Nighttime noises

Sunset on Lewa from main road

So I must say, that I have a routine for getting ready for bed.  Shower off the grime and dirt of the day.  (*see "The dome effect" for full details of dirt.) I then tiptoe back into my room.  I have no idea why I tiptoe.  I am wearing flip-flops made out of tires.  Why tiptoeing is something I feel that I need to do is beyond me.  Anyways, after my tiptoeing session, I get changed into my comfy PJ's.  I then arrange everything next to my bed that I need.  Mostly this entails my kindle, my lotion, journal, laptop (if a movie is on the schedule for the night), and head torch.  I then undo my mosquito net and get it draped over the end of my bed.  The whole reason for this routine, is that once I take off my shoes and get into bed, I don't get out of bed again.   

So I pop on my head torch.  Walk to the other side of room to turn off light.  I then hop into bed  with my handy dandy head torch and apply the copious amounts of E45 moisturiser that it takes to not turn into a walking piece of ash.  After this, I don't want to stand again, because of the amount of ants on my floor.  Despite all of the powder, bug repellent, and the number of times that you sweep up the floor, there will always be ants on the floor.  Ants + moisturiser = not a pleasantry. So I then hop into bed and begin the task of pulling and tucking the mosquito net around my bed.  

There I am finally cocooned into my bed.  It is normally then that I realise that I am really really thirsty and the water is across the room, or that I magically need the loo again, even though I just went.  

When all the reading, writing, and watching are done and it is time for bed….the head torch comes off and gets put on the bed post.  

Now a quick thing about this head torch.  I have had it since 2003.  It was another one of the best gifts a Mum can get a girl.  I was living in Florida, and attending a business college.  I KNOW! Someone should have slapped me right then and there, but I digress.  I lived in a small dorm room with a girl named Jennifer.  Jennifer liked to sleep during normal sleeping hours.  I, on the other hand, liked to sleep in the afternoon and work through the night.  I must have mentioned to Mum that Jennifer was upset with me having the light on at all hours of the night…so tadaaaaaaaaa! A head torch.  I never would have dreamed at that stage that my head torch would be guiding me away from stepping on snakes a night, walking into holes, and getting ready for bed in Africa.  Anyways, thanks Mum!  

Right before the lights go off, I sometimes hear that horrible sound of a mosquito.  It is now the dilemma to figure out what side of the net he is on.  I then spend a few seconds trying to pinpoint his annoying sound, and then trying to see if I can even see him in the net.  I turn off the light for a bit, and then turn it back on, trying to catch him.  It must look like a cinema opening night with the flashes of my torch going around.   Just to let you know, he has never been on the inside of the net…but yet I triple check this when I do hear his sounds.  

So lights off.  Utter darkness.  Now is when my hearing becomes super astute.  Is that a grasshopper in the in bush outside?  No, just kidding.  But, so many sound fill the air at night.  The other night, no animal wanted to sleep.  I was listening to sounds of Impala, grunting and fighting in the nearby field, the tree hyraxes screaming (seriously try and google the sound of a tree hyrax), Elephants trumpeting in the distance, grasshoppers playing their tune, the cat outside growling at something nearby,…..it is overwhelming.  

Depending on the activities of the day, sometimes I sleep through the night, and sometimes the sounds of animals wake me up.  I don't get angry if a lion's roar wakes me up, I get angry if I don't wake up for a lion's roar.  The sound pulsates through your body.  Also if a lion is about to eat me, I think I would want to hear it.  I don't even curse the tree hyrax at 5am, or the vervet monkeys playing just outside my window at 6am.  I just listen for a minute, and then roll back over to sleep, tucked nicely under the mozzie net with lovely moisturised feet.