The bugs I live with are . . .BIG. And lethal!

The one thing that has struck me since moving to Pamuzinda is just how big everything is here. Maybe it is the water, or just a survival mechanism with all the wildlife around - I don't know. Today I am going to feature the large creepy-crawlies that share my space with me. With the exception of the scorpion - which I found at a wedding, every creature was photographed inside my house.

The first fellow pictured below clinging to my curtains is some kind of stick insect gone wrong. I have no idea what he is, but he was one big bug!

Apologies to regular readers because while I hardly ever post the same pic twice - in this instance I felt I had to. The scorpion below was featured in a very recent blog, but he still amazes me with his size.

The scary thing is that the folk who live here-abouts tell me he is not the largest type of scorpion we get. Can you believe it? If I find a bigger one - you will be the first to know.

So sorry if you have seen him before - but he belongs in this particular blog!

This is a moth - and while not the largest I have ever seen, he is big. When he flies around your face there is actually a buzzing sound like a large bumble bee.

The next fellow pictured is (Sarah Palmer skip this pic with your eyes closed) a spider. Though not overly large, he is the fastest spider I have ever seen in my life, and literally zoots around the floor of my house at full speed - about as fast as a scurrying mouse. I have no idea if he is dangerous, because he and I keep our distance, though we have shared the same house for the last 2 months.

Here is a picture of my bedroom.

I had been having a quiet afternoon snooze, when I was awoken by the sound of something ripping at the fabric of my mosquito net. I hurled myself out of bed and managed to take a long-range photograph of my attacker:

It was, of course, the world's largest mosquito - the anopheles giganticus. How scary is that?

These beauties grow so large that at the end of their life they simply die because they can't take off any more. If you are bitten by one of them, the strain of malaria is so virulent that you have about the same amount of time to find medical help as you do with a bite from a black mamba - 20 minutes.

And he was actively tearing at my net - trying to get to me.

Eish.

Here is a closer pic of him:




OK, so not true - this is just a flying bug. A big one (like everything in this place), but not a lethal one.

Seeing as everything I have told you over the past 3 months has been 100% true, and seeing as I state at the top of this page that 'Content is almost all true', - I felt I had to throw in a little curve-ball today, just to keep you on your toes.

Anopheles giganticus? A mosquito that kills in 20 minutes? Ha ha ha ha!

How gullible would you have to be to believe that?

And you did, didn't you? Eish.

Have a nice day!