Tis the season...for ants!

After the first heavy rains of the rainy season, swarms of white ants hatch and come flying out of the ground. This usually happens at night. Since the ants are attracted to light, some nights we have to turn our lights off early. Some families in the community go out at night with fire to catch bucket fulls of these ants. By the next morning, the ants' wings have fallen off and covered the ground. 

The ants are fried with oil and salt. During this season, some people bring small bags of fried ants to church as an offering to be sold if they have no money. 

(So I actually don't have any recent pictures of us collecting ants since it usually happens at night. Enjoy some old pictures!)

Eating white ants with our friends. (They actually did not taste that good but I helped collect and fry them so I had to eat them)

Apparently I really enjoyed them when I was little. Please notice how full my cheeks are in the picture below. 

Termits are also caught during the rainy season. When a blade of grass is stuck down a termite mound, termites bite the blade as an attack. Pulling the grass out, you will find several termites hanging on to it. 

Makai loved helping his friends collect termites! He's not very patient though. One time he tipped the whole cup! 

Little Miss Faith was very good at catching termites. Her buddy, Giftie, patiently watched. 

Curiosity

We also currently have a camelion living in one of our trees. I named him Shades.