For the past three years, Dr Kirstin Williams and Ms Mandisa Ndlovu from the Natural Science Department, along with Mrs Natasha Pillay from the Durban Natural Science Museum have been involved in a horse fly monitoring project in the Umlalazi Nature Reserve in Mtunzini and the Ongoye Forest Reserve.  The project aimed to compare four different trap types in terms of efficiency in catching horse flies, as well as comparing the species of flies collected in an Afromontane forest versus a coastal forest. The final element of the project is to screen the horse flies that were collected to test them for any pathogens they may be carrying such as sleeping sickness.  Six trips have been conducted over the past three years and the team was sad that the project had come to an end when the last trip finished at the end of November. The analysis of the results and writing of scientific papers will happen next year with some interesting data to work through. Hopefully this study will shed light on what species of horse fly occur in that region and what diseases they may be carrying.  This can be useful for subsistence and commercial farmers to know what diseases to look out for. 

Kirstin, Natasha and Mandisa at Ongoye Forest Reserve

Natasha and Mandisa checking a Manitoba trap at Ongoye Forest Reserve

An H-trap in the Umlalazi Forest Reserve