Mampam!

So, I have a funny story to tell.

This actually began a few weeks ago, when I was working alone in the office. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye, and turned to look just in time to see a BIG lizard walking across the patio. From head to the tip of the tail this lizard was maybe three feet long. BIG lizard. It lumbered away before anyone else came to the office, so I didn't end up telling anyone about it. 

Fast forward to the next day. I was working in the office with Larteh, Lauren, and Auntie Renee, when Auntie goes "well, would you look at that!" Lo and behold, it was the same, or another, BIG lizard. We all rushed to the door to watch it as it walked away. Auntie said she had never seen such a lizard on campus before.

Soo, later that afternoon I went to my room to freshen up and use the washroom. I was walking from my room and pushed open the door to the washroom.... when a BIG lizard ran out of the washroom and into the bushes!! I think my heart may have skipped a beat. I ran back to the office and told everyone about it. It was hilarious!

After all of these lizard sightings, Lauren and I asked Larteh and Akrofi if they had ever seen lizards like that before here in Ghana. "of course," they told us, "it is called mampam. In English it would be... alligator." Lauren and I laughed out loud, for even though this was a BIG lizard, it was no alligator. No long head and mouth, and certainly no big teeth. The two Ghanaians looked at us in confusion, and thus began our debate. They insisted that this was an alligator, and we were positive that it wasn't. We went online and googled photos of alligators and showed them the difference. They then argued that still, it wasn't a lizard, since it can swim, and always lives by water. Then we began discussing the meanings of reptile, amphibian, and looked up the kingdom and species of both alligators and lizards. They still insisted that this was not a lizard, so we decided to find out exactly what species this lizard was. We searched for images, and looked up information on wildlife native to the Ghanaian coast. We finally found some answers when we searched under the Ghanaian name for the lizard: mampam. Here we finally found our answers: the lizard is a  Nile monitor lizard. Listen to this:

 "There are few of these lizards less suited to life in captivity than the Nile monitor. Buffrenil (1992) considered that, when fighting for its life, a Nile Monitor was a more dangerous adversary than a crocodile of a similar size. Their care presents particular problems on account of the lizards' enormous size and lively dispositions. Very few of the people who buy brightly-coloured baby Nile Monitors can be aware that, within a couple of years, their purchase will have turned into an enormous, ferocious carnivore, quite capable of breaking the family cat's neck with a single snap and swallowing it whole."

(Bennett, D. 1995. Little Book of Monitor Lizards, Viper Press, Aberdeen, UK)

It sounds like our mampams are a force to be reckoned with! My Ghanaian friends have assured me that they don't attack or bite humans, they will only whip you with their tail if you happen to surprise one of them. Note to self!