Sue's Barn, The Tent, Awakened By Screams

My arrival at my sister Sue's place allowed me to finally visualize the barn that she calls home. She has converted it into a comfy place to lay her head, entertain, work, cook, and live. But it is still a barn and lacks many of the comforts that my life in Toronto would have considered, um, basic.


Her toilet is lovingly referred to as the "long drop" and is a convenient 25 paces from the barn.


Despite the impact of barn life and being informed that I will be staying in a tent (more on that later), I was simply too shattered to process the information and needed to sleep. I went to bed and may have been asleep before my head hit the pillow.

Hours later, and still delirious from my trip, I woke suddenly to what I thought were the screams of infants being murdered by a crazed, axe-wielding psychopath. I bolted upright in my bed and heard yet more screaming. As quickly as it had started it ended. I heard no commotion, nor sirens, nor voices and simply sat there in bed confused. I waited and waited until I could take the silence no more and eased myself back to sleep. A short while later, I awoke to more screaming. The pattern repeated as silence replaced the screaming and no further commotion could be heard. I again drifted back to sleep. Just then, it all happened again - the screaming and nothing else. I concluded that this must simply be the sounds of Africa and went back to sleep.

Later that morning I awoke refreshed but confused. I asked Mahala, Sue's housekeeper, about the noise and she happily pointed to a small, gray furry animal in the tree between Sue's barn and my tent. This is a Tree Hyrax and was completely responsible for the sounds I heard:


When I asked Sue about it, she simply didn't think it was worth mentioning to me. Let's just say that my first night in Nairobi was quite a bit different from almost any other night in my life, let alone any night in Toronto.

Here's a shot of the luxury accommodation that is my tent. As tents go, it is jolly nice. But it is still a tent.