I've just got back from trekking to everest Base Camp in Nepal and insect bites were a real issue. I used various DEET products and insect sprays but these didn't seem to stop the bites nor keep them away! Obviously for me malaria was a real threat...
What have your experiences been while travelling/what products have you used?
I'm a final year design student designing a product to help repel mosquitoes and insects, so any insights would be really appreciated!
I used DEET on my trip to India - and it didn't stop mossies biting me through my clothes at one site in Kerala.
Then a woman I was sharing a dorm with told me about clove oil, which had been recommended to her by a swami in the Himalayas. She diluted it because she had very sensitive skin but couldn't tell me by how much, as she'd just kept adding a 'carrier' oil until it didn't sting her.
I just put a single drop of undiluted oil on each elbow, wrist, ankle, behind each knee and at my throat. Then I went outside and sat in my usual spot. A mossie landed on my knee, all ready for lunch. It sat on my knee for maybe 20-30 seconds - then flew off without biting. And not another mossie landed on me in the next five days.
I then went on to New Zealand, where I was bitten by a sandfly. (Ouch!) Next day I was due to stay at a camping ground which was (in)famous for sandflies, so once again I applied clove oil - and wasn't bitten at all.
Returning to Britian, I travelled overland through India, Pakistan, Iran and Turkey. Not a single bite the whole way.
HOWEVER - several years later I went to Egypt and Sudan. I took my clove oil and applied it as before. And I got bitten! Maybe not as much, but I did get a few bites, though less than the previous time I was there.
So - it seems that the Asian variety of mossies is repelled by clove oil, but the African ones are not. I believe there are different species of mossies. Maybe that has something to do with it?
NB - I still haven't had the opportunity to try it out on midges. If YOU get the chance, do try it - and please let me know by PM.
PS - Do carry a 'treatment dose' of malaria tablets to be on the safe side. I did!
Last year I developed a slight allergy to DEET - getting red patches wherever I sprayed it on my skin. This didn't use to happen but even trying a different brand of DEET had the same effect. Now I use a non-DEET option called Incognito which is great. It's not full-proof but then neither was DEET. At the end of the day, the only that is full-proof is covering up with clothed thick enough to prevent bites.