Swatting at flies

It’s the end of December and Ian and I are enjoying the peace and quite of Moshi with her usual inhabitants off on Christmas holidays. We had originally planned to have some time in South Africa, then we decided on Zambia, (which would have been ideal as I have contacts there that want me to check out an area for a homeopathic clinic), but as we talked more and more about it, it just seemed as though going anywhere was going to take too much effort.   After all we've just spent months being on the road.

We are also hot as hell.  Tanzania is moving into the hottest months of the year, Jan and Feb, and we’re getting lazier from the heat by the minute.  This is in total contrast to Congo where we were bundled up in our sweatshirts for the past month.

Ian chillaxing on a hot day

Everyday we try to sit in one spot and mentally ask the breeze to cool us, while we fan at the maddening amount of flies that seem to be taking over our compound.  Eventually we succumb to the heat and are less and less vigilant about the flies, it takes too much effort even to swat at the flies with the flyswatter,  so we are soon just sitting lazy with our computers on our laps, mind numbingly surfing the web, all work forgotten, waiting for the cool of night, which doesn't come.  Our dog Layla is no better.  She lays on the veranda all joy of chasing the chickens gone till late evening before they retire to their coop.

Layla too hot to chase the chickens

Since we leave our doors open all day because of the heat we were wondering what to do about the issue of the flies.  A friend of ours told us the strangest remedy.  Hang a bag of water above the doorway, it keeps the flies out, and it actually worked!!  Granted, this happened to be our entertainment for about an hour, watching to see how many flies would cross the threshold.  Of course there’s always the odd fly that doesn't know the rules and still comes in even with the bag hanging there, but we were at least able to take a break from swatting flies. 

our "stay out flies" remedy. A clear bag filled with water hanging in the doorway