Mongooses on the loose?!

As a volunteer dentist at the Maasai Dental Clinic in rural Western Kenya, the tribe showed their gratitude by providing our family complimentary meals at their adjacent tented camp, Sianna Springs. Sianna Springs was only about a 5–7 minute walk away.

During our walks to and from the clinic for our meals, Scotty and Stella became obsessed about who was the “leader”. Inevitably, an argument would ensue about who the leader was and who the leader will be next time. This is one’s main concern when you’re 4 and 3 years old.

One evening on our way to dinner, Stella was in a mood: she was quickly irritable, impatient, and just cranky. Scotty was walking to the locked gate that surrounded the dental clinic. For whatever reason, Scotty was about 20 feet ahead of all of us, including Stella. Once she realized how far ahead Scotty was of her, she became absolutely furious. So, she took off running as fast as she could. Her little, chubby legs could not keep up with her anger and sheer determination. She ended up falling and hitting the grass like a stone skipping across water. As soon she came to a stop, she let out a blood curdling, pissed-off toddler scream! About 15 feet from where she landed was a large tent on top of a concrete pad. Under that concrete pad lived about 40 mongooses.

Yes, mongooses. I remember learning about these fascinating animals when I was young. The one thing that sticks out the most is that they fear nothing. AND the fact that they travel in packs doesn’t help 😀

Once her scream subsided, the mongooses made this growling scream! Honestly, I’ve never heard anything like it! Scott and I looked at each other in complete fear and confusion… what do we do??? Mongooses kill King Cobras, they’re not afraid of ANYTHING!!! Do we pick Stella up and take off? Or do we save the other two kids and sacrifice her?!? As parents, we were completely confused. We missed the ‘What To Do When Your Toddler Pisses Off Mongooses’ in the parenting book.

Not only had we never heard anything like it, the mongooses likely had never heard anything like Stella’s scream. Think about it: Here is a 3 year old child from the other side of the planet in the bush. It’s not that these animals have never heard a 3 year old girl, but they are certainly more used to local children and not a little princess from the USA not having her way.

So, my initial reaction was shouting “Shut up Stella!” in a stern, fear envoking voice that I didn’t even know I possessed. I have never told her to shut up before, it just came out. But it worked! Between the verbiage and tone of my voice, I shocked her enough to stop screaming.

Once she subsided, the mongooses stopped making their snarling noise. Thankfully and luckily, the mongooses remained under the concrete pad. But once we scared her silent, Scott scooped her up, and we hustled the whole family to dinner.

Just reminiscing about the incident makes my heart race and blood pressure rise. As a parent, it was so scary, but now that everyone is okay we find it quite humorous.

Oh my, Stella’s screaming got us into another predicament when traveling! That girl will either rule the world when she grows up or live in our basement; I’m prepared for either.

You are now free to walk about the cabin.

Safe Travels,

Scott & Katie Sears

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Scott & Katie Sears

Written by

With a 4 year old, a 3 year old, and a 20 month old, we’re traveling the world and sharing our stories, advice, and tips for traveling!

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