24th October 2008 : Spotty & Spiky Nocturnal Visitors

This evening while I was catching up on reading the news and surfing the net a little, the genet cats appeared...several of them, but impossible to count how many there were altogether as they all look so similar, and they're always darting from one place to the next (I definitely saw two together, if not more)...but there is one genet, who is particularly tame and is identifiable by the double notches in his left ear:

Who's that by the door?

Well, are you coming in or aren't you?

This beautiful carpet was brought back from Afghanistan by my husband, Ian...it's a fine place for a genet cat these days!

Two-Notch Charlie (I've just this second named him that - all the other genets between whom we cannot yet differentiate are all Jean Genie) is recognizable by the distinctive double notches in his left ear

A handsome wee fella in profile too...

Two-Notch Charlie is eyeing up the salami on the table...

Just making sure it's safe to do so, before he jumps onto the table (far too close for me to be able to focus) and grabs his treat. By the way, if you're wondering why the carpet is bent over like this, it's because it's so windy here at the moment, that everything is being blown all over the place. I've put the carpet back so many times, only for it to get blown over again, that I've now given up and just left it there!)

Waiting for more...like a puppy, this genet can wear you down with those "poor me" eyes, waiting ever so patiently until I relent and go back to the kitchen to fetch more goodies...

For such small, delicate cats (which are not really cats, but more closely related to mongooses), genets have very long tails which help them to balance when climbing trees (or walls to get into our house)...

While I was feeding and chatting to the genets (yes, I know, talking to animals is only one step away from insanity!), I heard a loud crunching noise coming from just outside the kitchen...I knew immediately what it was (for I had seen the same nocturnal visitor three nights ago, for the very first time), so I thought I'd push my luck and sneak around with my camera until I could get a clear view of the area...

Who's this coming around the corner?

None other than a Porcupine! This huge rodent (which stands over two feet tall, quills included) has been coming to feed on the left-over maize [corn] which I throw on the ground each evening after feeding the dik diks. Porcupines are notoriously difficult to photograph because they are so painfully shy and are also nocturnal. They spend the day sleeping in underground burrows, only emerging in the hours of darkness to forage. To be able to repeatedly photograph this rarely seen animal, even with a flash, from such close quarters was an extraordinary piece of luck for me.

Hang on! What's this? Not one, but TWO porcupines! How amazing! The second one turned out to be much more shy than the first, and was nervous of my flash, so I tried to resist photographing it too much because I did not want to scare it...but I had to take a couple of shots, just to prove there were two of them...

The first porcupine stayed and munched away quite contentedly while my camera flashed away...you can see from this big close up (which has not been cropped, although of course I have re-sized it), that I was quite close to it...

From behind, it looks like an untidy collection of spikes that's been dragged through a hedge backwards...

Look at those quills!

Behind the porcupine, a hare was happily devouring our lawn (no need for electrical lawn mowers around here!)

I thought Halloween wasn't 'til next week...so what's with the scary eyes?! [Did you know that, if an animal's eyes reflect light, like those of hares, porcupines and genets do, it means they can see in the dark?]

And not to be left out, here's one of the genets (must be Jean Genie!) with the porcupine.

Now I know who's been eating the plants in the flowerbeds leading up to our front door - the cheek of it!

That's right, stick to the maize (at least until I've turned away, then do your damage as you will!)

Sometimes I really think our house has been invaded, and we are merely quite useful to have around for many of the invaders...

Here's a squirrel emerging from the kitchen, as if he owns the place (we're back onto daytime animals now, obviously)

Another squirrel makes himself at home under the balcony furniture...

These days the starlings don't wait for us to put food on the bird table, they come to us as we're eating our breakfast and demand their share, there and then!

While this Agama Lizard in our living room looks...well, let's just put it this way: he doesn't look like he's too concerned whether or not we want him in the house! Truth be told, of course, we love all these creatures sharing our home with us...or is it the other way round and we are sharing their home?

THE END
(for tonight anyway, as elephants trumpet in the river below the house and my eyelids droop...it's 1am and for a lightweight like me, that's LATE!)