Hi,
I'm traveling to Lanka on the 23rd of december for 2 weeks. Will there be a lot of mosquitoes even though it's dry season (I hate the little bastards)? Do they mostly sting during day-time or at night, too? I want to travel all over the country, are there regions with a higher prevalence than others? What about Ella and Kandy for example?
Thank you for your help
Mahmoud
I'm in Bangladesh now and there's an absurd number of mosquitoes here. Even more than in my home country, Brazil. Yes, they are mostly active at night. Just get some repellent and you will be fine. People worry too much about Dengue. If it was that bad I would have at least one friend/family member that contracted it, but it didn't happen at all. Also, even if you do get it, if you are a strong guy you can recover quick enough.
I was in Sri Lanka during August and, yes, I got bitten by mosquitoes. The worst place was in the south-west around Weligama and Unawatuna. Kandy, Nuwara Eliya and Ella weren't too bad as the climate is slightly cooler up in the mountains. The mosquitoes would generally appear during the late afternoon/evening which, for me, made sitting outside during those times a bit irritating. Take plenty of repellent with you, cover up and, if you're at a hotel or restaurant, ask the staff if they can burn citronella to keep the critters at bay. Buy one of those plug-in devices for your room. Drink lots of gin and tonic (or just tonic water - mosquitoes apparently hate the quinine).
The chances of you getting dengue fever are fairly low. I got eaten alive by mosquitoes during a recent 4-month trip to Asia and was absolutely fine, other than the itching!
Nowadays it is possible to buy and apply mosquito repellant . And if you travel all over SL then it will be raining season somewhere .
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