“That same summer I went on a day trip to a large forest in western

Nigeria with six other people in a pickup truck. The trip to the forest

was pretty uneventful with the usual bickering between friends about

the problems with transporting orchids. At one point, I was watching

everybody gathered around a tree stump discussing the orchid growing

on it when suddenly I realized I was being eaten alive by army ants.

Army ants have pincers instead of front legs. These carnivores can

devour a lizard within seconds. The ants crawl up your legs inside your

pants (unless you are smart and tuck your pants into your socks) and

when they reach the thigh or pelvic area, they latch on. And they hurt!

You can’t just brush them off; you have to actually pull them off. I had

to completely take my pants off to fully get rid of them all.”

Read more about my Africa adventures in Echoes of a Global Life. Available through: Amazon.com – Bookshop.org – Barnesandnoble.com –