Living in a zoo

Living in Africa is sometimes like living in a zoo, and we have not even visited the national game parks like Maasai Mara or done a safari on some of the smaller game parks yet.

While unpacking groceries one day, Taru found a gekko in the pantry. It is quite a small lizard, pale and if for example against a window you can see through it. Nevertheless it managed to startle Taru.

On Sunday morning we found a relatively big spider in our living room. We suspect it was a Tarantula, but it certainly was smaller than some of the bigger species you see on TV. Big in this case was the size of thumbnail, with longish hairy legs. Quite disgusting, we hope not to see any more spiders like that.

On a back yard we have amazing yellow birds living in basket like nets that look like they were weaved. We've also seen big birds that eat bones and have acid poop that can melt paint off your car hood. Outside Jaakko's science lab a North African great horned owl just had chicks, and they look so cute. The owl is sitting on the same branch every day and can be observed from quite close. We also have passion fruit wine on our back yard, and we think also a papaya tree. Next door they have big banana trees and you can see big bunches of bananas growing on them.

At our country club, while walking along the golf course you can see tens and tens of monkeys. The younger ones are full of energy and constantly play with one another. You can also see Dikdik's, a small animal that's a relative to antilope but only up to 40cm high. It really looks almost like a big rabbit that has mini horse legs.

I'll add some pictures later on, but it is quite amazing to see all those different kinds of animals in the wild. And in large quantities too, it is really like living in a zoo.