbing a palm tree. 

Sadly, this next story has no picture to accompany it.  As we walked along the beach, my dear mother looked out into the surf.  "Hope, there's a nice big conch shell!  Go get it!"  The beach here in our city doesn't usually have nice shells.  So, I walked into the water in search of the shell.  It looked too dense to be shell, but the waves kept tossing it around.  I looked closer and told Mom I didn't think it was a conch.  I couldn't get a proper glimpse of it.  (The water in a port city isn't exactly known for its clarity.)  I thought it looked like perhaps bone or coral or....something.  Mom told me to pick it up so we could see it.  Figuring whatever it was had been washed by the salt water and bleached by the sun, I grabbed it.

And that, my friends, is when we realized I had just pulled a pig's skull out of the Indian Ocean.