Sandfly bites can be super, super annoying and even quite painful. Here are the ultimate tips to prevent sandfly bites when exploring New Zealand.
In New Zealand sandflies are simply part of life if you enjoy exploring the great outdoors. Similar to most amazing natural landscapes there are often some negatives, like bad weather or bugs. New Zealand has an abundance of biting black flies or sandflies. Those bites can really itch, hurt, or even swell up. These tips will help you get bit less and enjoy exploring New Zealand more.
The Ultimate Tips To Prevent Sandfly Bites
Sandflies live in moist, wet areas. Basically they can be found in areas near water, such as beaches, lakes, and rivers. In New Zealand they are more often found along the west coast, especially the west coast of the south island.
I hope that you find these tips useful. Some of these may seem obvious, but hopefully you learn something new. The goal of these tips is to help you enjoy your time exploring New Zealand’s amazing natural world more.
Keep Moving
Yep, this one seems pretty simple and obvious, but I’ll state it again just to let the point sink in. Keep moving while you are outside. If your hiking, walking around or just moving the sandflies are less likely to land on you.
On the other hand when you stop and sit down for a rest the sandflies will find you. There will gradually be more and more of them, so keep moving to prevent that from happening.
Pick Windy Or Wet Days To Head Outside
You many not be able to choose, but if you have options, you should aim to go outside on windy or wet days. Sandflies are less likely to be out and about when it’s windy or rainy. Those calm, clear, sunny days may be beautiful. Unfortunately, that also means the sandflies will be out. The wind and rain tend to keep them from being active.
Wear Long Sleeves & Cover Your Ankles, Feet!
This is a universal way to prevent bug bites. The less skin that you have exposed the less chance you will get bitten. There are lots of lightweight long sleeve shirts or pants that will keep you covered up without making you too hot.
When you are not moving you need to cover up your ankles and feet. Sandflies love to bite ankles and feet. I’ve had too many bites on my ankles to remember. When camping I always wear thick socks and crocs when hanging out as opposed to jandals/flip flops.
Wear Gloves, Head Protection
I imagine that most of the time you are out in the outdoors you won’t need to go to the extreme length of wearing gloves and something over your head. These would be necessary if you are standing still for long periods of time, giving the sandflies heaps of time to find you and bite you.
I always wear a hat when I go hiking, but I’ve only worn gloves and something over my head when fly fishing on the south island. That requires standing still for long stretches of time, staring at the river, while the sandflies are all over you.
Wear Light Colors
Sandflies are attracted to dark colors, so try to wear light colors. The best colors are whites or neutrals.
Use Insect Repellent – Goodbye Sandfly
Over the years we’ve tried lots of different types of insects repellent. In the US, we often resorted to some form of DEET to keep away the mosquitoes. That is effective, but it’s a super strong chemical.
Luckily, here in New Zealand there is a great (yes, I’ll repeat that because it’s so good – GREAT) repellent for sandflies. Goodbye Sandfly, is a non-toxic repellent that not only prevents bites, but also soothes bites. You can buy it online or in some stores.
Take A B Complex Vitamin
This is another trick that we used to prevent mosquitoes that also helps keep away sandflies. Take a B complex vitamin every day for a few weeks before you want to keep away sandflies. For some people the B complex helps reduce the number of bites, but for others it’s not effective.
Taking a B complex vitamin works for me, but may not work for everyone. It’s worth giving it a try as you’ll be super happy if it does prevent sandfly bites for you.
Citronella Candle
Yes, a citronella candle may help to keep sandflies away. Unfortunately, this will only work for a small area. It’s good in a camper van or maybe put a couple around where your eating/hanging out.