As the rains transform Namibia into a queen of greens and the earth drinks happily, underground in the termite mounds a surprising type of gardening is taking place, its busy gardeners the fungus-cultivating termites ‘Macrotermes michaelseni’.
The termite foragers convey their chewed-up grass and wood to the termite mound and cultivate the fungus ‘Termitomyces schimperi’ in a fungal garden. It’s a win-win symbiotic relationship for both. While the fungal spores germinate and grow, converting cellulose into simple sugars and nitrogen and making the food more readily digestible for the termites, the termites provide an ideal environment and ample food for the fungi.
With the onset of the heavy rains, usually in the first few months of the year, the fungus comb sprouts a number of giant stems with fruiting bodies which erupt from the base of the mound, putting the garden variety of mushrooms to shame. These are our gargantuan termite-hill mushrooms, more commonly known by their Otjiherero name ‘omajowa’, a delicious ‘veldkos’ (food from the field) and a Namibian delicacy.
The mushrooms provide a welcome supplementary income for farm-workers who harvest and sell the fungal fare near Wilhelmstal on the way to Swakopmund and along the B roads to the east, west and north. Every green season the omajowa trade turns over a few million Namibian dollars. At first it appears as if the vendors are waving armfuls of small umbrellas in the air, which as you near you recognise are none other than the great omajowa.
There is even more to the termite and termite mound story than initially meets the eye. The small insects play an important part in the ecosystem by breaking up organic plant material, cleaning up our environment. They have mastered the perfect housing system with ventilation shafts to keep the inside cool, and when the mounds are abandoned, they serve as homes for animals like snakes, mongoose, porcupine, aardvark and warthog. The mounds also provide elevated observation points for a variety of animals to survey the surrounding countryside, and fertile sites for the resultant germination of seeds.
How do you cook these fungal beauties? They can be simply fried in butter with garlic and peppered like their conservative mushroom cousins, sautéed with asparagus and cherry tomatoes, added to an omelette, crumbed, wrapped around slivers of salmon, or added to soups and stews.
So, when the clouds gather and the sky darkens with the first rains, there is more than a national sigh of relief that spreads throughout the country. Underneath the soil, plants and insects prepare and wait for those first drops to hit the soil and the subsequent raindrop symphony that ensures that life carries on, offering a few wonderful surprises along the way.
Celebrate the green season with Gondwana’s Green Season special to best experience this bountiful and beautiful time of the year. https://gondwana-collection.com/green-season-special
(References: Termitomyces - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics; Macrotermes michaelseni - Wikipedia)
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