Invaded by Ants!!!

Hello Everyone -- Sorry that it has been so long since the blog has been updated. We have both been very busy, so we decided to put in a joint effort to get things updated. So Jeff will upload some pictures and I’ll write some descriptions. I hope you enjoy! - Krista


Invaded by Ants!!!

Africa is full of many different types of menacing ants. There are ants that destroy the food, ants that eat the house, little ants that inject poison in you and give you a fever, and big ants with huge mouths that bite and cling to you. They are amazing creatures, but mostly really annoying when they are biting you and destroying your things.

The big biting ants, safari ants, invaded our house twice in one week. These creatures are amazing. They build bridges by linking their legs together so that many form a cluster and others can walk over them. They can even form these bridges over moving water! It is amazing to think about but terrifying when you wake up to find these bridges all over your house as the ants work to invade every space. Worst of all, is that we usually realize that these guys are around the house when we go out to pee in the middle of the night and start to feel painful bites all over our feet and legs. The ants have been around our house a lot, but only invaded twice, which is good, I guess. But every time they invade, it is a major rebuilding. We have to throw out all the food, wash all the dishes, clean out the whole house. We use soapy water to initially try to get them to go so then all of that needs cleaned up. And we applied kerosene (which stinks and gives you a big headache) and ash around the house to keep them out. Unfortunately, the moment it rains, those things get washed away and the ants come back in. So eventually, I did a completely un-conservationist thing and decided the ants need to go. Keep in mind, these are things that can eat animals alive, especially if the animals are captive and can’t get away. So they are scary.

If the nest had been in the forest, I would have left it alone, but it was at the field station behind the big trash pit. It was HUGE! The size of a US bathroom, I would say. The whole area was covered in reddish dirt mixed with lots of little black spots. The black spots were actually heads of dead ants that had been eaten by the others. It was amazing. It is hard to capture such a crazy thing, but we got one picture and one very shaky video that just looks like the earth moving.