White Ant Season

Two weeks later and ten pounds lighter, I realize the foolishness in thinking I could actually be invincible to intestinal worms. After hours spent in my pit latrine and a trip to the medical office I am feeling much better, but not great. The improvement in my health and subsequently my mood, allowed the arrival of white ant season to be less horrifying and more humorous. Last night I awoke to the sound of wings flapping outside of my mosquito net. I was terrified and initially thought bats had managed to fly into my hut. I turned on my headlamp only to find a swarm of white ants. [White ants are flying African termites]. Screaming and thrashing around in my mosquito net, I managed to break up the swarm enough to escape outside. I opened my door to thousands of white ants flying around and my neighbors furiously swinging nets to try to catch them. [I wish I was making this up]. You have to understand that white ants are a delicacy in Uganda and Ugandans go crazy for them. My neighbors had set up a makeshift spotlight to lure the white ants in and I was lucky enough to be a part of the festivities. So there I was swarmed with African termites in the middle of the night, screaming, and seriously contemplating booking a flight back to O’Hare. I ran as fast as I could away from the swarm and stayed awake until sunrise laughing at my life and watching my neighbors collect as many white ants as they could. When the sun rose, the white ants disappeared and I went back to my hut. My neighbors were kind enough to collect all the white ants off the floor of my hut and after taking slightly too much Benadryl I was finally able to fall back asleep. I awoke in the afternoon and found my neighbors taking the wings off the white ants and roasting them in the sun. As I sat and watched them shovel handfuls of white ants into their mouths, they all seemed pleased that white ant season had finally arrived... I wish I could say the same. Until next time. 

Roasting White Ants

Wings on my floor