Jess on Safari

So this is an old story from when my parents were still here in Ghana. I've been meaning to post it but I'm finally now getting around to it.

While my parents were staying at the oh-so-ritzy Coconut Grove Beach Resort, I had a day full of animal mishaps.

It all started with chickens. See, at the time I was staying with Mama Joyce, my host mom from my last visit. And there are some new additions to the household. The lady who lives upstairs (we live in a duplex) keeps chickens in the courtyard. AKA- right outside my bedroom window. Roosters, hens, babies, the whole nine yards. And I know the popular myth is that roosters crow in the morning, as it they are alarm clocks set to go off at dawn. In reality, rosters are more like dogs- if one crows, the whole neighborhood crows. And one neighborhood rooster is always crowing. Especially between the hours of 11pm to 8am. And when the lady upstairs makes them sleep under your bedroom window... Sleep becomes a precious commodity.

the horses. They have 2 adult horses and one colt that roam around the lawns of the facility (their other lawn mowing option was men with machetes). FIguring they wouldn't let wild horses roam around their customers, I went to go pet one... Bis mistake. She reared up her hind leg to kick me, and trust me, I didn't know I could run so fast while wearing flip-flops. Of course, 2 hours later when she was begging for sugar cubes at the restaraunt, she was all honey withthe customers. I wished Carissa was around to punch her for me.

Next the hotel's dog approached. Now this dog was sweet and loved attention, though he was a bit smelly. But then the dog rolled over so I could scratch his belly... And well, let's just say this puppy was looking for some lovin' I wasn't about to give.

So Mus and I decide to wander on down to the crocodile pond. I know, sounds like a great idea from the track record I'd been having with animals. We get there, and there's the nice crocodile, jaws wide open, sunning itself, with nothing but a dilapidated chain link fence that had partially fallen down between us. So I pull out my camera, ready to capture this Kodak moment...

And mus starts yelling. Apparently, I was standing on an anthill, and they were swarming my flip-flop. He pushes me off the anthill, grabs my sandal, and starts beating the sandal against a fencepost, yelling, "Check to make sure they aren't crawling up your legs!" Of coure, these were flesh-eating carniverous ants, who were in the process of devouring my sandal (which by the way had been a gift from Carol's mom).

Oddly enough, the crocodile was the only animal I'd seen all day that didn't want to maime me or make love to me or eat me alive. Which I'm grateful for. If he took me on, I'd probably come out having lost more than just a sandal. Maybe I'll show my gratitude by bringing Mr. Crocodile a gift. Of chickens.