The Travel Diaries · Sunday, September 27, 2026
Travel writer Luke Abrahams shared a harrowing experience in the Congo where he and his group accidentally stepped into a nest of driver ants while observing gorillas. The ants inflicted a fiery sensation upon biting, with Abrahams experiencing numerous bites, particularly in sensitive areas, while trying to maintain composure around a silverback gorilla.
“So they're just larger than life ants, but they've got pincers on them. So when they bite, it's like this fiery sensation. But I had about 40 on me at the same time, especially around my groin area, which wasn't the best place to have them. So whilst you've got like 10 gorillas around you and you've just got everything biting, you just have to keep your calm because you've got a giant silverback next to you. So you're sort of smiling in agony.”
“So that was that was quite fun. But thankfully they, them, but they didn't eat the ones on me, so it was a bit sad, so it just spent 20 minutes scratching, which was a joy.”
“And I think having the pleasure to go to the Congo, especially as a South African, is just sort of like, you know, a lot of safari now is quite Disney and to be able to go on safari for the first time and just discovering a part of Africa for the first time and you actually realize what that must have been like for generations of people to like stumble onto this sort of lost frontier.”