Last night we were deeply sleep when I heard things falling down in the kitchen. Bang, bing! clock! Followed by some fast steps. Tip tip tip…bang!
I went into full alert at once! It took me a second to stand up and go out of the bedroom to check what it was….carefully making sure that Matilda -the mighty hunter- was locked in the room, just in case.
Frank trailed behind me with the flashlight. The light revealed two red dots in the kitchen, running around fast. At least it is not a snake! – I thought.
We turned on the kitchen lights to find out …..a cutie.
A small furry animal, with round ears, big eyes and a very log tail.
An Olingo. A nocturnal animal, closely related to the African bushbaby, that feeds on fruit, nectar, insects and some small vertebrates…and apparently human compost.
After eating the fruit that we had outside the fridge in a plate, he was going through our compost, leaving a trail of pineapple hearts and semi-eaten fruits on the floor.
We run for the broom to try to gently kick it out of the house. But it was too fast and agile and could evade the broom easily, jumping from one shelf to the next one, running through the beams and getting around us…to be back in the kitchen to chew another bit of the pineapple core.
We started hiding all the food, compost, and rubbish so that he would leave. Frank would point him with the flashlight in the hope that the light would be too uncomfortable for his nocturnal eyes. But nothing worked.
He would leave…and come back as soon as we turned our backs.
So, at the end, we had to wake up the manager. Still semi-sleep, he took the Olingo and brought it back to the forest.
Today we were told that he might be back, since he has learned that there is “easy food” available in the house. So we need to make the house “Olingo-proof”. Since the kitchen is completely open to the terrace, it means that we need to hide all food and lock it in a place where he cannot smell it.
I hope that he cannot open the fridge. But one never knows. Some wild animals are super smart. I’ll keep you updated.
😉
THE FLIP FLOP LIFE 