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erictravis-florida · 3 years

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Natural Man NATURAL MAN ; Throughout history black people have been considered on the same level as an ox by Caucasians./ In Africa they beat their mules and dogs. In this country we have them as pets. / Monkeys are everywhere in Africa. That’s probably the reason why they told me the story about a Toubob meaning” American” also slang for “white man “ . A little boy was throwing rocks at a monkey one day. The monkey runs away from the boy and the boy chases the monkey in the bush still throwing rocks. The monkey stops running and turns around to the little boys surprise was a pack of monkeys waiting for him. I’m upunder Monkeys lol. / The mules would be in heat and would scream out every morning at 5 a.m I was either awaken by the mule or the mosque which was located across the street from my Kompound. Allah Allah Akba./ There were 6 foot long lizards which would run by my feet while I was sitting. I thought it was funny. Try that shit in America. I’d scream my ass off lol and run. /They killed all the snakes and lions in The Gambia. With a few exception of lions in the far east of Gambia and a few cobras still left in the country. Rats from the fields were prominent out in the field not to many found in the huts. The Hyena are huge. They have a huge back and are at least 6 feet tall sitting down. I saw a hyena at a zoo in Africa. Hyenas are the lions natural predator. /Bird watching is big amongst tourist. I had the fortune or misfortune however you want to look at it of having natural vulture heart as a meal. They didn’t tell me what I was eating until month’s later lol. It was to ward off evil and protect me from danger. Natural vultures feed off of plants and shrubs so they tell me. They fly over the land and act as a look out for predators. Vulture heart is considered like a cocaine in The Gambia. It has natural powers./ Mosquitoes are everywhere, especially near the latrines and showers. The mosquitoes fly around the excrements in the latrines and makes going to the bathroom quite an adventure. Having to go to the bathroom and navigating through the hordes of flies. The mosquitos are huge. They hang out around showers and bathrooms. I had to take malaria medication every day to prevent me from getting malaria./ In America I am scared of dogs. I’ve been conditioned in America to be scared of dogs due to police tactics and history of attacks from dogs. In Africa I walked by a pack of 10 barking dogs in the city of Dakarr without a care. They were more of a nuisance then anything to fear./ I read about the Zulus and Chaka Zulu training his warriors to fight lions bare handed as part of their training. Woman warriors in Ethiopia fought bulls with their bare hands. It kind of makes me think that we lost some of our courage and bravery once we landed in the new world. I’m still afraid of certain dogs in this country today. That wasn’t the case in Africa while I was there. / I had a conversation with a lady in this country about animal’s behavior in other countries. She told me about going to Australia in the Galapagos Islands and having to step over the sea lions on the beach because they had no fear. Domestication seems to go both ways in America while dealing with animals. The domesticated animals have fears as well as human beings in this country./ The Gambian boys would spend their days either playing futbol, school, farming or hunting. I remember one day meeting some young boys in the bush with a dead lizard they had been hunting that day. I suppose they eat the lizards too./ The beach was made of black sand. I actually attempted to swim in the ocean when I got caught up in a rip tide under water which dragged me onto some rocks where I was scraped up but manage to make it back to shore after fighting the currents. This also happened to another volunteer who tried to go swimming in the ocean./ I remember when I first arrived in the Gambia we were stationed in a kompound with a tree that held 3000 bats. We the volunteers would congregate socially under the tree. The tree was loud and it sounded like a lot of people talking amongst one another. I would never do that in America. But once again I had no fear./ I had no fear of monkeys which you would see everywhere. They were as common as squirrels in my city in Florida. /The talapia was fresh and seasoned with squirts of lemon fresh. They caught the fish and prepared if for with a little grill right on the beach. They made fish balls which I’m still looking to find in this country. /They say in Africa one is not a man until he reaches 70 years old. / I held my right pointing finger out in front of me pointing in the opposite direction. The blue dragon fly rested on my finger as I looked on. While looking at the dragon fly I turn my head to the left and the dragon fly turns its head to the left. I then turn my head to the right and the dragon fly turns its head to the right. Then I turn my head to the left again and the dragon fly turns its head to the left. At this point we had already established communication there nothing else left to do but talk to the dragon fly. Which I couldn’t possibly do. At that time the dragon fly flies off my finger and into the wind. Leaving me sitting outside the front porch of my house./ It was a black and yellow bumble bee. About regular size. The back was black and the front was yellow. I extended my right hand exposing my palm. The bee flies onto my hand and stops right in the middle of my hand. I could easily crush the bee but that was not my intention. My intention was to get as close as possible to nature. After a few seconds in my hand another bee flies up to my hand and at this time the bee inside my hand flies off and attacks the other bee and they both fly away. Leaving me standing in front of my front porch of my house. /While hiking through the bush in Africa on a Safari. A Safari without the animals lol More like an 8 hour hike through the bushes of Africa. There was about 30 of us. I had gotten separated from the others even though I could see them in the distance but too far to yell. That’s when out of the bush jumps out a baby gazelle. I stopped in my tracks and observed the beautiful animal. It was reddish brown with black and white stripes. The gazelle appeared lost like me. When it stopped I stopped and we just looked at each other in amazement. It had dark black eyes that looked like it could see me through the dark if it was to reach that point. However it was the middle of the day in the burning sun. Then just like that after about 20 seconds of staring it jumps back into the bush. I always considered that good luck. I was told if you see a gazelle it brings good luck to you in the future.

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