On Monkeys and Warthogs that Attend School
And have more freedom than students…
On my first day at the university, my father left me in the faculty admission area and he never returned, not even for my graduation.
Well, that part was my fault. I didn’t invite him.
That day was also my first time as an adult being in a city. Nairobi City. I thought days would be longer, but all changed a minute later as my father’s short clerical figure disappeared at a distance.
A warthog came moving fast, and on top, a baby monkey held onto it as a horseman would on a horse, but just without a saddle. The rest of the students just went about their business as if that were normal.
It probably came close to this YouTube video below. Haha! It’s always the low-quality ones that are hilarious.
I almost tripped on the short flower fence as I tried to follow what had just been the most spectacular, funny, and exciting scene I had ever seen in my entire life.
Below is a picture I later found going viral while I was still at university that reminds me of that day.
Adapting to the wild
A week later in school, I was getting the hang of seeing the warthogs, monkeys, and baboons. Sometimes we would get to class and find baboons sitting on our chairs while the warthogs just lay on the class verandah, unperturbed by the world around us.
And I thought nothing would surprise me anymore, but I was wrong.
One time after a 2-hour HIV class ended, we were still hanging in the classroom conversing about how that unit was useless when a bunch of warthogs appeared just outside our class and since they knew the newcomers to the university had already adapted to seeing them, they decided to give us a different but memorable show.
They even brought their own fans to the stage as around five warthogs laid still while the main entertainers started their show.
It was mating season.
If there were porn for animals, this would win the show.
They mated there in the verandah in the full gaze of everyone and it was a really awesome spectacular. Funny thing since that day I have never seen them mate ever again in daylight or in presence of people.
Almost as if they came there on purpose. I actually still have the picture with a puzzled look on my friend’s face from that day. I think the guy was traumatized. Haha, here is a picture of him lifting his hands in amusement. Beside him is me, wearing a backpack.
Warthogs lived to make our days memorable and happier. They actually lived and studied in that school but they never paid any fees as we did. And worse yet, they commanded respect from our gate security officers more than we could ever get.
When they were tired of the school vicinity, they trooped towards the gate and the watchmen would open the big gates meant for cars and they would storm out into the wildlife park across the road till a few days later when they returned and the gates would be opened again with respect and recognition as members of the university.
The warthogs would come back to catch up with their naughty friends, the monkeys, about the ridiculous things they did while they were away. They would have their weird animal laughs along the school pavements as the cheeky teenage monkey narrates the recurring corporate stories of how they vandalized the female rooms in the hostel and chased down weak boys carrying donuts from the canteen!
