Sacred Combe Safari III
Day 6
How I love my hut. On these trips I get to spend four nights in the same small hut out in the middle of the Luangwa Valley in Zambia and it’s never long before I feel a sense of ownership. True, it offers frail protection from the bush, and on occasions the wildlife drops in for a visit. That of course is why I love it.
There comes a point on these trips when my beard gets unacceptably bushy, and it was time to run a mower over the virile stubble. I unpacked the electric trimmer and took it into the bathroom. It was quite a bathroom: en suite, and with everything you could wish for – shower, flush lav, mirror – except a roof.
So you take your plein air shower and trim your beard in the same bracingly outdoor fashion. I switched on, filled the air with the machine’s busy buzzing and peered at my strangely brown face in the mirror. A couple of seconds later there was a whirr just behind my right ear and there in the mirrors, as clear as I could see myself and nearly as close, a chunky black and white bird. It was a tropical boubou: a shrike relative, with a bright yellow eye, about the size of a blackbird.
It had heard the sound, and being a smart and curious bird, it came to investigate: from natural scientific curiosity and the longshot possibility that there might be food involved. The bird inspected me gravely for about 30 seconds before deciding that I was interesting but inedible. Off it flew with another whirr. I completed the task and then, once again neat-bearded, I retreated to my bed and my book… until I was aware of another presence inside the flimsy walls of the hut.
A bird, a size smaller than a sparrow, was moving with buoyant pogo hops across the floor. It caught the light and glowed like a little living coal… Jameson’s firefinch: a common bird of the Valley, relaxed and content around humans: and bold enough to share my living quarters.
firefinch
in my grass hut –
please don’t set the walls alight!
Magical. Are you sure you hadn’t had too many Malawi Shandys though Simon?!
Well, a really interesting title there, Simon, followed by a very interesting description of wildlife that I will never see in its natural habitat, I will now look that up and hopefully get my enjoyment that way,
Thanks once again,
Regards, Anthony
Lovely story. Like the idea that your shaver attracted the bird in. Reminds me of my visit to Luangwa in July. I was at Tena Tena camp and we were having supper at the bar when the nightwatchman arrived to say a young hyena had got into one of the guest’s bathrooms. Luckily it was discovered before she returned to her room !!
Got to stick up for you there, Simon. Years ago my late dad and I kept small finches and the firefinch was a fearless tiny chap who came on to dad’s hand to collect feathers for his nest. I prefer to support all birds in the wild now but our small aviaries were at least better than cages.