They say there’s a season for everything. In addition to the cornucopia of weeds that has recently taken over my backyard, critters of all shapes and sizes emerged from the saturated ground this rainy season to inhabit the once barren landscape. Most notably, the frogs. I’m not talking your typical spring-time level of amphibious visitation, but a plague-level invasion. After a week in Kolda I returned to my once semi-clean hut to find the floor covered in hardened droppings. My closest neighbor claims to have once thrown 100 frogs down his latrine in the course of one week (he claims it was an effort to control the flies…). Each night I return from my evening shower to find a dozen would-be princes staring up at me, as if I’m the unclothed intruder. I’ve awoken to find them trapped in plastic bags, backpacks, on my headboard and under the bed. And Senegalese frogs aren’t just abundant, they are clearly a few cards short of a full deck - often jumping straight into my oncoming broom, a nearby wall or an obviously too small crack under the door. While I assume this proliferation of hoppers happens annually, Senegalese people are comically afraid of them – which is amusing until I find myself shrieking in shock as one pops out of an open trunk.
In addition to the transient amphibian visitors, my hut is also home to one human, one dog, one mouse and a nest of baby birds. It’s a full house here at Chez Koumba – a real wildlife adventure!
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