Locusts, Locusts, Everywhere

In chapter 7 of Things Fall Apart, locusts descend upon Umuofia. According to the elders, the insects come once in a generation, reappear every year for seven years and then disappear for another lifetime. The scale of the migration is tremendous: "And then appeared on the horizon a slowly moving mass like a boundless sheet of black cloud drifting towards Umuofia. Soon it covered half the sky, and the solid mass was now broken by tiny eyes of light like shining star dust." Although Achebe describes locust swarms in a positive light as the villagers get to eat the rare delicacy, Equiano, in his Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano, says that the locusts destroy harvest and cause famine.

Locusts have formed plagues since prehistory. The Ancient Egyptians carved them on their tombs and the insects are mentioned in the Iliad, the Bible, and the Quran. Swarming behavior has decreased in the 20th century, but despite modern surveillance and control methods, plagues can still occur. A single desert locust swarm can cover 20% of the land surface of the Earth, affecting the livelihood of 10% of the world's population by consuming up to 200 tonnes of vegetation per day. Like the individual animals within them, locust swarms are typically in motion and can cover vast distances. In 1954, a swarm flew from northwest Africa to Great Britain. In 1988, another made its way to the Caribbean from West Africa.

Quite a spectacle.