While watering my garden I noticed a lot more men walking towards the marsh with half football shaped baskets. I asked if they were going to the river to fish but they just pointed towards the bush. Once I got out to where I could see the marshland I saw that men from every compound in my village were out in the water with nets and baskets trying to catch fish. The area normally fills in with water during the rainy season but as the heat goes up and the rain stops coming the fish slowly get concentrated in the pond.
As I was walking over to see the action everyone started to run out of the water. I thought “snake? Biting Worms? Bees?” but right as everyone got out of the water every started yelling “AHHHH!” and sprinted right back into the water. It was a sort of surprise attack. If there was a movie about fishermen war-ing with fish in a pond this would be a pivotal battle scene.
As I walked around and saw people’s catches I noticed two types of fish. One was a run of the mill fish, small, undistinct, full of bones. The other was Catfish. That pond had some arm length sized Catfish! Thank goodness I never swam in there. I saw at least 2 in the small area I was watching. To make sure the fish doesn’t flounder its way back into the water they hit it several times with a thick stick, more of a thin log really, and let it sit there till they come get it when they are done. Little boys run around with rice bags and collect the goods their older brothers and fathers have caught. Much like America, people wanted pictures with their huge catches.
Before watching fish massacre I had gone to my ever dying garden to water and bird watch.
Thats right! I bird watch....
I never really considered myself to be “outdoor-zee” but the older I get the more I find myself outside, and it’s not just because I basically live outside now. In the last couple months I have gotten into bird watching (“birding” to those of you under 35yrs) and though that might sound lame, it’s actually pretty fun.
My village is the place to be for birding. There are reserves, and boat toured marshes, and national parks, but if you aren’t close to any of those and can only afford a geli ride then my place is great to see some colourful life. This is coming out more as an ad (there IS a “guest house” aka hut in my village that a visiting foreigner could sleep in, money goes to the school) but when it comes to seeing bird life I lucked out with my village selection.
There are 4 places that are good to see birds. First is my host family’s garden. There, I see birds like Bee Eaters, Finches, Weavers. In the marsh that is next to the gardens I see Rollers, Herons, Egrets. In the bush I see Starlings, Hawks, Hornbills. At the river I have seen the really colourful guys, more Bee eaters, Parakeets. Everything is about a 15 minute walk from each other. It’s awesome and though I am slowly showing myself to be the crazy lady that is staring off into the bush with a weird looking “camera” aka binoculars, I like getting to be out of my hut seeing what’s out there.
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