Crocodiles

                Today was such a fun, exhausting day.  First, Rachel and I went over to Bethel’s new church location to help clean up the land.  Yesterday in church they announced they were having a work day and invited everyone to help, so we thought we’d stop by and see what we could do.  We got there pretty early and only one guy was there working.  We asked what we could do to help, and he looked us up and down kind of skeptically and said, “Have you ever slashed before?” (Slashers are long strips of metal they use to hack back the tall grass).  We have never used slashers, but we were willing to try.   We started hacking away at the massive overgrown field, which was not the easiest thing in the world.  Within five minutes, my shoulders, back, and abs already felt like they had gotten a good workout.  I kept wondering why I ever thought weed-whacking was hard.  At least then you had a machine doing the majority of the work.  I helped slash for about an hour while Rachel helped some girls dig up some grass.  We couldn’t stay too long, because our fun outing to the crocodile farm was scheduled to begin at ten.

Before we left, Anne came running over to tell us that there were monkeys in the trees.  Monkeys are not exciting for people who live in Africa – they’re like squirrels to us – but she knew how much I wanted to see them.  They were adorable (again, most Africans don’t think monkeys are adorable…they are nuisances).  There was a mother with her little babies and they hopped around from tree to tree, watching us.

                Our group going to the crocodile farm was Pastor and Mrs. Sargent and their son Nathan, Pastor and Mrs. Birner, and then some kids (ages 21 to 14) who go to Good Shepherd: Ethel and Aaron are brother and sister (I think ages 21 and 17) and are the children of Pastor Bangwe, and three siblings: Akeeyo (boy, around age 17), Mwiko (girl, around age 16), and Zoya (girl, around age 14).  The drive was primarily on a dirt road, which means massive potholes and extremely high speed bumps.  

                The crocodile farm (real name: Kalimba Reptile Park) was awesome.  There were pools, trampolines, playgrounds, a restaurant (that sells crocodile burgers, which are delicious), a pool table, and a mini-golf course.  First, we went to the snake pit.  We saw boa constrictors, black mambas, spitting cobras, and a ton of others, but I can’t remember their names.  All of them, with the exception of the boas and a couple garden snakes, are very poisonous and are unfortunately found all over Zambia (in fact, Anne found a spitting cobra in her garden while we were gone).  They were really cool to see up close – there were some strikingly beautiful green ones, an adder that blended in very well with the leaves on the bottom of its cage, and a tree snake that looks exactly like a stick with the exception of a green head.  We had an excellent guide who detailed the snakes’ killing methods and diet.  Then, he climbed down a ladder into the boa constrictor pit to get one out for us to hold.   He wanted to get the biggest one, but it started hissing at him in a rather frighteningly way, so he went for a smaller one.  Four of us were able to hold it.  I’m not afraid of snakes, but it was a little disconcerting to have the boa’s head right next to mine (the guide had it held shut, but still). 

                Then we toured around the crocodile pens.  There were four pens with different crocodiles in them. There was one that had some younger ones, like four years old, another pen with a breed called the African Slender Snouted crocodile, and a pen with some teeny tiny little babies in it. In the last pen, the guide jumped in and grabbed one for us.  It was so tiny and cute!  It started making this squealing noise and writhing around.  I videotaped it – the sound is really weird so I’m glad I have it. We were able to touch its tail before the guide dropped it back in the water.  The crocodiles were strangely still – I joked that they could have been plastic and we wouldn’t have been able to tell.  They just sat there with their mouths wide open, not moving one bit (until the guide jumped in the pen to grab the baby – then they all dove into the water to hide).  I found out later that since crocodiles don’t sweat, sitting with their mouths open is their way to cool off. 

                We saw some pits with turtles and snakes and then moved on to the main event: the really big crocodiles.  There was a large area set back in the land where the walk way is fenced in so the crocodiles can’t escape and eat us.  There was a bunch of ponds with huge, beautiful trees and, of course, a multitude of crocodiles.  We were within inches of several, and I could have stuck my hand through the fence and touched them if I wanted to (I didn’t).  These look much more vicious than the alligators I saw at the Everglades.  I couldn’t believe how wide they were.

                After viewing the park, we ate lunch (crocodile burgers for Rachel and I – they really do taste just like chicken), jumped on the trampolines, and went swimming. We played Marco Polo and keep away for a long time and were exhausted by the time we got out.  Rachel and I had so much fun being with all the kids from Good Shepherd.  It was nice to be with people close to our age.  They all speak perfect English, are very nice, and made for a very entertaining, fun afternoon.

                It was such a fun day!  I’m extremely worn out from being in the sun and swimming for hours, so my night consisted of sitting on the couch, eating a lot, and gearing up for the next four days of teaching.