Critters: crawling, creeping and flying

Just when you think you are alone something flies past your head, so close, you think your brain is buzzing or you feel a tickle on your leg only to see an eight legged critter about to tuck into its afternoon snack (your ankle). Then there is the 'hunting show' put on every night by the little lizard who calls the crack behind the loo his home and the two resident (now positively overweight) frogs who appear at the same time each evening and use the bright lights of the kitchen as their own 7-11 store.
These are just a few basic examples of the critters we share our space with, and as I've learnt over the past couple of months, it is indeed best not to look up often if you suffer from any kind of critter-phobia (particularly those of us with a slight case of arachnophobia) as the ceilings and awnings around here could benefit from their own postcodes for fear the spiders may lose track of their own webs .

However it is not all bad when it comes to the little creepy crawlies living amongst us, in fact they have provided many hours of conversation and have even been given rite of passage within the Vollage: I give the example of when the 'ants crossing' sign lovingly placed as a warning in front of the 2 cm thick trail of (fittingly called) safari ants. These are rather impressive ants (not to mention ouchy!) with a work ethic that would put even us FWS volunteers to shame! They work long hours, even on Friday evenings when they have been known to invade the loo's, leaving little room for feet!
One of the first crew of critters which really amazed me were the butterfly's. I have never seen quite so many nor so many varying colours, shapes and patterns. I often think that some of these butterfly's have modelled themselves on bad 80's fashion, where psychedelic colours are in!

So aside from the usual flies, mozzies and spiders (I do believe I have been over- generous to the latter, sharing my bed on more than one occasion) there are the larger crawling variety of critters: here I refer to the big 'r'...rats. I'm not entirely sure how much the cover charge is for the night club 'Rat-attack' located above my room, but I'm sure the proprietor is making a killing as the noise generated is rather impressive. And yes, there are rats elsewhere, perhaps involved in some type of education training scheme where the smart ones are trained up to become pedicurists for the volunteers- I refer here to one rat in particular (r.i.p) who licked, yes licked my little toe. Suffice to say he didn't get to graduate.
Being a magnet for critters of varying hostility, I have to date been a brothel for some flies; shared a shower with some other bugs seeking privacy; a mozzie magnet; a target for the kamikaze, giant black bugs (name unknown); and harassed rather violently by a 'wiggly-butt bug' (so-named by Sarah and Ruth on account of this flying critters wiggly butt).

I am actually quite fond of most of the critters (crawling, creeping and flying variety) as they provide endless entertainment and are quite amazing to watch as you make your way to Kesho Leo and back. In fact we just spent three weeks at Chekechea learning all about bugs, and our excursion around the shamba was just as exciting for me as it was the children.
So as the saying goes: what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and in my case what doesn't bite, sting or latch on, makes a good friend.

By Amy Moule