Algeria: Tassili n’Ajjer NP – Desert Locust in Sahara
“And the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over Egypt so that locusts swarm over the land and devour everything growing in the fields, everything left by the hail.” So Moses stretched out his staff over Egypt, and the Lord made an east wind blow across the land all that day and all that night. By morning the wind had brought the locusts; they invaded all Egypt and settled down in every area of the country in great numbers. Never before had there been such a plague of locusts, nor will there ever be again. They covered all the ground until it was black. They devoured all that was left after the hail—everything growing in the fields and the fruit on the trees. Nothing green remained on tree or plant in all the land of Egypt.”….. So we found a bush covered with desert locust, a 6-8 cm long insects that the Bible mentioned as “plague”. The desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria) is a species of short-horned grasshopper that is notorious for its ability to form large swarms that can devastate everything in sight. We didn’t see swarms but the 50 or so insects were busy totally devouring a green bush.
