Trypanosomiasis is what they call the disease the tsetse fly spreads. It sickens livestock and some wildlife and is also carried without effect by some domestic and wild animals. It infects man with what is called “sleeping sickness”, but many, like me, have been bitten often without the bite festering and becoming infected.
Around 1950, in the then Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), human expansion, along with more agricultural development, reached the fly belt. The belt encompassed large areas, usually in hot areas covered with dense scrub and bush. The fly usually sucks the blood of medium-sized antelope but will take any blood if need be. As was normal in Rhodesia, the problem was tackled strongly, if in an unwise manner.
A game-proof fence was built, closing off the farms from the…
