Bugs, Spider’s n Things

Chi Sawasawa, that’s spider in Chi Nyanja, the local language. When we walk through the bush, there are hundreds of the big black and white spiders. Their web is yellow and quite tough, not like the webs we are used to in the UK.

I thought I would make a bug list, with a note of sorts about each one and the degree of like/ dislike.

We’ll start with our dislikes and work through to the likes.

Mosquito         They are probably the worst, biting insect. You hear one at night and wonder if it’s inside the net or not.

Tsetse Flies      About the size of a horse fly. Land quietly on your leg or arm and you don t notice until, they have taken a bite. Luckily you can then give a good swat and it’s Adios Mr. Tsetse. It seems that there are no cattle in regions where there are tsetse flies since they spread sleeping sickness to the cattle and they die.

Sweat fly         Very annoying, you are in the bush and its hot, these little guys fly about 2 inches in front of your face, backwards I guess, not harmful but a real annoyance

Ants                 Often on the path, there are many kinds, big and small. The worst are the aggressive ones that immediately climb your legs and bite Eeeee! They leave little blisters.

Spiders             Not nasty to me, there are big ones, small ones, black ones with yellow fringes. My favourites are wall spiders, thin and zoom under anything to hide, or into a crack in the wall. In the bush yesterday we saw a spider on a tree that looked like a piece of lichen.

Earwigs            Big and nasty looking, like something from Alien

Centipedes       Seem to be harmless but look fierce. Amazing, they walk with legs moving in waves.

Millipedes        Similar to centipedes but even more so, very big is some cases.

Grass hoppers  The bush is full of these guys, everything from little green ones like home, to large 2 inch plus flamboyant ones, with coloured wings. This morning I saw a bright red purple one.

Dragon flies     Have now appeared with the rains, all colours, my favourite is red

Butterflies        Seen many, small and large. In the dry season the majority were LBJ, Little Brown Jobbies. J Now we have a range, bright yellow, some blue on top and white with orange lines on the bottom, purple, and my favourite, this amazing blue and orange guy.