judochop

How many people have had a bad experiences with creepy crawlies making themselves at home in your tent/chalet? I'm hoping they wont be too much of a problem, but I guess that out in the middle of Africa we can expect a few little suprises.

Matt_from_England

It wasn't so much creepy crawlies but hyenas...

judochop

no way!!!! Well that would give you the shock of your life, how did you get them out??

kerikeri

well, when i turned the corner into our bathroom area, past three very unusual spiders, i confronted the worst of it. "there is a walking stick on our toilet paper!" i screamed out to my husband.
on closer inspection, it was merely the stylish raffia tied onto the roll! i would not have been surprised, though.
there were stunning swarming termites absolutely everywhere in botswana- but it was probably the most dazzling thing i have ever seen- a blizzard of wings and every few seconds a clink against the glass as something or other would join our table for the meal.
my advice? rethink your approach and consider them very small game...or pack a lot of deet.
i think that's the fun of it, after all.
kerikeri

matnikstym

we've had a scorpion, wasps, milipedes, baboon spiders, other spiders, chameleons, mosquitoes and another type lizard. thank God no snakes, (though the guide at one lodge did have a spitting cobra in his tent) the only thing that bit was a wasp one afternoon. just put on your sandals or flip-flops when getting up and walking in your tent and you'll be fine. don't mean to frighten you, but yes you will see creepy crawlies up close!

judochop

Oh noooo!!! I pity any poor creature that has the misfortune of popping up unannounced to me & my sister. I can already imagine the chaos, but i guess by the end of our trip we will be so use to it we wont even flinch.

Matt_from_England

Yep, hyenas took the rucksack belonging to my neighbours and spread it throughout the bush in the Serengeti, and we had a cape buffalo chewing on the guide rope in Simba A. But perhaps one should be more aware of things you can't see such as the parasitic worms which cause Bilharzia...

santharamhari

I guess, the rucksack was left outside the tent?

Judochop, what camps are you staying at? During the daytime, if you see anything let the staff/guides know and they will remove the crawlies from your room.

Hari

judochop

thanks Hari, we are staying at Luangwa River Lodge, Kaingo & Puku Ridge, plus the Volcanoes Lodges in Uganda..

rsnyder

No bad experiences (except for the one small snake) as we enjoy wildlife of all types. First night in the bush at tented camp outside of Lake Manyara NP wife and daughter had finished in bathroom. It was my turn and while I was "reading" I noticed a small green snake crawling across the floor. We all enjoyed seeing it but in the process of my removing it from the tent I think it experienced body injury. I described it to staff next morning and all said "poisonous green mamba" which I thought I knew better. Our guide thought it was more of the common garden types.
We have had numerous types of bugs in tents/bandas but often a resident gecko or two to keep things in control. Nothing like watching them climb walls or scamper across the window covers to get a moth or other bug.
I suggest a bit of common sense such as checking out ones shoes before puting them on, maintaining a bit of neatness in the tent, having a sense of humor and adventure, etc.
We have also seen huge dung beetles in the dining room, a snake slither across the stone floor of an open lounge area, a snake on a lounge chair, a rather large beetle in the safari vehicle, an elephant feeding at the banda door, one at the dining area, a frog on the vehicle odometer, etc. Have a great time!

JAGIRL

Jamaica is not Africa, but we do get the creepy crawlies! Just last week there was a centipede in my bathroom! There are at least two "croaking" lizard in my living room as we speak.

The trick of course is to
1)remain calm, composed and in control of the situation; and
2)Always remember that they are more afraid of you than they are of you.

Naturally I freaked out when I saw the centipede! Jumped onto my toilet screaming and allowed the centipede to escape in hiding. Spent the rest of the night hunting for it. Not fun...not fun at all!

hanl

Jagirl, I can cope with just about any creepy-crawlies but centipedes. I'd have been screaming like a banshee too.

I recently watched a nature programme on the BBC that showed a giant centipede attacking and consuming a bat! I do not EVER want to come into contact with such a thing as long as I live.

On another thread recently I mentioned the giant corn crickets that we saw in some numbers at Little Kulala in Namibia last year (and that seemed particularly fond of the bushes outside our room.) They are quite bizarre creatures - they look almost mechanical, or like something out of the X-files! But actually they weren't that scary as they were quite slow moving and almost comical.

travelwmn

We had some rather large spiders at Londolozi - skinny, but about the size of the palm of your hand. They hid during the day, but came out at night in the bathroom. I just brought my shoe with me and killed two or three around the toilet when I needed to take a midnight bathroom break.

After that, I learned to bring one of the giant size Ziploc bags to seal up my shoes in each night. That way, I'm not concerned about checking them out in the morning.

Femi

I second tying up your shoes at night.

I had pooh-poohed the idea prior to my encounter.

Found one of those little, silvery, lightning fast lizards in my shoe one morning. Don't know who was more frightened as we scampered to opposite sides of the tent trying to escape each other!

Needless to say I was pretty religious about keeping !everything! sealed after that. I am now a huge fan of those Ziploc gallon bags.

I shudder to think what would have happened if I found the skink with my feet, rather than having it fall out when I picked up my shoe!

waynehazle

I am Jamaican by birth and when I went to Montego Bay to stay in my uncle's home I saw more creepy crawlies in one night than I saw in ALL of Africa.

I think my wife spotted the one spider in our tent in the Mara.

Also lots of geckos in one of our guest houses in Rwanda. I know they will avoid human contact, but I hate the thought of one of them falling on me at night.

africnow

Femi -

Loved your story. I can just see me doing exactly the same thing in that situation.

Now here is a lovely: With all the marvelous tips the experts here give this is the first time I have learned that one needs to seal one's shoes in ziploc bags at night - and I have been following this forum for many months now.

Thanks all!!!

judochop

I agree, that's some good advice. I'm going to get some of the those zip-lock bags!

atravelynn

No bad or even unpleasant experiences.

At one South Luangwa camp there was a row over who got the tent with the chameleon in the shower. The winner claimed the shower chameleon as the prize.

At that same camp, I had two tiny toads that shared the wicker shelving with my belongings. When I couldn't find them, I went searching through my stuff till I located them. They didn't seem to mind.

I had bats in a tent in the Masai Mara.
We took turns sleeping. They dozed in the day and I got the place to myself at night.

A few spiders and very small geckos have hung around, as I recall, but not mosquitoes.

You may hear this tale that probably has occurred at several camps. Some camps offer hot water bottles at night, especially in Southern Africa in winter, because it can be quite cold. Rather than a plain water bottle, some camps put the water bottle in a synthetic fur casing to be clever. You can probably guess the rest...

The guest returns to the tent after dinner (and maybe some drinks around the campfire), pulls back the sheets, sees this "creature" in the bed, and beats it to death in self defense, only to have a soaking mess!

cw

Lynn,

That is so funny about the hot water bottle. Friends of ours who were attending a conference in Durban spent three days at Djuma in June a few years ago.

Yep--he got into bed, felt the fur and screamed and jumped out of bed. They still talk about it. So I have been forewarned.

CW

kimburu

Wayne... they are unlikely to fall on you at night unless they happen to pass away while on the hunt but they will "deposit" on you - just don't sleep on your back with your mouth open ;-)



........ but it's all okay because the mosquito net keeps everything out....


...in theory.

It's birds flying in and not being able to find their way out that I don't like. Don't know why I've got a thing about that - probably from having so many murderous cats.