Don't stick porcupine quills in Euphorbia!
Trip Start
Jun 07, 2008
1
108
189
Trip End
Jun 28, 2009
Where I stayed
Tswalu Kalahari Game Reserve, Northern Cape, South Africa
Saturday, January 10, 2009
DON'T STICK PORCUPINE QUILLS IN EUPHORBIA PLANTS!!!
Yesterday we were about to go for our game drive when my nose and mouth started burning like crazy. Dad gave me some water and we started on the drive. But as we went along, my nose and mouth kept burning, like when I sniffed pepper when I was a little kid. Jason and Sam gave me some more water, but that did not help at all. Then Mom asked me if I touched anything before we got in the land rover and I remembered that I had been sticking a porcupine quill that Lu found in a plant that looked like a giant cactus. Tswalu is cool because you can walk around and explore so that is what I was doing. When Jason and Sam heard about this, Jason realized I had some toxic euphorbia juice on my mouth and nose - and I remembered that the plant had oozed out white stuff that looked like lotion
In the Kalahari
. Luckily, Jason and Samuel know a lot about bush medicine, so first they found some plants that have water in them and made me chew on the roots. When that did not help, they found some limestone rocks and made a paste and put it on my face, like white paint. Finally, my face stopped burning and I felt better. But I learned not to poke around in the Kalahari! The San used to use euphobia juice to poison their arrows, and that is just what happened to me.
When we stopped for sunset drinks, Jason and Samuel showed me and Lu lots of cool things. They dug up a plant that has a giant root that is bright red with red juice inside. The small one looked like a dead mouse and the big one looked like a dead rat. The San used the root to paint things. We also saw the tiny tracks of desert mice and lots of ants. We tried to find some scorpions, but no luck. But we did find a dead gemsbok, who was probably killed by another gemsbok. He did not smell or look too good!
It was a beautiful sunset on the red dunes because a big rainstorm was headed our way. The clouds were dark blue, purple, pink, orange, yellow - so many colors at one time! We hung out on the dunes until the rain came, then we rushed back to the lodge. It was a great day, even after the euphorbia!
Comments
Bush Medicine
Hi Zola,
What a story! I'm glad that Jason and Samuel are so 'bush smart,' and knew what to do about your poor burning face. I love seeing all the photos. Your blog is excellent. Keep up the very good work.
Lots of love from
GramAnne