I've bought my first African artefact - a guy was selling wire mobiles in the street and I saw a fish one I liked - made up of five of these wonderful colourful constructions (above). I asked him how long it took him to make it and he said "one day"; he said he'd sell it to me at a discounted price of 120 rand because he hadn't sold anything all day (it was ten o'clock in the evening). 120 rand is about seven quid, which I happily gave him. My SA colleagues told me later this was a fair price, for a day's work, here.
The other photos is of a visitor in my garden - or rather on the back porch; it was sitting (or standing?) immobile on the table and barely budged when I moved up close to take the photo; it's still there - a type of mantis, I think, rather than a stick insect. It's about three inches long, and if it was in a tree I don't think I'd ever have seen him.
4 comments:
How big is the fish - it's lovely. Can I order a few?
Hi Charles! It's about four inches across - and there are five of them on the mobile I got. I'm sure the guy who makes them would take a custom order!
Yes I can see them fitting well in your wonderful house - and also in the Peppe-inspired bathroom in my Fondi house too (in fact that was what I was thinking when I bought this one!)
Hi Wayne
Better late than never, excuse the french keyboqrd!!! Its definitely a fish and a preying mantis!! No allowed to blog : great impressions thanks, a greqt place for a biologist to visit GxHx
Hi GxHx, thanks for the comment - just saw it. Glad to get your confirmation that it's a mantis, others (not biologists) told me it was really a stick insect. The French keyboard is cool - it's like you're typing in a French accent.
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