Doing battle with the shield of Africa

I used to believe mosquitoes were the most miserable species on earth. When those bloodsuckers buzzed, my sanity was tested.

Yet I have a new addition to this ring of Dante's Hell, the tse tse fly.

Known as the "shield of Africa," these brutal little buzzards deliver a painful bite and, like mosquitoes, a small chance of disease. They are single-handedly responsible for keeping humans out of the bush and preventing farmers from grazing cattle, which they also like to feed upon. Hence they shielded much of Africa from human development.

Until we arrived in the Serengeti, we were blissfully ignorant of the tse tse fly. We saw traps for them in Botswana, but the combination of dry season and pesticide had kept their numbers down.

In the Serengeti, things were different. These little vampires like coming into vehicles and can bite through clothes. While I was only bitten once (Mom: Don't worry, the risk of disease is small and it is entirely treatable), that was enough. Ironically, I had just said to our guide, Urassa, "I think the tse tse fly is the only species I don't want to see in Africa." Talk about instant karma.

After that first bite, the battle was on. Full armor was worn, DEET applied, and weapons (books and other swatting instruments) were kept close at hand. Luckily for me, I married the best tse tse fly exterminator in Seattle. Erin deftly dispatched with the fast-moving devils, with a skill that could not be matched. In tse tse fly cantinas around Northern Tanzania, word began to spread about a new white menace depleting the population.

All in all, we were able to prevent any further bites, but only through constant vigilance. As we departed the bush, I couldn't help feeling a sense of relief. We had won some battles, but the tse tse flies definitely won the war.