TSETSE FLY
At Kafue National Park I had my first experience with the famous tsetse fly. If you read one of the last blogs I mentioned we were given a ride from Lusaka to the park. As we were in the park the driver stopped and mentioned the car that passed us going the other way was the owner of the campground. He got out of the car to talk with the owner and as he got out he warned us that we were in a tsetse fly area. After he spoke with the owner he came back and got into the car. Just having the door open for him to get in and out about a half dozen of these flies got in the car. We struggled to get them out. The car was flying down the road and we opened windows to get them out. I took a newspaper and smashed one on my window glass. What a mess! There was a blood splotch on the window and the newspaper. The front page of the paper was ruined.
We got a lesson on the tsetse fly. He lives in sub Sahara Africa. He likes woody areas with brush. He feeds on mammal’s blood. That’s all he eats. He does carry quite a few diseases. We were told there were not at our campground and they didn’t carry sleeping sickness. They were not at our campground.
On the afternoon safaris we would leave about 4:30 PM. We crossed the river by boat and then got into the open vehicles. We then drove to where the guides suspected the animals were. If we would come to a stop the tsetse flies would converge upon us. We were given some repellent but the flies were quite a nuisance. At abbot 6:00 PM the flies would disappear. It had become too cold for them and they wouldn’t be hunting until it warmed up the next day around 11:00 or 12:00.
I’m trying to download a movie of a male lion whom we saw on an afternoon drive. You can see the lion is trying to eat the flies and the holder of the camera is also trying to swat the flies to keep from being bit. Downloading the movie is taking forever. I’ll just put a couple of still photos of the lion. It was kind of messy, the video.
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Gordy & Corliss,
Pretty spooky business those tsetse flies, I had no idea that they were a problem in Zambia. Glad to hear you guys didn’t get nailed by one of them.
Great pictures of simba taking in a little sun, and he doesn’t seem too concerned about the photographers… unless you decide to get out of the vehicle. Tell me you didn’t get out of the vehicle!
We’re moving household and wife, finally, to Dallas this Saturday and will begin another chapter of our lives in north Texas. It’s not quite as far as Zambia, and not near as exotic but it’s a move noneless.
Take care, and keep blogging.
John T.