This morning we had to get up at 4am and meet on the soccer field for a lesson on astronomy and bird calls. When we all stumbled onto the dark field with our eyes half open, we set out a couple of blankets and plopped down. Sean and Nellie were quite enthusiastic of like usual, but the rest of us were dead silent. It was pretty chilly this morning and there were no stars out in the sky! so instead we decided to wait a couple more hours for the first morning bird calls and study those instead! Finally at 5:30 we heard our first call which was a pair of Scops owls calling back and forth to each followed by hornbills, grey headed ghost shrikes, babblers, and the cape turtle dove.
Just as we were talking about the interesting facts about these birds Moses ( one of the students) jumped up from right next to me and yelled! I quickly followed his movement without any hesitation! My first thought was “snake” as my heart pounded out of my chest . As I turned around I saw all the students crowd around the ground and saw a giant golden scorpion in the middle. I was on my blanket and within inches of my hand. I was so distraught the rest of the lecture that I couldn’t focus anymore and kept my eyes peered into the darkness on the ground. The golden rule with scorpions which you probably also learned in Indiana Jones is the larger the pincers and smaller the stinger the less venomous they are and the smaller the pincers and larger the stinger was the more venomous. So luckily for me I wasn’t stung , but talk about a close call! Just a few days ago a boy who was sitting in our outdoor t.v area was stung on the hand by a scorpion and had to be rushed to the hospital. 
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