Lion Guardians

Category: life in camp | Date: Nov 21 2007 | By: admin

Life in camp is always interesting. We share our living space with a number of species, some friendly and some not so….

Maria is usually the first one to spot this member of the camp… it spends its time in trees near the central dining area of the camp (a papyrus and cedar shelter), and sometimes chases agamas around the kitchen, on the poles of the structure. Its exceptionally fast and refuses to be caught and re-located.

Maria doesn’t really like the snake. She much prefers the genets. We have at least one that usually comes to visit, and pick up scraps of food, or insects that are attracted to the light. Very occasionally there are two. They’re very graceful, delicate creatures, with their tails taking up half of their length. Interestingly, most people see them as cats, but they belong to a subfamily of Viverridae (the mongoose family). Apparently they were commonly kept as rat-catchers in Europe before the introduction of the domestic cat in the middle ages.

Last but not least, there are any number of invertebrates. Including this:

Not seeing it? Look again, on the right side of the picture, mid-way up, near the green plants. Here is a close-up:

The scorpions with the small pincers and relatively large stings (like this one) are more painful than others. We’ve all been stung from time to time and its not pleasant at all.