Household wildlife

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Living in a tropical climate means there is an abundance of life in and around the house.

I’m not talking about the Big Five but rather the small thousands or millions.

There are sisimizi or ants.

Surely you’ve sometimes come across a sudden black highway of tiny ants in your kitchen coming from nowhere but obviously going somewhere with a mission.

Then there are vipepeo, butterflies.

Mostly I do not see them but there was a day when the air with filled with a small white kipepeo, almost as dense as falling snow. One or two days later not one to be seen anymore.

Living in a tropical climate means there is an abundance of life going on in and around the house. I'm not talking about the Big Five but rather the small thousands or millions.

Living in a tropical climate means there is an abundance of life going on in and around the house. I’m not talking about the Big Five but rather the small thousands or millions.

A praying mantis once settled on our balcony however, it didn’t stay longer than an hour or two.

The other day I found a chura or small frog, not sure which type.

It tried to hide in the bottom of a drinking trough in the aviary of love birds. It looked like a leaf but was very much a frog.

How it got there is still a mystery to me but frogs are symbols of good luck and new beginnings, so I was happy to find it.

In the rainy season a snail with its house the size of a ping pong ball just emerged in our walled compound — again: coming from, going to?

Finally my Green Friend as I’ve named him. That’s a common green gecko and I believe I have one who reigns the area around my house, he’s always around.

Sometimes not seen for long, but then appearing suddenly again along the stairs outside or on the wall inside — he’s part of the house and I’m always happy when he’s back.

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About the Author

Josie van den Hoek
Josie first visited Dar es Salaam in 2000 and is still here. She writes about encounters on her daily walks and Tanzanian life.