critters

The biggest difference I've noticed upon returning is the lack of critters. In Kenya, wherever we went, we shared space with critters big and small. Even in Nairobi, Kenya's biggest modern city, small lizards roamed the bathrooms and mosquitos and flies were ever present. In the village my sister lives in, people don't pen their animals, so pigs, goats, and chickens roam free throughout the town as if they own the place. We watched zebras and baboons hanging out by the side of some highways. At night, we listened to the bats that inhabited the eaves of houses regaling us with their squeaky nightly chorus. Vervet monkeys teased and ran through our campsite looking for food. The bigger Sykes monkeys* menaced us as we walked through the Gede ruins. Different tiny sand crabs scurried on the beaches of Watamu and Shela, most no bigger than an asprin tablet. Some were the dusty white color of the sand, some were red with one giant claw as big as the rest of their body -- the samurai warrior crabs. And of course, there were the donkeys** of Lamu with their big sad eyes, who hauled everything from people to bricks through the narrow*** streets all around town. Everything seems very quiet and subdued without critters.

*At one point, as we were walking around in a particularly desolate spot in the ruins, a large male Sykes monkey barred our way in the path. Unlike the other monkeys, he didn't seem to fear us at all and instead came toward us. My sister and I were armed with rocks to scare him away but bagmog insisted on communing with it, at which point I warned him that should he get bitten and contract rabies, he would be returning to Nairobi on his own, as I had no intention of interrupting my trip up the coast.

**I'm a sucker for donkeys. Our hotel was near the donkey hospital so I got to walk by everyday and say hello.

***And I do mean narrow. The "main" street in Lamu was about as wide as three people and most streets fit maybe two across comfortably. When you come upon a donkey, you have to duck into the nearest doorway and let them pass.