Calvinia (South Africa) : amongst locusts and scorpions

S 31º 27.949’ E 019º 46.770’ (elevation: 988m)
We had seen them the day before already just before Richmond. Armies of locusts ten thousand strong crossing the road and of course many smeared on the tarmac. On the quiet back roads we could take a good look and observed how large clusters of hoppers headed by two or three locusts that lead them along the road’s edge away from the carnage. In various places the road was plastered with the orange mess; and at the end of the day so were parts of the bike. At least here we didn’t have to worry about getting wet. It’s dry out here and there were only occasional smudges of cloud in the uniformly deep blue sky.
The ride into Calvinia, set in the Hantam tafelberg mountains, is quite scenic and we were ready to call it a day after 500 kilometres. Our host at the recently opened campsite warned us that it was scorpion time. We kept our shoes on and forgot about it until I spotted on in the dark close to our tent. Black, its sting raised high, a good ten centimetres long and with two beefy pincers ready for combat, it was the real McCoy. A few minutes after flattening it another appeared and with the torch I could make out the many burrows in the area. Later in the tent, we noticed a light scratching from under the groundsheet. We were pretty sure it wasn’t a locust...