Insects abound, the greatest pest being the tsetse fly, common in the low veld.
Animals suffer from the ravages of bot flies (Oestridae) and gad flies (Tabanidae); while the tsetse disease is due to the tsetse fly (Glossina morsitans), carrying the protozoa that cause the disease from one horse to another.
Even better pasture is found in the low veld, but there stock suffers in summer from many endemic diseases, and in the more northerly regions is subject to the attack of the tsetse fly.
In appearance tsetse are somewhat narrow-bodied flies, with a prominent proboscis, which projects horizontally in front of the head, and with the wings in the resting position closed flat one over the other like the blades of a pair of scissors.
The tsetse fly (Glossing morsitans) infests several districts; the sand-flea has been imported from the west coast.
