tsitsi flies

elizabeth hayden

Are the flies most likely to bother during the daytime or nighttime? Has anyone observed a difference when wearing dark clothes versus other? What is an antidote if bitten? I know that Deet repellent is recommended as well as staying away from black and dk blue clothing.

British

I think tsetse are only active during the day. Google it to be sure. Antidote---cortisone, anti itch cream, that kind of thing.
Tsetse definitely are attracted to dark blue and black, I was wearing socks once with a blue band and that is where I was bitten. Deer is not effective against tsetse flies. Keep all skin covered, that's the best way, but they can bite through clothing too and boy it hurts.

MGeiss

I bought a bunch of special clothing for my husband and me for this trip and discovered I was a little over-reactive. Tsetse flies were an issue only for the couple of days in the Serengeti (Four Seasons) hotel, and the only blue you need to worry about is navy. (We had a lot of light blue clothing that would have been fine, and darker clothes for the other areas.) We also got some pants, jackets and shirts with Insect Shield protection (available from the manufacturer and other travel/adventure sites such as Ex Officio, REI, Orvis, Royal Robbins, etc.) that were great and eliminated the need to slather ourselves with DEET. By the way, DEET isn't effective against tsetse flies. The green book you'll get from Tauck goes into detail about this and other matters, so check it out! Have a great trip!

AlanS

elizabeth hayden wrote:

Are the flies most likely to bother during the daytime or nighttime? Has anyone observed a difference when wearing dark clothes versus other? What is an antidote if bitten? I know that Deet repellent is recommended as well as staying away from black and dk blue clothing.

Everything British and MGeiss said.

When are you going? We went in June and there was only one reported "possible" tsetse fly bite and it was to one of the drivers. By the way, tsetse flies are not little critters, they are big like a horse fly and bite like one- they can even bite through clothing!

douglassue

I have been in communication with one of the TDs that was in on creating the TZ/Kenya trips, and had done 91 of them before she retired. She said she used to get bitten all the time by the flies, but found "Skeeter Beater", which she purchased from Nature's Gift (I bought the gel), and was never bitten after that. You've probably read that DEET doesn't faze the flies.