Hello everyone:
I've been reading on the forum about tse tse flies, and most of the posts are about Tanzani. This leads me to wonder about their prevalence in Botswana in March and April. How present are they, and where does one tend to encounter them? Thanks.

While at Baines Camp, I kept being bitten by something and when I complained about the Tse Tse flies, the boat guide took offense and corrected me that there were no Tse Tse flies in the area. Well, they may not have been Tse Tse flies but their bites hurt every bit as much, so what is the difference?

My point...whether or not there are Tse Tse flies, there are biting insects in March/April so best off just to accept this and take preventative measures, if possible...me...I would rather just be comfortable (it is warm in March) and just deal with the occasional bites rather than try to prevent the inevitable.

The insects did to seem worse in the Linyanti/Kwando areas than in the Okavango Delta, but not sure if that is always the case.

You are going to get mosquitos in the swampy areas.....

Tse Tse flies specifically, i dont think so.....

Hi Hari and Rocco,
I'm not at all concerned about mosquitoes; we're taking the malarin and using Ultrathon, etc. They also don't seem to like me very much anyway. As for the tse tses, it is more of a question of curiosity for me whether or not they are out in droves in March. I'm not going to let a few insects (or a lot of them either!), get in the way of this trip! Only five weeks to go!

Botswana has a very aggressive eradication program for tse tse flies so it is unlikely that you will encounter any. I have never seen one in my two stays which were January and March.

Also, when I say that there are other biting insects, I mean flies, not insects. At least mosquitos don't follow the vehicle, but whatever these flies were, they were biting me like crazy and it was annoying...I mean I just wanted to crush them but could never quite catch them! lt;

(Wasn't enough to dissuade me from going again at this time of year, just a little annoying)

We encountered tetse flies while at King's Pool (Linyanti) but it did not keep us from enjoying our trip.

Hi Guys
Remember this is Africa and there certainly will be something out there that flies and bites. I usually spray myself with peaceful sleep and also learned of a new one for the Tse Tse whilst in Zambia and that is a mixture of detol and water which must be applied to the skin.
Mark