You know, homeschooling in West Africa, we just don’t get snow days or fog delays. School rarely gets cancelled. But last Wednesday, we had a exception. Our friend, Mordica, came to tell us that there was a python caught in a fish trap at a farm. His question was two-fold: Did the boys want the skull (they had asked about one before) and could they come and kill it with their gun? Apparently, people had tried to kill it but every time they got near it, the python would raise its head and hiss loudly, so no one was willing to get close to it with a cutlass. The kids looked at me with those big eyes, filled with longing for an adventure (and any excuse to get out of school.) I was poised to say “no”, and then I thought, “Really, what is the fun of living in West Africa if you can’t enjoy the exotic moments sometimes?” So, off Jim and Brad went, with the boys and Hannah in tow – Kaleb with his .22 slung over his shoulder.
Apparently, they drove a rather long way on a path (the farther from my house the better, I say) and then walked to a river where there was a wooden fence down in the water and a net to trap fish. As they waded across the top of the fence and approached, the python raise up out of the water at them. Kaleb shot it in the head and then they freed it from the net and returned home. The whole event took several hours. As I waited at home, I was trying to figure out when to start worrying about them and wondered how my grandmother must have felt as she watched my grandpa go off to hunt elephants and lions and probably didn’t hear from him for days. I decided I had nothing to compare it too.
Finally, the triumphant hunters returned, with an 8 foot 2 inch python in tow. According to Mordica, that is just a baby and the mom is out there somewhere. A friend from the village came and helped skin it and they nailed the skin to dry on a board.
In the end, after hearing the story, I was more worried about the water they were wading in and what parasites might be in there than I was about the snake.
So, I thought, that would make an interesting blog posting. Then, last night, Kaleb and Jim went off on a mini-hunt behind our house. Not too long after they left, we heard 2 shots with the .22. I thought perhaps they had killed a pigeon or a bush fowl to share with an old lady in the village. They returned and Jim called me out on the porch. Kaleb, with a big smile, tossed the carcass of a 6 foot python in front of me. It had gotten itself trapped in a fish net in the river behind our house. In chatting with our friends today, they gave me some good news and some bad news. The good news was that people had seen a big snake out in the river and were afraid to go and wash their clothes there. So, Kaleb assisted in removing that fear (if that was the snake they had seen.) The bad news was that there are apparently a LOT of pythons in the area. NICE……….. I am a little worried about our cats. Perhaps to trap them, I should hang fish nets around our house. . . as opposed to wearing fish net stockings, which would be most uncomfortable in the African heat. :^) Never a dull moment………..
