These beautiful grasshoppers are an African species known as PAINTED GRASSHOPPERS or VARIEGATED GRASSHOPPERS or by their scientific name Zonocerus variegatus.

Two Zonocerus variegatus
Zonocerus variegatus
Zonocerus variegatus

They are exceptionally colourful and believe it or not they look even better in the flesh than they do in these pictures! In the pictures above and below you can see their incredible facial markings which I think look very much like some kind of African tribal mask!

Adult Zonocerus variegatus
Close-up of head of Zonocerus variegatus
Zonocerus variegatus
Zonocerus variegatus

Despite being so multicoloured as adults they aren’t always quite so colourful as, like many grasshoppers (for example my lovely Tropidacris collaris), they are different colours during their development from newly hatched babies (nymphs) through to adulthood. As you can see below their main colours during their earlier life, and indeed right up to the point at which they mature into adult grasshoppers, are yellow and black:

Differing colours of younger Tropidacris collaris
Differing colours of younger Tropidacris collaris
Differing colours of younger Tropidacris collaris
Differing colours of younger Tropidacris collaris
Differing colours of younger Tropidacris collaris