Day 3
Today was intended to be a ‘catch my breath” day. And since the jet lag had caught up with me, I needed it. We had no plans for the day at all, so got up a bit later than usual, had a great breakfast, and headed out to see the sights. While roaming another part of the property, we saw a small group of blue wildebeest which seemed to have at least one reasonably decrepit member, so we began a stalk.
By this point it was getting hot and the herd seemed to have either caught a small wiff of us or something else had worried them. They would run, but not far, so we’d continue the stalk. If only they’d really run, we’d have given up! As it was, after a long walk in sandy soil, we finally gave up. No harm done, and some exercise for me.
As we were meandering around the property, John mentioned he’d brought his shotgun along, and asked if I cared to try my hand at some sandgrouse. I’d never shot sandgrouse, but I do shoot upland birds, so it seemed like a great idea . . . until John found that he’d left his box of #6 shells at camp. He had only the shells he kept on a belt – and these were more like BB, and a couple of # 2. On top of that, they looked like leftovers from the Boer war . . . some were branded Ely, and I have no doubt they were from the original incarnation of that brand! Still, no harm in trying . . .
And then, it happened . . . the plague arrived. I’d heard of biblical plagues of locusts of course, but I’d never seen one . . . until now. Is it going to rain? Not supposed to. Then what’s that cloud ahead? Holy Sh*t! It’s a cloud of locusts and it’s heading right for us . . . and that was because . . . we drove right into a swarm which had landed on the veld and had begun lunch.
I can tell you that if you haven’t seen this in “real life”, it’s simultaneously impressive and utterly disgusting. These things are huge – some more than two inches in length – and while they try to miss you as they fly around you, when they do hit you, you are in absolutely no doubt that you’ve been hit by something. And when you’re in the middle of the swarm, you are actually in the shade, even though there are no trees for miles.
Once you get over the initial shock, you can only think of the farmers and game ranchers, as well as their animals. Having just gone through a years-long drought, and now gotten some reasonable rain, the food the animals need to survive is being eaten by these voracious insects. At least the birds were happy, but it seemed impossible for even the biggest flock of birds to make a dent in the numbers we were seeing.
It’s hard to video the swarm because you don’t see much, but I gave it a try. Hopefully this comes through.
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And now a video:
