Yesterday I had the pleasure of watching my very good friend
Prince build a trap for Mphalata (Large edible termites). I watched with a
smile as he dug on top of a large termite mound, the result was a slanting pit
leading down to half of a plastic jug that had been buried in the clay. The
whole pit was probably 2 m long and 1 m wide and about a foot deep. Long
arching branches spanned the top of the pit, these are then covered with banana
leaves and piles of leafy branches cut from nearby trees. The purpose of this
is to darken the inside of the pit to encourage the termites to come out and
eventually fall into the jug.
I am not sure why the termites act this way, but Prince was
excited at the possibility of catching them – the resulting sale of the termites
would bring a much needed boost to his income at a difficult time of year. One
tin of termites (~20L) brings between 6,000 and 15,000 Malawi Kwacha (about 12
to 30 USD). Considering that the average household in Malawi currently earns
around 80k to 150k kwacha a year, this is a noticeable chunk of potential
money. (as of this writing the MWK to USD conversion was around 500 to 1)
I had come to find Prince so that we could plant some
Moringa trees at his house – we were planning ahead for some live fence posts
to use for a shed he was hoping to make next year. I left him to put the
finishing touches on the termite trap while I went to retrieve the last of the
Moringa seeds from the treasurer of the community tree nursery. When I returned
I found him smiling ear to ear with a toothy grin as he dug a hole under one
side of the termite mound.
“Have you ever tasted the honey of this animal?” he coyly
asks.
Confused, I ask a few questions and watch as he eventually
unearths the beginnings of a small hive of a tiny species of stingless,
communal bees. The hive was buried deep in the bowels of the termite chambers.
All of the digging has unearthed loads of guard termites – 1cm long insects
with huge heads and pincers that can easily break skin. Comically the body seems
like an afterthought as the sole purpose of these blind termite warriors is to
attack anything that threatens the termite nest and to block tunnels from
further enemy entry by stopping them up with their chunky noggins. Apparently
the teeny bees are always found in termite mounds, they must take some
advantage of the protection offered by the guards.
I laughed aloud many times as I watched Prince gingerly try
to pick his way around the termites in his attempts to reach the cache of
honey. He poked & prodded and unsuccessfully flicked the offending insects
away from the slowly pooling prize. I watched as they aimlessly wandered
blindly in circles, vainly trying to find the offending predator that has
opened up their home.
I winced
sympathetically as he finally took my advice.
“I think you are just going to have to suck it up and shove
your hand in there.”
Into the fray his hand went. He got the worst of it in the
first wave, and after pulling many tightly clamped pincers from his skin, he
was able to scoop the rest of the honey out of the ground and into a small
plastic container. During the process I yelped as a few stray warriors latched
onto my bare toes and fingers.
It was clearly worth the effort, Prince licked his honey
soaked fingers and palms clean. We laughed and smiled together as he started to
take bites of the humorously small honey comb. With eat bite he ingested honey,
wax, bee bread (stored pollen), larvae and bees alike. You bet I tried it as
well. The honey was delicious, though still no match for the best honey taken
from proper hives up on the Nyika plateau. The comb with the pollen was,
however, unworldly. An exceptional variety of rich, flowery flavors swirled my
tongue. The sweet taste was so intense that only the smallest bit was needed.
Shortly after this the sky darkened and light rains started
in around us. Because of the weather we were unable to capture the mphalata,
but it was still easily one of my favorite moments with my friend Prince to
happen so far. I do look forward to eating termites with him, as those little
critters are surprisingly tasty once salted and fried up.
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