This past week we had thousands of flying visitors in our front yard. There were so many that it concerned me. I whispered to the kids to go into the house quickly & quietly. The kids and I had been outside setting out plates and bowls for a picnic lunch when we heard a loud buzzing sound getting closer and closer. It didn’t take us long to realize that it was a massive swarm of the African killer bee. If one bee is crushed (accidental or not) the whole swarm will come to defend it. In this case that swarm was in the thousands. [slideshow=48]

This scenario was not new to me. A few years ago we had lived in a different house here in Blantyre. That house had a bee’s nest in the roofing sheets. We had no idea it was there until one Sunday morning there were tens of thousands of bees all gathering to reoccupy it.  We tried to spray the affected area ourselves; our efforts were in vain. Those bees were very determined when it came to their nesting area. After about a year of our failed attempts and about a hundred bees a day getting into the house, we called in some local professionals who took care of the problem for good. The exterminators brought in some heavy duty poison and extracted their honey laden nesting area. Knowing it was also poisoned, they made sure to warn everyone NOT to eat the beautiful golden honey combs. That did take care of the bee problem at that house once and for all.

Seeing the swarm of bees a few days ago made me wonder if this house had a nest in the roof as well. However, the bees swarmed for several hours, quieted down and then made an enormous bee-ball (as seen in the picture) high up in a tree for the night. That tree is about 15 feet from the front door of our house. They remained there for over a day. I kept a careful eye on their bee-ball waiting to see what their next move might ‘bee’. They stayed there until late afternoon of the following day and in a matter of minutes they were gone. The older two kids came running into the house to tell me that the bees didn’t like loud noise. Our youngest boy had shouted outside. Maybe it was mere coincidence, but after he shouted they left. I’m happy to say they have not returned. If it is true they don’t like loud boys making loud noise –our house might be safe for a decade or so!