We don’t have much in the way of wildlife in Doma. Most of the wildlife in the country has been hunted out of existence unfortunately. Conservation isn’t a priority. Some nights you could hear hyenas in the distance and there were rumours of a leopard on the kopje, the mountain, but we never saw it. There are baboons around the mountain, but they don’t come near our compound.
We do have plenty of snakes in the area, but surprisingly you don’t hear of people getting bitten very often. A seven foot long cobra was killed in our backyard by the gardeners. I helped Brighton dig a cobra out from under the step of the house next to ours and kill it. It was 20 feet from our house. At first we were paranoid about snakes and every stick would make us jump, but after a while you stop worrying about it and just keep your eyes open. Snakes don’t like to be around humans so the grass is kept cut low around the houses and we just kill any snake that comes around, unless it’s a python because they are protected and are not poisonous.
We have many different birds that I’ve started to photograph and am learning to identify. One day a pangolin was caught going through the Ervines’ garden so we took it far out to the bush to release it. The Shona people believe pangolins have gold in their skulls and will kill them. They are an endangered species in Zimbabwe. It was a great experience to get to see and hold one. Lia loves all manner of creatures and it’s a normal occurrence to her come into the house with a frog or a chameleon on her shoulder. Shona people hate all reptiles, but especially chameleons because of the independent eye movement. Lia likes to walk up to a group of Shona people with a chameleon on her shoulder and see how long it takes for them to notice. Lia never tires of seeing grown men jump away with a small screech.
