On Sat, 30 Oct 2004 21:58:12 +0200, "Jean-Marc V. Liotier"
wrote:
>In the beginning there were many things I thought would be worth taking
>for comfort or just in case, but after a while the urge of backpack
>weight optimization makes hard decisions much easier. But the experience
>of each individual will lead to very different decisions about what is
>really useful, so it is really a matter of personal travel style.
Jean-Marc,
I'm with you on most of these points. I only want to point out
that some of these very different decisions will be wrong
because it is difficult to assess and calculate the risks
properly. Assessing small risks is always difficult, impossible
if you lack information, but at least I want to point out some
known risks (and tell some possibly interesting stories on the
side).
Actually it is my experience that the vast majority of all risks
while travelling in Africa comes from humans, not from wild
animals. In my experience particularly the large wild animals
always behave sensibly. Crazy ones are very rare. They just
don't seem to survive for long. There are no mental hospitals
for animals in the bush.
Small ones also follow their biological programming strictly,
but they are less intelligent and do not understand what a human
in a sleeping bag really is. Therefore they may unwittingly risk
their own lives, but some of them have dealy weapons too,
usually poison. Then there are malaria-carrying anopheles
mosquitos, but that's a different story.
There are some residual risks in connection with animals. Some
large animals have some behavior traits that one had better
know. An example is the hippo, which always freezes when you
approach him at night, then suddenly attacks when you come too
close. They just don't run away like a gazelle, an antelope, a
zebra, or a gnu would. This is the reason why there are more
deadly accidents with hippos in Kenya than with any other wild
animal. The typical accident happens on a Friday night walk home
from the pub. Almost happened to me once, by the way. I
recognized the hippo only at the very last second and was very
lucky to have had some moonlight.
A number of other species behave similarly when they cannot see
you, for example because the animal is behind dense bush.
Examples are buffalo and lion. When they see you, all depends on
the distance. Outside the critical distance all of them will run
away, buffalos just as well as lions. Inside that distance (a
few meters) they will always instantly attack.
However, a lion or leopard walking by a sleeping human may get
curious. Intelligent predators understand sleep. They know very
well that you're a human, and they can tell that you're
sleeping. Their behavior will depend on circumstances, but cases
are known where leopards attacked people at night or where a
lioness pulled a boy from a tent (with open tent doors) and ate
him. I wouldn't vouch for hyaenas either.
None of these animals hunts humans. But they may take a human if
presented on a silver plate.
This leaves the small critters. In northern Kenya there is a
spider (not to mention scorpions and snakes) that the people
call "hunting spider". This interesting species has poison-green
females and orange males. Both have a kind of poison that can
totally paralyze a human for 24 hours. A higher dose can kill
you. I've seen these spiders run. They wouldn't attack you in a
sleeping bag, but there can be accidents. One of them could
creep into the sleeping bag, looking for food or shelter. If you
then make a wrong movement ...
I haven't heard of any traveller getting bitten by a snake, but
it is not entirely impossible, particularly if you sleep out
unprotected. Read the story of Chemandazi if you like
(http://www.michna.com/kenya2002/). She (a five year-old girl)
got bitten by a snake into her hand and almost died. Warning:
The photos are not suitable for children or sensitive people.
Hans-Georg
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