February: More rain, flies and driver ants
By Kapungwe Bwalya
IN the last week of January, most of Lusaka received much rain. The dry spell that had been experienced was broken. It was indeed a relief that the unbearable heat had been overcome .
As we enter February, we should expect more rain and a few dry spells. In the wilderness most rivers will have over-flowed their banks, roads are no longer passable, bridges washed away and thus rendering the various outposts and camps cut off.
A walk on the flooded roads will reveal some interesting wildlife, namely crocodiles that shift from rivers to quieter and calmer waters.
Take the Luangwa river as an example, most crocodiles as well as hippos move to lagoons and streams. When the river rises you find them far up stream.
On one occasion, a colleague and I found a couple of them on a small hill overlooking the river. They were huge monstrous crocs that had been drawn there by the stench of a dead giraffe killed by lions.
On reaching the area, the large reptiles dragged themselves off the hill, slid down the softened side of the hill into the stream. We counted six in number but from the drag marks we saw, we realised that they could have been more.
The lions were not around but we saw their pug marks mixed with those of hyena in the wet soil.
Antelope like puku in February are mostly found in the basement of the hills -- they are forced to move away from the over-flowing river banks. Impala, waterbuck, kudu, bushbuck, warthog, zebra and giraffe all move to drier areas that still offer plenty of goodies to eat.
There is still plenty to see in terms of birds, some of the migrants will begin to gather in large flocks around lagoons and dambos, in readiness for their return flight to Europe, this time to escape our winter here and enjoy the warm weather there.
This gathering of migrants will be even more frenzied in March, our resident birds carrying on with their lives, not bothered about all the fuss, that is thrown up by their soon to depart feathered “brethren.”
Not to long ago, a friend’s wife complained about what she believed were boils on her leg. I was suspicious when she explained to me the way the “boils” were aching. I thought they were not boils but putsi flies which had pierced her skin to deposit some larvae.
My guess was right for, a few days later she squeezed out two live larvae from her “boils” which were putsi flies.
Putsi flies are a species of flies that are overlooked by many a visitor both foreign and local, as they are not often talked about but you need to be aware of them.
Putsi flies have normal four life cycle stage like most insects -- egg, larvae, pupa and adult. Some have three stages -- egg, nymph and adult (cockroach, grasshopper and praying mantis).
Putsi flies are active during the rainy season, they favour the dampened atmosphere, laying eggs on clothes, shirts, underwear, bras, trousers, napkins, shorts and socks, table clothes and whatever is made of cloth.
The eggs have the mechanism to stay hooked or attached to the cloth when you wear something that has not been ironed. The egg will cling onto your body, hatch and the larvae will bore under your skin.
Once under your skin, it begins to eat you alive, feeding off tissue and other body nutrients that you supply it with. This is when you begin to feel like it’s a boil. When the larvae is busy devouring your flesh, there is a burning sensation you feel.
When fully fed, the larvae becomes a pupa, still buried under your skin, it will push its way out when reaching adult stage and drop to the ground, free its self from the cocoon and fly away.
At the pupa stage, if it has buried itself in the buttock, thigh or arm pit, the spot where it is will be very painful when touched. You had better get it out before it reaches that far. If you suspect you have a boil have it checked right away by medical personnel. It is most likely at this time of the year to be a putsi fly and not a boil.
So do not wear clothes that have not been ironed. The heat from the pressing iron destroys the eggs. I had one just under my left breast, so I know what I am talking about. Even experienced people get caught off guard. Small babies are targets too, so avoid putting on wet clothes.
Driver ants will be moving about a great deal at this time, forced out of their holes by rising water. Even in high residential areas, driver ants abound, lying low most of the year until the rains drive them out. You will come across them in your gardens as they form dark tunnels, made up of worker ants that protect the queen as she is moved from the flooded nest to a dryer one.
Pay attention when you go to sleep, if you have small children and they are making noise at night, be sure it is not driver ants that have crawled over them.
A driver ant is painful to a human being when it gets into the nasal passages and the eyes. These ants also clean out houses of all cockroaches, mites, lice, bed bugs, rats, crickets, etc.
In our next column, we will look at smaller creatures like snails, slugs and caterpillars.
Again I need to emphasise that wildlife is not just about the large and spectacular animals, the smaller ones actually have far more bearing on the state of the environment than the larger ones as we shall see.
