NeemCo recently received the following unedited independent report from a group of canoeists on a trip to Siberia.

Location: Altai Republic, Siberia

Environment: Mountainous River Valleys

Elevation: 2OOm -15OOm

Season: Late Summer

Temp: 2 to 34°c

This was an expedition by three British paddlers to Kayak 3 rivers in the Altai Republic of Southern Siberia. The Katun, The Chuya and The Argut. Our prior research told us that there would be little in the way of insect life at the time of year we were to be in the Altai.  All I can say is I would not wish to be there when the insect population was at its peak! What we experienced varied from mildly irritating, to 'Scottish' mossie hell.

The insect that we encountered mainly consisted of non-biting, but very irritating sand flies, traditional blood sucking Mossies and some slow, but still painful, horse flies.

Around camp I normally used a fine spray of the India Tree repellent on my face, neck, hands and arms. When I went shirtless I would liberally spray my body with it too. Because I would be in and out of the river at camp, collecting water, washing up etc, whenever I applied the repellent to my legs, it washed off fairly shortly afterwards.

Did it work?

Insects are always going to try it on; it's what they do. So having to flap one off or end it's sorry little life with a quick slap is going to be a fact of life in my opinion. However, the aim has to be preventing bites. As I said, the only area I couldn't cover consistently was my legs and this was the only area where I was really bitten. I received almost no bites to the areas where a reasonable dose of India Tree Herbal Insect Repellent was allowed to persist.

In practical usage, I was far happier to use this product in place of the Deet based solutions I have used previously. This is mainly due to the damage I have seen Deet based products do to a 2Ooz PVC dry bag, so I am less than happy with putting it on my skin!

I will be quite happily continuing to use India Tree when the mossies are next out.

Matt

Other paddlers: Martin & Richard