A Glossinologist is born

Glossina morsitans - scourge of Africa (from:Wikipedia)

The Tsetse Fly is a pest. It resembles a horsefly in size but it is only found in Africa and it packs a really annoying and painful bite.  I learned about the Tsetse Fly while pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa.  I experienced my first bite on December 26, 1966 while visiting Rhodesia for the first time.  I was driving my red 1300cc, Volkswagen Beetle from the small village of Makuti to Lake Kariba. My friend from Rhodes, Andrew Campbell-Watt, was sitting next to me and I suspect he will remember our road trip around Rhodesia as well as I do.

The Zambezi Escarpment near Makuti

As we descended the “escarpment” along the scenic two-lane highway into the Zambezi Valley the summer heat began to rise as the elevation steadily dropped; from 3,200 ft. to 1,590 ft (485M) at the lake.  The only air conditioning option was the open-window kind.  The rounded hills were covered with Msasa trees.  Today it is more common to call these areas Miombo Woodland, but back then the vegetation was called Brachystegia Woodland (from the tree genus Brachystegia).   These woodlands extend from Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) north through Tanzania and Kenya and serve as hosts to the amazing diversity of wildlife found across the vast African continent, south of the Sahara Desert.  We crossed many dry river beds over concrete bridges and causeways on the 48 mile (77km) highway.  

Famous mile-marker at Makuti - 2001.  Kariba 77km.

When passing through Tsetse Fly country it is risky to slow down and to drive with windows open.   In one of the low places we made the mistake of slowing down as we crossed a stream bed.  The vegetation in these low areas is thicker, and game populations tend to be more concentrated.  Tsetse Flies feed on the blood of wild mammals (antelope, elephant, warthog etc.) and also breed and congregate in dense numbers where wildlife populations are highest.  They also tend to rest in shady spots – such as the underside of concrete causeways over which people in red Volkswagens pass.

The Tsetse fly is a tough critter.  It flies fast and can land on your skin without you feeling it.  It’s the most amazing thing.  It will be sitting on your arm or leg or on the back of your neck and you can’t feel it.   And then there are its piercing mouth-parts, perfectly adapted over millennia to penetrate tough skin to tap a hot, juicy blood vessel.  The first clue that it is biting is the pain, like a hot needle.   They almost always seem to land on your body somewhere out of sight.  I was driving with both hands on the steering wheel and one of those annoying critters landed on one of my fingers, just about the nail and proceeded to stick its sharp little proboscis into my finger.  Ouch!  I nearly lost control of the car!

Once bitten you begin to imagine flies all over your body and you begin to fidget like mad, running your hands up and down the backs of your legs and over the back of your neck and shoulders, just in case one has come to rest and is about to stick its little dagger through your thin cotton shirt.   Andrew and I completed our passage to Kariba Town without more Tsetse Fly attacks, mainly by speeding up so the flies couldn’t catch us.

Lake Kariba on the Zambezi River - 165 miles long.

Over the next few years I would become very familiar with the Tsetse Fly.  Glossina morsitans is its name in scientific circles. During my first road trip to Rhodesia that December 44 years ago, two significant things occurred in my life.  First, I fell head over heels in love with that beautiful country and its people, and second I interviewed for a job as a Field Entomologist with the Ministry of Agriculture, Department of Veterinary Services, Tsetse and Trypanosomiasis Control Branch (Tsetse Control for short).  A few weeks later I received a letter offering me the position and I accepted without hesitation, but replied that I could only report for work in July 1967.  

I had already made a commitment to stay on as Senior Lab Technician at Rhodes University until early June, and then to volunteer as an Instructor at the Veld & Vlei Adventure (VV&T) School in Sedgefield, South Africa, later that month.  VV&T would become part of the worldwide Outward Bound organization a few years later.  Fortunately the good people of Tsetse Control agreed that I could delay my start.  The rest, as some might say, is history.

In July I reported for work in Salisbury (now Harare) and began playing a small role in trying to reduce the unbelievable economic damage and hardship that was, and still is, caused by this little insect, across the African continent.   My life as a Glossinologist would begin.

But more about that in my next blog.