tracon

I am wondering what the mosquito situation is like while doing a gorilla trek in Uganda. We will take the usual malaria precautions, medication, repellent, layered clothing.
Alot of the posts I've read talk about humidity and rain gear but not much talk on mosquitos.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks.

annergizer

just got back from a trip to Uganda and Rwanda which included 2 gorilla treks. We sprayed our clothes with DEET and some of us wore tops purchase from "buzzoff" - insect repellent laden clothes. Our group had no trouble with mosquito bites on our treks. None. We got nibbled on at dusk, so wear socks.

Chris_GA_Atl

If you are trekking from Buhoma, expect to encounter mosquitoes in large numbers in the forest. They are not everywhere, but every once in a while you will encounter a cloud of them. The good news is that they seem to dislike DEET -- i had some on, and got no bites whatsoever.
Chris

drgough

Mosquitos are generally out at dusk and dawn, so we did not see any mosquitos on the trek. I was, however, bitten by the largest ant I have ever seen.

Chris_GA_Atl

Yes, that brings up a good point. Several people in our group received ant bites/stings, as there would be places in the forest where the whole ground was covered with ants for a radius of 10 feet or so. It helps to wear boots and long socks, then tuck your pants legs into the top of your socks to prevent ants from getting inside your clothes and biting you in some pretty undesirable places. Apparently they are very bad about doing this, because the guides mentioned it repeatedly.
Chris

drgough

And whatever you do, don't try to dust the ants off with your bare hands. That is what I did, and guess where I was bitten...