Monkey Business! (and it’s Raining!!)

Remarkably Burkina Faso doesn’t have much wildlife (larger than a breadbox) to speak of. When Americans think of Africa the first thing that comes to mind are vast savannahs loaded with elephants, zebras, antelopes, buffalo, hippos, crocodiles ... you know. There really isn’t that much space for wildlife here with all the people. Burkina Faso is about the size of Colorado and has over 12 million inhabitants quite a few of which are spread all over the country practicing subsistence farming. Wildlife?

Animal lover that I am, I’ve been contenting myself with the little things here. Such as domestic animals, cats, insects, reptiles and in the future birds. Burkina has an amazing number of birds and they are beautiful! (Attention all birdwatchers: come to Burkina Faso. It’s in the western part of Africa) The most common tiny birds here are these finch-like red ones. Well the males are red and the females are a less spectacular brown. These little birds make me so happy and they’re always paired up, just like mallard ducks. Just a warning though, my bird post may be awhile off yet. Birds are fast and my camera is not. I’m currently wooing some of the little red ones with bread and water, so we’ll see.

Even though there aren’t many wild animal here (à l’exception des chameaux sauvages), I still keep my eyes open. For example one of the alimentations (kind of like a mom and pop food store) sells packages of “biscuits de pain de singe.” Immediately one thinks that the little biscuits might have monkey in them (singe = monkey). Aha, some trace of a wild animal! Unfortunately “pain de singe” (monkey bread) is only fruit from the baobab tree.



But then something extraordinary occurred on Sunday. I heard knock at my courtyard door, which I typically ignore if it sounds even remotely like it may be a kid. This knock sounded different though and it was associated with some scuffling noises too. So I looked out my window and there was a monkey looking over my courtyard door at me! (Note to future visitors: if you want me to open my door bring a monkey.) One of the students from my lycée, who lives in my neighborhood, brought by his pet(?) monkey, named Boubou, to show me. Still not sure what type of monkey he is, something was lost in the language translation I think. Boubou was the size of a small labrador retriever and had the coolest tail I’ve ever seen. I must admit though that I was very nervous. Give me a moose, an elk or even a bear and I probably would have been less startled.

Boubou

at least I had water to offer since I was about to do laundry

The (and it’s Raining!!) part: the month of October was hyped up to be very hot and dry. Well Mother Nature has had other ideas. Last night it actually rained ALL night! Today feels almost like a fall day in Seattle. For the past couple of days we’ve actually had some nice cloud coverage too, however before that it was a little hot. I don’t have a thermometer so I don’t know how hot. Now that the rainy season is finished (or is it? hmmm) the heat is much more manageable since the air is dry. Very similar to the American Southwest, if only I could find some green chilies...

Yay for monkeys and dry heat!