Travel Day 1054 – Pokhara, NEPAL
When I went trekking this year, for the first time of my life I came across a tiny but vicious predator that I never had to deal with before: Vampire-Worms!
Leech Protection Equipment for Trekking
The Last time I went trekking in Nepal was about two years ago and I did so in the month of April. The weather was nice and clear, it was sunny and in the altitude there was some snow, combined with freezing temperatures at night. But this time around, since I went trekking in May and June, it was a whole lot warmer overall, but at the same time I had to deal with rainy conditions as we were approaching the annual monsoon season…
At first the occasional drizzling rain didn’t bother me too much but then I realized that it went along with slippery paths, no views at all and a lot of blood thirsty leeches. These little vampire-worms would silently sneak up on me, seemingly out of nowhere, and attack without any sort of a warning. In fact it was not even possible to feel them biting, as one can feel mosquitoes, and only after taking off the clothes in the evening while looking at the exposed skin, it was possible to see them…
Gaiters as Leech protection on Treks
After my first day of walking in the rain and finding a completely filled leech on my ankle in the evening, I felt awfully violated. I was obviously ill prepared for that sort of attack and the mere fact that it had been silently sucking my blood for a good part of the day, made me feel sick to my stomach. Luckily by the time I found it, it was full of my blood already and it fell right off, but it left me with a gushing wound that wouldn’t stop bleeding. It actually seemed as if it did inject a substance that prevented the blood from thickening…
Obviously I started asking around what could be done against this leech pest, but as it turned out, there wasn’t too much one could actually do. The only thing everyone agreed on was that it was best to carry some salt, as it was the easiest way to remove them if they were not completely full already. Besides that, the local approach seemed to be to just walk with bare feet and flip-flops while constantly checking the feet when walking through wet and grassy areas…
Leech Bite even under the Gaiters
For me personally this approach didn’t quite work out as I was wearing my hiking boots, but after my first leech bite I made sure to always wear my snow gaiters as leech protection. Since the leeches seemed to attack from the ground and mostly aimed for feet and ankles, this method proofed actually quite effective. Even if it didn’t seem to be the perfect protection and one leech here or there still found a way in, but it was still better than the 5 or 6 leech bites that fellow trekkers had on the same day…
So while this was my only protection on the first trek, for the second trek I upgraded my equipment with a small salt box, leech oil, extra band-aids, iodine cream and DEET spray. While I used the leech oil for my skin, I always made sure to put some of the DEET on my shoes, to have them smell as unattractive as possible….
Bare Feet – the local Leech Protection
In the end it was difficult to pinpoint which was the most effective method to stay clear of the leeches, but the combination of all seemed to do the trick. And while I finally got a handle of the actual bites, I still found some leeches walking outside on my pants or on the floor of my room when I took off my clothes. What a blood thirsty pest those little, funny moving vampire leeches were…
Leech moving while on the Hunt for Blood
Leech on the Hunt for Blood – 1
Leech on the Hunt for Blood – 2
Leech on the Hunt for Blood – 3
Ugh. I hate leeches. I’ll have to remember your arsenal for next time.
Try it out, or avoid trekking in the rainy season altogether… That is probably the safest way to stay clear of all the sneaky, blood sucking little leech monsters… : )