This is winter in Kenya (it gets down to the 50's at night, which is very cold for here) and time for the heavy rains. The rains have been better than last year, when there was a drought, but haven't been too bad. Along with the rains, though, come a variety of critters. Thankfully not too many have made it into my house. You do, however, have to be very vigilant for one in particular - the Nairobi Eye (or fly, depending on who you talk to). It is very small (see picture below), and it doesn't bite. However, if you hit it while it is on your skin, it releases a very irritating vesicant and causes basically a chemical burn.
About a month ago, one must have crawled onto my arm while I was sleeping. I tend to sleep with my arms curled up and you can see the result below. It is just now fully healing.
Then, this past Sunday, while watching the final World Cup game (I'm not really a soccer fan, but figured since it was such a big deal here, I should watch it), I felt something crawling on my neck and absent-mindedly swatted at it. This is what resulted. I have a matching wound on my neck. And yes, in case you were wondering, it is painful. I have now started doing thorough inspection of my bed and the surrounding walls before settling in at night.
Beware the Nairobi Eye!
2 comments:
yikes! that is giving me the creepy crawlies...not something that you really want happening to you. I will pray that God will keep that ugly thing away from you. love ya em
We had those bugs in Cameroon, although it was called a creechie. I had a "bite" on my eyelid--not fun!
Here's a link with the real name and some other horror stories http://www.whatsthatbug.com/2008/08/03/paederus-rove-beetle-creechie-bug/
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