So…wretched mosquitoes and how to avoid them! First, the good news: they will be nowhere near as prevalent on your Southeast Asia tour as many first-time visitors might imagine them to be. Especially in urban areas, particularly during the daytime and certainly outside of the rainy season. In fact, we’ve been to many European or North American destinations with far higher numbers of the annoying little buzzy things.
Now for the bad news, we dug up from some recent BBC science articles. Firstly – how mosquitoes actually locate their targets…So smell, sight and heat detection. Stop breathing, wear camouflage gear and make sure your body temperature is below that of your surroundings; not easy!
Secondly – and we do see quite a few travellers with these things – the ultrasound mosquito repellents don’t work at all. A fact that we’d always suspected but didn’t have proof of.
Next – good old DEET! Apparently, according to another BBC article on mosquitoes and DEET, whilst they are initially repelled by it they quickly become used to it. This leaves you changing places regularly, so finding some new mozzies before the old ones learn to ignore it, or frequently covering yourself with liberal layers of that highly toxic chemical. (If you’ve ever got DEET on your hands, then picked up a plastic bag, you’ll see the dye comes straight out and the plastic can even begin to melt!)
Since we don’t have any photos of mosquitoes, these are pics of the far more photogenic dragonflies or damselflies So, back to a sure-fire means of defence, and one that we always try to explain to our visitors who, when faced with tropical heat, immediately strip down to as few clothes as decently possible; cover-up! Wearing loose-fitting, say cotton, clothes with long sleeves and trousers doesn’t make you any hotter. In fact, the opposite is true and direct sunlight on bare skin is going to warm you up much faster, plus, logically, the less bare skin on display, the less target for a roving mosquito. Especially at dawn and dusk, when they are most active, sitting in the hotel garden in shorts and a singlet is asking for trouble!
Anyway, to end with some good news…we’ve been visiting Southeast Asia for some 30 years and have never caught malaria (predominantly transmitted by mosquitoes in remote jungle areas, not towns) and dengue fever only once (even though that is found in urban areas.) So, while we can’t give out medical advice for legal reasons (i.e. because we’re not qualified doctors), it does put your chances of catching some unpleasant mosquito-borne illness during a 2-week holiday into perspective!
Finally, another interesting link that was brought to our attention, principally covers reducing mosquitoes in your home but certain of the entirely natural techniques are also valid for travelling so you can check out this Tips Bulletin article here.
So… mosquitoes and how to avoid them? Well, you’ll just have to cover up a bit, put up with a few bites and stop scratching!
