Hurrah! the real thing is here after some preliminary showers and rumbles of thunder. So far, not too heavy but I imagine I can hear the grass and trees gratefully sucking up the welcome moisture!
After the first really wet night, a grey dawn brightened slowly to display a motley group of small boys, rummaging about below the fluorescent light left on at night, under the eaves of the clinic building opposite our front door. Clutching an assortment of small plastic bottles, empty crisp bags and cans, they are busily collecting something from the ground below the light- the scene looking surreal because of the drifts of gossamer wings drifting round their eager faces.
Then I remember- the inswa hunt is on! Inswa are termites that fly at the onset of the rains..to reproduce? move house? just for the fun of it? (research needed) They are attracted to an outdoor light in the same way as moths are, drop to the floor, their wings fall off and they crawl away into crevices. Their pale plump bodies shun bright sunlight but their escape bid isn't fast enough to avoid the hunters who scoop them up, filling their containers. Later the boys or their sisters or mums will fry them in a dry hot pan (Inswa contain their own 'cooking oil') and sprinkle them with salt- a delicious tasty crispy snack.
I wondered about inswa with scrambled eggs as a kind of African eggs Benedict but I thought it a step too far so I left the young hunters to their prey.
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