I think the worse place I’ve ever been for mosquito bites was Ankhara, Turkey. I remember my dad actually having to go to hospital while we were out there to get medication.
A close second was probably while we were camping at Fontainebleau, France in the summer. I needed to go for a wizz in the middle of the night so I foolishly left my tent and went into the woods …
I seem to have a god-awful reaction to insect bites - they linger and itch for ages, so for last year’s trip to Tanzania, Africa, I was expecting the worst. I packed out with Malarone and mosquito repellent and …. I saw one mosquito. We squashed it before going to sleep.
In spite of that, however, I’m taking no chances this year. According to Travel Doctor, Sabah, Borneo is described as “Risk substantial. Chloroquine resistance common.”
The repellents were actually from last year (hopefully they won’t have expired or anything) and the bite gel I got while I was at Nomad, picking up my anti-malarials. Speaking of which …
Apparently, the patent for Malarone has recently expired, so the generic version (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atovaquone/proguanil) is now available, alledgedly for cheaper, but I swear they were the same price as the Malarone I bought last year (about £80 for a fortnight’s worth). To be taken one per day, starting 1 day before I leave and carrying on for a week after I return. I’ve never had any side effects with Malarone, so I’ll be pretty happy with these - I’ve heard horror stories of people hallucinating after taking the other kinds.
Also coming along for the anti-mosquito party is my brand new mosquito net, to keep those pesky bugs at bay while I’m sleeping.
Time will tell as to how effective this thing is - it feels (and looks) like a cheap net curtain, and set me back about thirty quid from Snow and Rock.
Afterthoughts:
The mosquito net wasn’t used once - everywhere we stayed, the windows were fitted with mesh screens and to be honest, there was nowhere to hang it. Maybe save it for camping or something.
I don’t think I actually saw a single mosquito. I did get bitten a few times - once on my arm in the same place as the photo above (with not such an extreme reaction this time) and once on the back of my neck early on, and a few times in other places, but these were all minor.
I actually got bitten on the neck and on my back whilst I was wearing one of my Craghoppers Nosilife shirts (and with the collar up!)
I had a strange reaction to the Jungle Formula gel - it seemed to give me a bit of a rash so I stuck to the regular spray after that (which has a higher percentage of DEET anyway). Having repellent and sunblock in such hot and humid weather was uncomfortable, to say the least. I did get sunburned at Poring hot springs after swimming though, so I recommend you perservere with the application of both.
Donny, our guide, said there’d not been an incidence of malaria in Borneo since the 80’s, so I’m quite confident in saying there was no need for the anti-malarials.