AIS Lusaka

Bigger, Bolder,Louder, Brighter

Since my arrival in Zambia a few short months ago, I have noticed that most things pertaining to ‘mother nature’ are bigger, bolder, louder, and brighter than anything I have ever experienced before. When the sun sets, the darkness is filled with a profusion of strange, eerie, and unfamiliar sounds. Birds screech, cackle, and hoot. Crickets and frogs chirp at incredible decimals. Dogs howl. Cats moan. Monkeys scream.

Bolder and brighter are the Flame Trees that line the driveway into campus. Fire engine red, they dazzle and shock the eye. As the song lyric so aptly put it: “Oh the flame trees will blind the weary driver.” Bigger are the Sausage Trees. They get their name from the huge seedpods that dangle from the branches and resemble salami sausages hanging in an Italian deli window.

Bigger, bolder, louder and brighter... This holds true for the rainy season as well. The rains began in late November and will continue until late March/April. Some days it rains for a few minutes a day, several times a day. Sometimes it rains continuously day and night. An impending storm is an amazing spectacle to watch. The massive black clouds roll and tumble over the hills and resemble smoke from a California wildfire or the eruption cloud from a volcano. The thunder is loud enough to shake my apartment walls and send the kitty running to the closet. Lightening cracks and dances across the sky and when the rain begins it pours down with unbelievable ferocity and speed. It beats down on the tin roofs and is so deafening that I have to stop class because we can’t hear each other over the racket.This can go on for minutes, hours, and even days. Now you can understand why we have so many power outages.

Bigger and bolder…the rainy season brings out all sorts of ‘creepy crawlies’ too. This is ant season and the ants come in a variety of different shapes and sizes. There are the tiny ones that get into anything sweet. Millions of them will invade your cupboards if you leave anything such as jam or honey out. Then there are the carnivore ants, those that will take over the cat food bowl or assault your sink of dirty dinner dishes. But the worst are the large fingernail size Matabele ants or ‘stink ants’ as they are referred to. They give off a horrible, foul odor when killed. I was told that it is defense mechanism. The smell alerts and warns their fellow ants of danger.

Then there are the centipedes or millipedes (not sure which) called Chongololos. When the rainy season begins they come out of the ground and appear small and innocuous. However, as time goes on they grow in length and width until they resemble a black snake. Though harmless, they will give you a terrible fright.

Last of all, is the feared Putsi fly. They lay their eggs in soil or damp clothes hung outside to dry. The larvae then hatch and invade areas of skin in contact with the clothes. They invade different body parts. Once under the skin, the larvae produce an itchy spot that develops into a sore resembling a boil, which may ooze and be painful. They usually stay near the skin surface because they have to breathe. I have yet to see this (thank goodness) but have heard horror stories from other teachers who have had first hand experience with the dreaded Putsi fly.

As I write this, I can see the rain clouds on the horizon. Thunderstorms are predicted to last all weekend. That’s ok with me. I will lay in bed tonight with the windows open and listen to the rain pound on the roof. As darkness descends, the symphony of sounds will start up as usual. Sometimes on a Friday evening, the rhythm and sound of drums is carried across the fields from some distant village celebration. It provides a nice musical backing to the nocturnal sounds in my backyard.

Bigger, bolder, louder, and brighter that is Africa.

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