Goat House - Tarani 1971

Animals had to be protected at night from the hyena and occasional leopard. We only lost one which we could not get in one night. Mzee Brito, our close neighbor who lived about 1oo yards away, took great delight in showing these two Mzungu (European) boys how to do things the proper way. He taught us how to build and thatch, make rope from sisal, how to make beautiful baskets from bark and grass. His main source of protein was tiny songbirds he caught by building a small twig frame down by the waterhole and coating it with gooey sap. The little birds would come to drink, perch on the frame and become stuck. They would be collected and roasted over the fire on a piece of corrogated metal which singed off the beaks, legs and feathers. They were then stored in an earthen pot. A little corn meal ugali and one was set. One could also collect flying ants with a kerosene lantern hung over a pan of water at night. The bugs would be drawn to the light and fall into the water. They were then thrown down on the metal and roasted. Eventually we learned we had been eating the wrong bugs. It was a source of great amusement to him, as was the strange language we spoke and all the foolish pieces of junk we hauled in which had no use in his life. He was killed by poison arrow several years after we left - someone thought he was an Mchawi (evil doctor who could cast spells) He was our mentor. He also had and used poison arrows but would never show me the tree which produced the sap of which the poison was made. The Zanaki were traditionally hunters but had turned to farming, mostly. Dried meat was still a staple and mostly came from the Waikizu or WaIkoma further to the east. A lot of it was from "poachers", which was the perjorative way to describe those who hunted as a way of living, something done for eons. It made far more sense to harvest the wild game than ruin the ecology with goats and cattle. In fact, a study showed that the mix of wild game in the plains was seven times more effective than domestic cattle and goats in exchanging vegitation, inedible by humans, to meat protein. Remember that when you are prodded to give to some "save the wildlife" fund. You MAY be contributing to the extinction of some traditional life-style which was far more in harmony with nature. There must be some balance found.