So far I have avoided too many bites, in part through the ridiculous looking practice of tucking the bottom of my trousers into my socks when we go walking to look for dogs/cheetah or whatever else we are seeking at the time. This seems to keep the ticks under control, that and obsessive checking of my clothing and skin before I get back on the back of the truck - and everyone else doing the same. Those ticks can really jump!

Tick and flea management has though been more difficult on the days when we have travelled with a dead impala next to us in the back of the truck…for a couple of days at a time. Yes, you did read that correctly. I've now sat next to 3 dead impalas on separate occasions, each night returning to hang the beast in the cold storage room at the abbatoir, ready to collect it at 4am the next morning to take it with us again.

On the morning after we had parted company with the first impala we set off at 4am for our morning's work. We had not yet had the opportunity to clean the vehicle, and enroute we attracted the attention of 3 hyaena, who were most interested in the smells etc were still on the vehicle. Hyaena are opportunistic, but it was unexpected to see them also considering joining us in the back of the truck to investigate more closely!

Not to be underestimated though are the small creatures here. As far as I can make out they are the most dangerous of all (apart from Rhino, Hippo and Baboons of course). For example, the scorpion found on a bed, the banded rubber frog (with it's warning bright red stripes), the spitting cobra found in the same room as the scorpion. I have firsthand experience of the most dangerous of all though - the hairy caterpillars. Or as they are now renamed - Caterkillers. I had the misfortune of one dropping from a bush as we drove one day, and shedding unseen hairs on the bars of the side of the truck - where my arm was. The resulting rash was rapid in appearing, and then got progressively worse and worse, itching and stinging, and all the while with my arm swelling into multiple lumps. Three days later, and after the use of both anti-histamine tablets and cream the rash had subsided. The caterpillar, which we did locate in the truck, was only 1cm long. There is a tree at the camp that is covered in them. I am of course treating that foliage with respect and giving it a wide berth. I'm hoping that the large toad, who visits the camp each evening to eat the bugs attracted to the light where we eat, may be rather partial to a hairy caterkiller or two…..