Thursday, April 24, 2014

They Came, They Saw and They.....

Guess what's in these bags?
My friend Remi lives in Antsirabe. Last week she witnessed something extraordinary.

Dark sky
Picture this: you are quietly sitting in front of your home on a sunny afternoon. Suddenly the sky turns dark and you're in the shade, sending cold shivers down your spine. There is something in the air, but you can't figure out what. Why is it dark? Thunder? Rain? Overcast? No! It something else, but what? It's buzzing, like a fly but times 1000. Then poof!, there it is: a locust swarm of biblical proportion.

Magic wand


As one block the creatures land, as if all led by a single swing of  magic wand. They're in the trees, covering the grass, on the roof, chairs, tables, in the plants, everywhere! What are they going to do? Visions of completely bare stripped fields and ravaged plants emerge...we know these creatures can  devour hectares of crops in a few seconds....

Disgust
What's next? You wait, observe with curiosity, but mostly with disgust... Well, that would be me. The local people are excited! Children scream, laugh, and pick as many of the grasshoppers as they can. But there is no way they can get them all, there are simply too many, thousands, millions! Its a race, men against insect.



They came, they saw and...
And suddenly...they leave as fast as they came. They have mowed the lawn, eaten a few leaves but that is all. They came, they saw, but they did NOT conquer. In stead, they were eaten!!
.

Yummie, fried locust anyone?





9 comments:

  1. Can't show this to my husband... he loves grashoppers - ugh...
    For me it looks like pictures from a horror film. :D

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  2. Every cloud has a silver lining. Fried locust could be on the restaurant menu.

    A Malagasy Reader!

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  3. Hi Susanne , I have a very old birthday celabration picture of Susanne van Lieshout in Dongen , I was wondering if is you.. Is there any mail adress where I can send a scan of the photo so you can tell me if you are on. I guess there is also someone on the picture whose name is Monique.

    Didier



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  4. Hi ,

    I have sent a copy of the photo on your Facebook account.

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  5. Hi Didier, now i'm curious. It must be me...I'm not seeing any picture on my Facebook. Do I know you? Pl send to svanlieshout@yahoo.com

    Thanks

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    1. Hi Susanne , the picture has been sent to the Yahoo mail adress. I met someone Susanne Van Lieshout from Dongen when I was young near St Tropez in a camp site. The first word I had where in german because I thought Susanne was german. Then , we spoke English a lot. After the holidays , we were pen pal for a while.

      Didier

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  6. Hi Susanne - I just read through all of your 2014 posts so far -- I love your blog! It was great meeting you at the PACT reception the other night - would love to be in touch. Karen

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    Replies
    1. Hi Karen, thanks! You inspired me to write a new blog post! Yes let's have lunch orso...email me on svanlieshout@yahoo.com

      Cheers

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