I could taste it in my mouth, feel it on my skin and see it trying to get inside our vehicle as we travelled over eight hundred miles throughout Tanzania. I was joking around with my other travel companions asking them how many times do you think we’ve opened and closed our windows during our “adventure?” Tanzania did have some paved roads but it seemed like the majority were dirt roads and anytime another vehicle passed a giant dust monster would try to get inside and invade all of our senses. We almost sounded like an orchestra opening and closing our windows in a rhythmic percussion.
And don’t even get me started on the whole tsetse fly thing! Here I was all worried about the Mosquitos and contracting Malaria, little did I know that these flies would think I had to come to Africa to supply them with some of the finest cuisine America had to offer. These flies are as big as horseflies but with a much bigger bite. They appear in the early morning and evening especially in wooded areas and near water. I had on long pants, long sleeves and bug repellant. Unfortunately I wore short socks and that little bit of skin between my shoes and my pant leg became a feeding frenzy for these mannerless tsetse flies. These bug bites were the itchiest bites I’ve ever had, they would literally wake you up from a sound sleep and no amount of anti-itch cream helped. One of the girls had brought some Benadryl so I took that each night so at least I could sleep and not scratch the skin off my legs. So my advice in a nutshell if you ever go to Africa spend the money on insect repellant clothes, wear long socks and beware of wearing sandals.
