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Mosquitoes northern India Nepal in February
I am going on the Northern India and Nepal trip in February. Is there a concern at that time of year regarding mosquitoes? Especially at the game reserves? Do clothing need to be sprayed? Anti- malarial medication? Vaccine against Japanese Encephalitis? CDC guidelines have me stumped.
Any general advice?
Thank you!
Susan
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Stm...I'm not sure if mosquitoes are better or worse during February. When I visited India during the December timeframe I purchased Ultrathon insect repellent (12 hr lotion)--it does contain deet. I vaguely remembered mosquitoes in Kerala, but nothing that was a concern. I'm on the December 2023 Northern India-Nepal tour...I'm getting excited
PureLuxury, soon yiu will be off on your adventure! Were you told you needed anti-malaria meds or any other vaccines for this trip? I am 💭 no more about the game reserve in Nepal. Do you know how many will be on your tour yet? I haven’t encountered anyone that has taken this trip. Do you post pictures on the Tauck site? I would love to follow along. Have a marvelous time.
Stm. My countdown is 25 days. The Tauck duffel bag arrived and I am mentally packed!
I got the latest COVID vaccination a few weeks ago and I've started taking prebiotics to prepare my stomach but I didn't go to the travel doctor for this trip. I took the Portrait of India tour a few years ago and didn't get any special meds. My Physician (who is from southern India) prescribed a Zpak and antibiotics just in case I caught a bug. I followed her instructions to avoid Delhi belly--no street food, no ice cream, no ice cubes and ONLY bottled water. I have an appointment with her a week prior to my trip - I am assuming she will prescribe the same.
There are 12 folks on my tour (I am one of 2 single travelers). I promise to do a better job of posting pictures on the forum during the tour. Please do not hesitate to ask me any questions - either in the post or as a PM. cathyandsteve took this tour last year (Oct/Nov timeframe) and posted many pictures of their great adventure.They had wonderful sightings of the elusive Tiger and a beautiful clear day to view Mt Everest. I am hoping for the same. Thanks for your well wishes!
How/ when is did you find out how many people were going on your trip? Thanks for pointing out about no ice cream. I would not have thought of that and ice cream is my favorite.
You can call Tauck to ask how many people are on your trip maybe a week before you go, but people cancel even very last minute, so it’s often just a rough estimate. With a destination’s like India when a visa is involved, it’s unlikely people can sign up last minute
Stm I asked the Tauck advisor when I submitted final payment. As British stated, the information is available at that time--however, it can change with last minute adds/cancellations
British I would agree with you on that point; however, during my Portrait of India trip, one of the single travelers actually signed up for the trip the week before. She was able to get a visa onsite when she arrived at the airport. We arrived on the same flight and therefore were in the same car going to the hotel-- I had to wait a few minutes for her visa to be processed. We're actually meeting up again for the India-Nepal trip--she did get her visa ahead of time. My visa was valid for 10 years; however, since she got her visa onsite it was only valid for a short period of time.
British, when are you going on the India / Nepal trip?
I’ve taken it off as a possibility. I would like to go to Nepal, but just to see one of two tigers, we have decided it’s not worth the long journeys and we have already been to The Golden Triangle in India.
We looked at another company that goes to India to see the Tigers, lions and leopards but spoke with a very experienced traveler who took that tour and he said it was not worth it for all the remote traveling.
Should we take bug spray? Should we spray our clothes before traveling??
MarcM I returned from this trip this week - no bug spray was needed. This may not be the case for you as I am not sure of your trip timeframe. Great trip, but having now taken both tours, my preference is the Portrait of India
PureLuxury. Our trip starts February 2…..unlikely that much will change by then. I hat bug spray but understand it may be useful. We definitely needed it when we went to amazon/Equador.
PureLuxury - Thanks so much for such a detailed and interesting trip report! I thoroughly enjoyed reading it! I was wondering - what was it about Portrait of India that put it above the India/Nepal tour for you?
buonviaggio I think it was the inclusion of the Southern states - Jaipur, Udapuir and Kerala and witnessing the cremation ceremonies in Varanasi was a once in a lifetime event for me to see. The people on the India-Nepal tour will get an idea of what Varanasi is all about as there is a similar, albeit much smaller, ceremony that takes places in Nepal. I'll post pictures soon.
We are headed to India mid March, but on an independent tour. Four of us touring New Delhi, Agra, and then flying to East central India to go into two tiger reserves. There will be a bit of remote travel to the reserves…..let’s see what that’s like!!!
Marla526 Are you going traveling to a reserve near Bandhavgarh National Park? If yes, the travel to/fron is indeed remote. We were so grateful for the Tauck provided CamperVan (ladies restroom facilities) complete with comfy seating area while we waited. It was quite nice. Fortunately, we used these opportunities to stretch our legs a bit
@PureLuxury YES, indeed it will be an experience! We are flying from Delhi to Raipur and then being driven to Kahna for three nights, then driven to Bandhavgarh for another three. We expect it to be very remote, and I have already thought about the lack of toilet facilities along the way. What a luxury for Tauck to provide the mobile toilet. Oh well….we have relieved ourselves behind termite mounds and bushes, jeep tires, and squatted over open holes in the dirt before. I am doing lots of squat exercises in my yoga practice to get ready for this……LOL
Marla526 Love your positive attitude ....you'll have a great time filled with lots of memories
Please write about ur India /napel trips and if it’s worth it. How many tigers did u see?
I think most people just see one or two, we are still on the fence as to whether this is a worthwhile trip as far as tiger spotting is concerned, but we do want see Nepal. We know someone else who spent more days in the parks tiger spotting with another company and still did not think it was working the long travel and money, and he’s been to over 100 countries, so I took notice.