Beautiful sunbird

If you visit me any morning, you are bound to see my eyes wander around and, sometimes, just ask you to hold what you were about to say for a second or a minute to give me time to grab my camera. There are so many interesting birds around, I literally don't know where to look.

This morning, while chatting with a relative, I glimpsed a sunbird I was not sure I could identify more specifically. I've discovered over time that there are several types gracing the flowers in my garden. I quickly grabbed my camera and took a couple of pictures.

Then it was a matter of figuring out which member of the large sunbird family it is. I am still not sure, but I'm tentatively identifying it as a female Beautiful sunbird / Cinnyris pulchellus / Souïmanga à longue queue.

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The cycle of life

I've posted in the past about the lizards we find everywhere around here. The most striking is probably Agama agama, and in particular the male of the species, with its orange head. One important point I want to make right away: it came to my notice a while ago that some people believe them to be poisonous. It seems to be a rather common misconception in West and Central Africa. I've looked it up quite extensively and there is absolutely nothing to corroborate it. 

Now to my main point: Yesterday I discovered a female laying eggs in a hole. Although I knew how they did it in theory, it was my first time witnessing it. Although they don't lay a lot of eggs (only 5-7), it seems to be quite a long process. The female was 'frozen' in place for a while.

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Grapes in the tropics!

I bought three small grape vines back in October 2017 and frankly my expectations were pretty low.

Of course I planted them anyway and kept an eye on them (and kept watering them regularly too).

They grew super-fast, which was only half a surprise, considering almost everything grows fast here given regular water. The huge surprise was that it started showing promises of fruit. A lot of fruit.

It seems to need to hide somewhat under the leaves, or maybe I'm wrong? I really don't know how to care for grape vines in the tropics. Someone told me they would give small, but tasty fruits. I can't wait.

Isn't it the prettiest thing you've ever seen?

The vines have reached the roof. And then some. Actually they are starting on the cables stabilising the antenna on the roof. I'll have to do something about it, soon.

Now which variety is it? I don't have a clue. I don't really care at this point. I just hope it'll mature nicely and be tasty. 

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Mango tree

I mentioned so often drowning under gazillions of mangoes that I felt posting pictures of the one tree I get them all from was long overdue. There are many mango trees on the property, but I can't possibly deal with all of them and sell or process everything. This one tree gives me about 100 fruits a day in season (two seasons a year).

Should you ever visit me, you would sleep in this bungalow next to the infamous tree. The first night is bound to be disturbed by the noise mangoes make while falling from the tree. Coconuts too fall haphazardly and can be startling before you get used to that sound too.

Now, these are very fiber-rich fruits, that are not so easy or pleasant to eat as is, despite being juicy and tasty. I've found that they make delicious unsweetened preserves, though.

I just peel them, put about 40 of them in the slow cooker overnight, then stone them and purée them (I've found that a traditional hand-operated vegetable mixer like this works best). I put it back in the slow cooker for another night so that it concentrates and caramelises in its own juice and natural sugars. That's it. Zero sugar, sweeteners or flavours added. The kids and I have it almost every day of the year.

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Moringa oleifera

It shocks me that I don't seem to have ever posted about Moringa oleifera here. Another miracle plant we know too little about here in Africa. We do eat the leaves traditionally, but mostly, it's become fashionable when it was 'discovered' as a superfood in the Western countries. It's now grown as a cash crop and moringa leaf powder is sold in the West as a food supplement at prices that would shock the local growers.

Here is how it grows. The long pods are left to dry (if not used green as food - quite heavy on the fiber side in my non-expert opinion) and the seeds inside used to sow a new crop.

The flowers are quite pretty and have a delicate smell. I read you can do a jelly with them, but I haven't tried (yet).

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Ginger (ornamental)

A few months back I acquired this plant which I discovered is some variety of ornamental ginger. The nursery had a lot of them with bright red 'tips', which I hesitated to identify as flowers: they looked as much like painted pine cones as any kind of flower I had ever seen. I looked it up on the Internet and found a probable scientific name for it: Costus woodsonii, and many English names, among which Dwarf French kiss, Red button ginger, Scarlet Spiral Flag, Red Cane, and Panamanian Candle Ginger.

It seems that the next stage is for the cone to open and allow yellow flowers to emerge. The most interesting part is that these flowers are supposedly edible. Now we have some new experience to be looking forward to!

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Noni

I got two seedlings of noni (Morinda citrifolia) which I started in pots and then transplanted in my garden. Although noni is supposed to be (yet another) miracle plant, I find the fruit's smell and taste close to revolting. Why did I plant it in my garden? I guess part of it is hoping I'll some day get over the smell/taste and do something good for my health. In the meantime, it's very quick and easy to grow and is rather good looking.

This is how the fruit starts: you first see a cluster of white flowers, then the flowers fall down and the base grows into the fruit itself.

I'm told it's ripe when it's white, which feels somehow counter-intuitive to me, but I'll give it another try. In the meantime, it looks good, which is rather important for an ornamental garden.

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