The eight-legged wonder of the world.

    

Given that our University is within close proximity to the beauty that is nature, we often find ourselves coming into close contact with the local wildlife. We have birds, lizards, snakes, a wide variety of insects, and of course, the eight legged wonder of the world, the arachnid, or more commonly know as the spider. 

 

This cute critter in particular is known as a rain spider (or a Huntsman spider). They are called rain spiders in South Africa because they tend to be more active just before or just after rain, however, I believe this little fellow just wanted to get to know my friend a little better and decided to pay him a visit by crawling up next to his feet. I think little is an understatement, far from it in fact. As you can see from the photos that I bravely took, it is by no means small. I have to admit that I did make a hasty get away when my other friend picked it up and began walking with it in his hands to take it back outside.

I made sure that everyone in our residence was well aware that there was a wild animal (arachnid) being relocated by running down the corridor (camera in hand) yelling at the top of my voice (in as manly a manner as possible) so as to give them sufficient time to prepare themselves (barricade doors, arm themselves with shoes or grab our favourite bug exterminator, Doom).

 Thankfully the creature went along peacefully and we could all breathe a sigh of relief as it departed with fond memories of how it managed to terrify and absolutely petrify a bunch of young adolescent men  (I nearly had a heart attack at the sight of it.).

It will forever be a day to be remembered, the day an eight legged little friend came to visit. This is a story we will share amongst ourselves around the dinner table for many moons to come. I can honestly say though that I have never been more petrified of a spider before in my life. Granted I have arachnophobia, but I can normally control it to an extent, but this...this was something else. "Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold." - Helen Keller. If we wish to overcome our fears, we must face them head on or risk losing ourselves in the process.