Wildlife in toilets - part 2 (South Luangwa)

We first met in the bed-netting but parted when I asked him to hop it and helped him through the door.

Not for long, however. Back he came for a sit-down conversation, eye to eye in the bathroom.

 Out he went again, and next time I went to the bathroom he was not to be seen on the toilet-roll. Until, that is, I tugged the roll and out shot a flying frog that landed safely on the floor and then leaped up my shin.
Once more out of the front door.  Next time, not on the toilet roll but on the toilet rim.

No, he didn't go for a swim but he did get thrown out yet again.

Some individuals are just too persistent. Next time he is just hanging around on the door. Those great foot pads show how it managed to climb tiled walls.

Wildlife in toilets - part 1

Attenborough doesn't often say this, but the best place from which to watch elephants at night is the ledge in an open-top bathroom.

Move over Hoze-Lock

Why buy expensive fittings when an old water bottle will do very well?

Little things make a difference

My shower has not been great for a while (actually for the whole of my stay) but even when the plumber had replaced the taps and enabled me to get the right temperature it still wasn't something to look forward to. Nothing for it then,  I had to invest in a new shower head. All of £6. It's wonderful!!!  (Not my plaster work by the way.)

On a roll, then, I decided to change the brand of dried milk I use in my office. No more lumps or gritty drinks!

Not to be left out the electricians at work came to mend the corridor lights, which haven't worked since I got here. Which is why I keep a torch in my desk; to see my way out at 5.30pm. Not only that, but they replaced the light switch in the Gents so we can have light in there too. (So long as we have power of course; we still don't have a generator.)

A Bridge rehabilitated

Now the maize has been harvested, I can resume my cross-field walk to work and use the bridge I pictured previously. The remaining wooden planks have been replaced by welded steel plates, with holes in to stop them being worth stealing for roofing etc. No anonymous benefactors here!
Today I saw a Malachite Kingfisher on both of my crossings. Enough to make any walk worthwhile.
  

Fishing in style

 

From the side-bar you will know this is one of my two favourite African birds. And this is why! You almost pity the fish. (Click for bigger images)

Even the juvenile looks in charge of this beautiful tropical lake.

No elephants here

Elephant Marsh was named by David Livingstone because he found 800 of the pachyderms. Sadly none remain but here are a heron, a stork and an egret scared off by our airboat.

Plenty of fishermen still use the family dugouts. (Worth clicking to enlarge)

More coloured trees

Two trees from the campus. The yellow one is Cassia, one of a family of plants that produce senna laxatives. Rather ironic that senna is not available on the national formulary and we have to make do with liquid paraffin! The purple one is Solanum (see the tomato-like fruit), a family that includes Deadly Nightshade, tomato and potato.
  

Eddie Stobbart?

In Britain, some people are Eddie Spotters. Here you might be a Royal Mail spotter. Bee Bikes have been importing ex-Royal Mail bikes for a few years. They are well-made and popular, even at about £90 each. Tempting to muse on why post takes a while to get here; 8 days to several weeks it seems.
 

Mopping up

Someone must have decided that it would be cheaper to make mops than to buy them, hence the arrival of a large sack of cotton and a bundle of poles. 

Shopping

The supermarkets don't generally stock bananas, and not a lot of other fruit. Instead there are people in the car parks selling such items as you get back in your car. This man regularly finds me in town, at church or the bank, and offers whatever is seasonal. Talking of which, I'd better just go and eat my pineapple.
 

Misty Cliffs at Scarborough

They said, "Don't go to Cape Town at New Year, it is too crowded". Well it was, but when you can get views like this, who cares?
Eat your heart out, North Yorkshire's Scarborough!

Trees no more

Trees in Malawi are disappearing at rate of knots, faster than most anywhere else in Africa. Sometimes it is for firewood (or charcoal), sometimes illegal logging/poaching organised on an industrial scale by Chinese or Mozambicans (on trial this week, verdict due tomorrow), and sometimes small scale timber. This is on my route to work and is absolutely typical; there were three good-looking trees which were brought down by a bunch of men and sawn into planks. (Click to enlarge picture)
I am impressed by their skill and ingenuity but the environmental impact, both locally and nationally, is horrendous and affects soil quality, water availability, air quality and even electricity supply.
 

How to rig a survey

While I was at the bank on Wednesday, one of the bank staff was at my office, delivering their "Christmas Card" with the bottle as shown. There was also a calendar and, wrapped in with them,  a survey sheet asking my opinion of the bank and its service!
Now, given that I don't drink whisky, which way will the survey be biased?

Flamboyant or what!

I recently sent a general letter that missd out a couple of these botanic pictures, so here they are.
The wonderful Flamboyant tree, the Jacaranda, and a bush in the Botanic Garden described as "just a flower" when I asked the gardener!
  

Sensitive sandwiches

Glad to see some of them are holding it together.
 

Cheap vaccines

Wandering casually through the street market, looking at hardware stalls, I spotted a load of vaccines for sale, of several types. Astonished, I looked more closely and found they appeared to have been used and the contents were quite glutinous, though all well in date! And why on a hardware stall?

Actually, they are vials of Bostik glue, cost 8p each (though I suspect that was the foreigner rate).
Another sticky problem solved.

Bohm's Bee-eaters

 

  A nice diversion when animals are in short supply on  a Game count.

  Mind you this one should check that his diet matches his name.

Happiness is...

...an inverter! This wonderful device with the happy smile charges the two truck batteries when the power is on and then supplies power to the mains circuits when the supply goes off. So far I have had it for nearly a week and it has kept the lights and fridge working most of the time, and enabled me to recharge my phone and laptop freely. It should cope with a small freezer too, maybe I'll get one now.
  

Did I leave the window open?

The mechanic came today to replace the wheel bearings. This afternoon it started to rain, as predicted, very heavily for quite a while, not as predicted. I can't remember at what point I recalled that I had not closed the car windows.
Of course, we all know that tropical rain comes down vertically so won't get into a car with open windows.
Pity Malawi is not tropical.