Watch as drivers on a Western Sahara Desert highway are ambushed by a massive swarm of locusts covering the road on Feb. 24. Mostly harmless to humans, these insects still pose serious threats to crops, livestock, and the environment.
On Feb. 24, drivers on a Western Sahara Desert highway were ambushed by an unexpected obstacle: a massive swarm of locusts engulfing the road.
As these insects pose dangers to the environment, agriculture and livestock, there have been reports of them blowing in the wind and ending up in the Spanish Islands, which, as you can imagine, is not a pleasant sight to see.
WATCH: SWARMS OF LOCUSTS FEAST ON AFRICAN CROPS
Video captured on the highway shows cars forging through the thick surge of locusts of what looks like thousands of them hurling themselves against passing cars and sometimes even obstructing the view.
A massive swarm of locusts engulfs drivers on a Sahara Desert highway Feb. 24.
(Salah Abdelhadi via Storyful)
According to various news outlets, officials in Lanzarote and Tenerife are emphasizing that the insects don’t yet pose a direct threat to the public, though they acknowledge the potential for serious agricultural damage.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has issued several critical updates in early 2026 regarding the desert locust outbreak.
BIBLICAL PLAGUE-OF-LOCUSTS THREAT LINKED TO WEATHER, CLIMATE EXTREMES
According to the FAO, just a single square-kilometer of a swarm of desert locusts “can contain up to 80 million adults, with the capacity to consume the same amount of food in one day as 35,000 people.”
A general view of a swarm of locusts next to a road near Victoria West, South Africa, on February 12, 2021.
(Photo by Wikus de Wet / AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
This can also then lead to economic impacts and environmental damage as vegetation gets stripped away.
All this, while females lay eggs quickly, allowing for rapid growth.
The FAO has extensive experience of tracking desert locust populations and supporting countries in managing this destructive agricultural pest.
