Who's There?

A week ago I was in Adol to monitor and assist with an end of project evaluation for our Across Health and Education programmes.  Adol is a little further into the bush than Rumbek and I’ve generally noted increased levels of wildlife compared to what we see on a normal day in Rumbek.  This visit was no exception.

One evening I had wrapped up dinner and a game and was heading back to my room.  Upon entering, I was greeted by a burst of noise and activity.  As I ducked for cover, I was able to identify the source of the noise as a small owl which had made it’s way into my room.  After a few panicked seconds, it perched itself on the pole extending from one of the beds, and calmly stared at me as I stood with my heart racing in the doorway.

I closed the door, hoping that some banging would encourage him to hop out the window on the opposite side of the room.  Instead it encouraged him to take flight and get himself wedged between my mosquito net and the wall.  I saw my opportunity to claim territory on the far side of the room, leaving the larger doorway as an exit point.  I moved in cautiously and shook the mosquito net until he was freed.

Owls are supposed to have pretty good eyesight so I thought the gaping doorway would have been easily located as an exit point, but instead the little fella decided to land about a metre in front of the door.  Looking around for projectiles to keep the process moving forward, I settled on my two flip flops.  Number one came up a bit short on draw weight.  Number two had a good head of steam and bumped into his legs.  His reaction was a small hop.  Apparently this was going to take a more aggressive approach.  I grabbed my notebook and tossed it in his direction.  This produced a slightly larger hop and got him halfway to the door.  Then I noticed a roll of toilet paper, relatively soft and light, yet easily tossed.  I decided that this projectile posed little risk of injuring my new friend so I tossed it full speed and scored a direct hit.

Out the door he went and I closed it behind him thinking that was the end of our game.  Not the case.  He only went as far as the plastic chair on my porch, perching and allowing me to take a few more shots to capture the moment.  I tossed some rolled up balls of paper hoping to ensure he wouldn’t find his way back in through the barred windows.  Again no reaction.  He was still sitting there when I turned out the lights and closed my eyes.  By morning I guess he had grown tired of my company and had decided to move on to other locales.

And now the story in picture form: