It was the thrill of the hunt that took them. Or was it the very fact that if they missed tonight's hunt they would be forced to wait an entire year before the chase could resume itself once more. If the pressure of the crowd ever came into play, it did last night, during this, the flight of the Bobo. What, you may ask, is a bobo after all? A bobo is a generic term for flying termites, but on this particular night in question, (last night), bobo refers to the biggest of the flying termites, seen only once per year. If you miss the flight of the bobo you have to wait again until next year and contrary to popular belief, people here aren't too keen on waiting.
Common knowledge has it that these bobo's come out the day after a rain and a subsequent day of hot sunshine. They have come out twice already. The morning after the first flight we saw little kids picking them up bright and early as the sun rose. Last night however, they were prepared. At about midnight last night the frenzy began. It seems as though the termites are attracted to light sources such as the security lights surrounding our porch. At midnight we heard our veranda gate open (just happens it is right beside our bedroom window). Then we heard all kinds of talking and walking around the veranda. Upon first hearing all these voices I thought at once that we had thieves trying to get into our house. Common sense prevailed and Darren got up to check on matters. The sound of him unlocking the door sent the would-be bobo thieves fleeing for cover down our back stairs. They did however, leave their shoes behind, which they so thoughtfully left on the bottom of the stairs. While Darren was out chasing people I was on the radio hailing the sentinel to come and chase them away. When I went outside I was shocked to see 20 people, adults and kids, on every door step collecting these giant, flying termites, with no regard for who they might be waking up, or whose house they were trespassing at. Normally respectful people were rendered temporarily insane by the prospect of gathering a bowlful of these little critters. We went back to bed thinking we had dutifully taken care of the situation until half and hour later we heard people on our veranda again. Darren once again got up only to find that the sentinels, those sworn, and paid, to protect the houses of the missionaries and our sleep, had let them come back to our corner of the mission and they themselves were also picking termites. All sense had left this place.
There is a large security fence around our part of the mission but the top part of our houses are above the fence and so we hear everything that is going on in the village around us. There is a round-point not far from our house as the bird flies, and it has a light on it. This happened to be the gathering spot for a large bobo-party last night that we heard going on until 3:30 am. I was almost tempted into joining the fray since I wasn't finding any sleep. However, I figured I may be subjected to consuming a quantity of bobo's so I opted for my bed and ear-plugs. This morning at report the ag guys assured us that the bobo's would not be coming out tonight so we could sleep well.
This morning our anger and tiredness quickly turned to mush as we realized that for a people whom meat is hard to find and too expensive to buy on a regular basis, these termites are a wonderful source of protein. And, we would rather hear a party over termites, then a brawl over elections or other such things. In a place where North American forms of entertainment do not exist, we are forced to create our own forms of entertainment, like, the flight of the Bobo.
