For the past couple of nights, the front rooms of the volunteer house have been haunted by a persistent, rhythmic knocking. 

Starting around 11p, we can hear “knock, knock” around our windows for a couple of minutes, then it stops and then it starts back up again.

It’s so loud, the first night I thought it was a human and I hid under the covers, not wishing to acknowledge being awake. The first night Denissa started, she did the same thing. Now, when she hears it she can’t go back to sleep. 

We asked around and no one knew what it was:

– monkeys? No, they sleep at night 

– birds? Seems unlikely

– ghosts? This building used to be an old railway station and apparently a girl did die on the tracks. Unfortunately no one knew anymore than that so the factoid could not take on full ghost story, “she is still looking for her mother” status. 

Finally, the ranger in charge of the volunteers remembered a BEETLE that makes a knocking noise. And just like that, with the help of YouTube, the mystery was solved. 

This poor beetle is tapping is abdomen on the ground in an effort to attract a mate, he is surrounded by the wrong kind of females, but keeps trying anyways. 

We haven’t managed to film him yet, so if you want to hear what an African Tok- Tok beetle sounds like, go here: