The Tseste Fly Man of Zambia

It was Thomas Carlyle the Scottish philosopher who said"Blessed is he who has found his work; let him ask no other blessedness.”

I for one have had many jobs over the years, in fact you name it and I would have done it one way or another. Labourer, dishwasher, shelf filler, play worker, waiter, renter of Jet skis', nanny, window cleaner, security guard, teacher, bin man, the list goes on.

However, there is one job, a job so unique, so demanding that I don’t know if I could ever do it.

The story of how I came to meet the man who actual had this very job starts in an old but reliable converted, 7 tonne, 5 litre ex military TK Bedford lorry rolling along the dusty roads of Tanzania.The truck was owned by a British company who organised 6 month long overland trips from the UK to South Africa.

Converted TK Bedford lorry

I had hitched a lift in Nairobi, Kenya in exchange for a couple of hundred dollars and agreement to collect firewood now and again. The folk who had been on the truck since the UK were a motley crew of misfits who had become a rather tight knit group who stared at the outsider with intent.

I would be on the truck for a couple a weeks and would jump off in Harare, capital of Zimbabwe. The journey would take us down through Tanzania, across the border at Tundama and across the dry interior of Zambia.

At the end of each day the dusty passengers, 12 in all would disembark in various places mainly deserted roadsides well away from any villages or so it seemed. The self sufficient group would spilt into three, one group to set up tents, one to collect firewood and a group to cook. As soon as food was eaten the oil lamps would be extinguished and people would climb into their tents or spend a while staring at the huge African sky and the ever-present Milky Way show.

African skies

Every morning not matter how early you would wake to the noise of giggling outside your tent. On opening the tent you would find dozens of people simply sitting there waiting for the guests to emerge. Now after many years of this happening I would still be amazed by where these people would come from as you could not see any man made structures including huts in any direction.

After 5 days of travel and entering Zambia you could not help notice how poor the country was. The cinder block buildings and odd electric lines of southern Tanzania had completely stopped and had been replaced by circular mud huts with straw roofs. Romantic imagery for some but a true indication of poverty no doubt.

simple mud hut construction

On the 6th day and travelling across the vast dry plains of the Kalahari Desert the unsealed road stretched out in one long straight line as far as the eye could see. We planned on driving for 9 hours that day in order the try to make the Zimbabwe border sometime the following day.

Bobs seat

That afternoon I was sat in the cab with the driver Bob who was an ex squadie from Newcastle  with a shaved head and a wicked sense of humour. 4 hours in and almost hypnotised by staring at the scorched African plains sweeping past in the 40 degrees heat when I heard Bob shout. ‘What the hell is going on here?’

The truck shifted down through its gears and came to a stop 5 metres from what I can only call a road block. A red and white pole sat on a fulcrum stretched the width of the dirt track with 2 metres of barbed wire each side of it. To the left hand side was a sentry post just big enough for someone to stand or sit in. As the dust cleared I could see a man emerge from the shade of the sentry box wearing a green uniform and a bolt action rifle over his right shoulder.

Bob and I looked at each other in amazement and at the same time both looked out of the window to the vast African plain surrounding the road block in all directions. What was the purpose and who was this guy?

The soldier approached the truck cab and asked us to get out in a very serious fashion. Bob tried his usual Jordie banter to break the ice but the soldier was not having any of it. He then indicated that all passengers should get off as he was to inspect the vehicle to which obliged.

We then sat back in 40 degree heat and watched the man slowly and meticulously inspect the back of the truck. After his inspection he stepped down and slowly signed and presented Bob with a piece of paper and indicated he was free to go.

I couldn’t resist it, I needed to know more about this man and his job. We had driven for many hours across desert without seeing another human or vehicle and it would be the same for the rest of the day. But here he is, with his road block.

‘Excuse me sir, can I ask you a question?’ I said

‘Yes!’ He replied sternly.

‘What is your job here?’  I asked

‘Tsetse Fly Control’ he said with pride.

‘Tsetse Fly, is that what you are looking for?’

‘Yes, they must be stopped from going south’ he asserted

Tsetse fly

I once again looked at the vast openness surrounding us for 360 degrees and then back to the man. I expected him to shrug his shoulders as if to say ‘I know,  crazy huh’ but he didn’t he pulled his shoulders back and gave the signal to get in and move off.

As I gazed out at the seemingly endless expanse of African wilderness, it struck me how the vastness of the plains was a breathtaking contrast to the mundane task of controlling the spread of the Tsetse fly. There was something both majestic and humbling about the rolling hills and golden grasslands that stretched into the horizon.

Bob fired up the truck, and we continued our dusty journey, leaving behind the solitary Tsetse fly warrior.

Now, I’ve done some strange jobs in my time, but standing in the middle of nowhere, on Tsetse Fly patrol, with nothing but the endless Kalahari Desert for company? That’s one job I’ll gladly pass on. It’s a reminder that while my work can sometimes feel dull or challenging, at least I'm not guarding invisible borders, waiting for bugs that may never arrive.

Facts

The tsetse fly, which is found in sub-Saharan Africa, bites humans and transmits the parasites through its saliva. Once inside the human body, these parasites multiply and spread, causing symptoms that can range from fever and headaches to severe neurological complications, including disruption of the sleep cycle, which is why the disease is commonly referred to as sleeping sickness

https://www.who.int/health-topics/human-african-trypanosomiasis#tab=tab_1.