Swarm of locusts blotted out the sun

AT A time when the whole world is in lockdown dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic some areas have the additional problem of also dealing with the arrival of huge swarms of locusts where there is a subsistence economy and families grow and eat their own crops with any surplus traded locally.

A locust swarm can strip a whole area of every growing thing in a very short time before moving on. I do not suppose many readers will have seen this natural phenomenon but I have had that doubtful privilege. In the early 1960s I was serving with 45 Commando RM in the West Aden protectorate where our role was patrolling in heavily armed groups.

One such area was a plateau on the top of the Jebel Jihaf (2,420m) where there were many villages farming terraced fields. It was hard, physical work, only rarely dangerous and we had RAF fighters on call as required.

On one such patrol we had reached the western edge of the plateau where there was a small stone fort manned by local soldiers, at the very edge of a sheer 610m drop.

We left en route back to our camp near Dhala town, another long yomp. It was the usual very hot day with a clear sky.

Then there was an unusual noise not unlike rubbing two pieces of rough timber together but very loud. I looked up and back to see a huge moving cloud of locusts heading towards us. It stretched from horizon to horizon and blotted out the sun as it moved, literally turning daylight into darkness. The local

families, in a state of real panic, were already manning their fields staring possible starvation in the face. This was real and palpable and we were helpless.

Luckily the swarm did not pause, moving eastwards with quite large numbers falling from the sky dead so I was able to pick one up for inspection. They are like large grass-hoppers, some 9cm long.

The swarm eventually passed, leaving me with another lampswinging yarn to retell.

David Prichard Rumney, Cardiff