purplefish

How is the bug situation in the safari lodge of Botswana (specifically Little Vumbura and Mombo) and South Africa (Madikwe area) during the month of June. Just want to be prepared on how strong a repellent I need to bring.

tashak

It seems that the mosquitos in this area are sensitive to cold weather-- as soon as nightime temps start dropping, so does the mosquito population. I was in this area in early June, and this year, mosquitoes were not a problem. Didn't seem to be any! Since it cools down as soon as the sun drops, you'll switch to long sleeves and pants, so you only need to use repellent on exposed areas (hands, feet (if in sandals), neck,ears... 30% deet (ultrathon or Sawyers controlled release was recommended by our travel clinic). Most camps and lodges have Peaceful Sleep spray available, and that works really well. However for night drives, I purchased a Peaceful Sleep stick, which was really convenient, as you can dab it wherever necessary and not get any on hands or elsewhere. (Important when you are handling camera equipment, since deet causes plastic to disintegrate...)

However,these are all justt precautions...you'll see more mosquitos in the US in June than you will in Botswana.

JackieSun

We were there the last week of May. We had mosquitos. A couple of nights they were heavy, so we covered up and sprayed repellant on everything - clothes and skin. The most annoying part can be flying in your face.

We managed to avoid all bites.

uhoh_busted

We were in Botswana mid-May and were surprised to NOT have a mosquito problem. And we were so prepared.....!

Favor

We were in Botswana in middle June and saw not one mosquito. We put some spray on anyway (Deep Woods Off) in case there were any hardy specimens left. It was cold at night and maybe this did them in.

The camps still had mosquito coils going in our tent when we returned - but I don't think they were really needed.