Zimbabwe: Lake Kariba – Flying Ants & Fishing
Once a year, after the first rains and near a full moon, millions of flying ants come out from the ground – it’s an absolutely insane and incredible site and we got super lucky to witness it. Firstly, these are actually not ants at all but mating and reproducing termites. They look similar to wasps or grasshoppers and come out of the big termites mounds in massive numbers. They follow the light and then eventually drop to the ground, drop their wings, and couple up to mate. Then the female termite digs into the ground and eventually becomes a new queen of a new termite mound. Millions don’t survive and die, becoming food for birds and fish and whoever else can eat them. People eat them as well – either raw or roasted (raw taste somewhat like butter, while the roasted ones are delicious and resemble crispy bacon – it’s all near pure protein). The day after the flying ants come out is supposedly fantastic for fishing – tiger fish and bream go nuts biting.
