We heard about a visiting
evangelist by the name of Bonkie, apparently he has attracted huge crowds
throughout Africa. It all seems a bit odd to me but Emanuel’s mother is going
and hopes to have her cataracts healed.
After completing a few chores
in the nursery, Melissa and I went the Arusha National Park to look for Dodonea seed. Probably an illegal activity, but the progeny will be distributed in the
villages nearby.
There was considerable rustling
in the scrub around us as we collected the seed and we looked up to see a
giraffe fluttering her eyelashes disapprovingly at us – she was unafraid so we backed
off slowly. Although it is a national park, people frequently walk the road, so
while the animals are wild, there is mutual respect. There are no big cats.
A little banded mongoose took
a furtive interest in us keeping its distance and peeping over the long grass
at us.
The small, skinny Dik Dik, most
usually in pairs, kept an eye on us and easily concealed itself in the
undergrowth.
As usual on the grassland of Little Serengeti there were buffalo
[they are the most dangerous in the park] and we kept a wary eye on them! They
were accompanied by a number of zebra, but also in the distance.
We had been asked by a mate to
check if any small round snails had hatched after the rains, so we went up into
the rainforest to check on some of the broadleaved trees. Above us, passively chewing
on leaves sat four Colobus monkeys, dressed in long black and white coats –
they were quiet and unafraid of us, but a bit larger than the red ones on
Zanzibar.
Just off the road two red
duiker ran off at our approach, we seldom see the neat little antelope in our
travels so it was a thrill.
In two low spots on the road
up there, two large puddles attracted swarms iridescent blue butterflies,
hundreds of them! They flew off in a cloud to let us pass.
We missed seeing the usual
warthogs running off, tail in the air like an aerial.
Back late afternoon and I sat
in the shade to rest my bones, Olotu and Nai joined me with their little cousin
Happy. Mags attracted them away to play with a ball and young Roger joined in
the fun.
Mama Baraka [the golden Mama
Baraka] called us for a cup of her milky, sweet tea and the two girls, Nai and
Happy joined us.
As we talked, Happy became
clingy, hugged us and whispered in our ears, ‘My mother, my father.’
Happy is the seven year old daughter
of Mama Baraka’s sister-in-law who died of AIDS on Wednesday.
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