Zambia World Wide

Other than that, the only wildlife I can remember is that we saw at local wildlife parks, a snake that once had to be shot in our garage, a black insect that once had to be washed out of a sister's ear, and something called an ant lion, which I never actually saw, although I saw the little conical traps it would dig in the sand. I was told the ant lion lived in the bottom of the inverted cone and ate the ants that slipped into the trap, but I never saw this happen, much to my disappointment - I was very much fascinated by tiny things, and the thought of a miniature lion living in the sand of my garden was very exciting to me! I did once also hear of a deadly snake called a "Black Mamba" being found and killed at a neighbour's house, and I remember once a sister having to sleep in a bed with a chair holding the covers off her legs because she had been bitten during the night by a spider in her bed. I occasionally saw centipedes which curled into a tight coil if you touched them with a stick, looking like a delicious coil of liquorice, and ants my parents called "matabeles", which made a very distinctive smell if you trod on them by mistake, but considering we lived in an exotic country, I remember surprisingly little exotic wildlife - but then, familiarity breeds contempt, as they say, and to us children then, the exotic just seemed normal and mundane. I know that I was introduced to zebra at one of the wildlife parks we visited, and I apparently referred to them as "horses in pyjamas", much to my parents mirth, and I do also remember being shown porcupines and told they could shoot their spines out, which I believed right into adulthood - I pictured those black and white spines hurtling through the air towards me like arrows. In fact, they only bristle their spines, and one could only stick into you if you went right up and pressed into it - but I didn't know that at the time.

I never had an insect in my ear or a spider in my bed, but I do once remember being told that a tree at the front of our school was poisonous and would hurt you if you touched it. I was never one to be told anything, so of course I boldly hugged this tree then triumphantly demonstrated to my admiring (or should that be horrified?) audience of gathered youngsters that I was still alive and well. However, that very night I came out in a terrible rash all over, and my mother got the doctor out in great alarm. I was asked if I had eaten anything unusual or been bitten by any insect, and eventually I had to confess, in great shame and embarrassment, that I had hugged the tree you were not supposed to touch. Instant diagnosis, and no sympathy at all - I had got what I deserved, served me right! And I knew I had to agree!