Last night, we had thousands and thousands of flying ants descend around the house. They are the size of a dragon fly. They are the queen ants who have emerged from the ground to mate. They pick a perfect day that is hot and muggy (which perfectly describes yesterday) and come out to mate. They swarm to protect themselves and after mating they lose their wings. The mating occurs mid air as a much smaller, less conspicious male latches on. That is the annoying part. So, not only did I have swarms of ants exactly at 7:30 pm around the house but now this morning, there was a carpet of wings covering every concrete and asphalt surface outside the house. And even worse, the pool had hundreds of them floating around. The queens mate and then try to go find a place for their colony. The males die right after mating. We had quite a few of them, wingless, in the house. They are fat and move very slow. They girls were not so happy about this but the cats were delighted. I was not so happy because I don't want any colonies started in the house. There are enough ants, large and small, ambling around in the house as it is.
They say the queens don't bite. And they are a delicacy to eat around here with the locals. The locals snatch them up and eat them alive. I am told they taste like butter. I think we will pass on trying them for now. They also like them deep fried.
Luckily, this mating ritual doesn't happen every day. It is just a few days and then it is finished.
Always an adventure in South Africa!!!!
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