Cover Your Feet
In a tropical environment, good footwear and protection for your legs is essential as they are the mos exposed to leeches, chigoes and centipedes. Wrap bark or cloth around the legs and tie it to make puttees.
Insect Attack!
As you slash your way through the jungle, you could disturb any number of insect homes such as a bee, wasp or hornet nests. As a result, they may attack you, especially hornets, whose stings can be especially painful. Anywhere left bare, including your face, is vulnerable to attack. Sunglasses would help protect the eyes. If you disturb any of these insect homes – RUN!
Perspiration is a problem – insects desperate for salt will fly to the wettest parts of your body. If you have ever cut a lawn in the early morning or evening and encountered annoying gnats, you can easily understand this. In my experience, these little pests fly into you eyes, ears, nose, mouth – any opening that even remotely offers a chance for water or salt. Protect all parts of your body because unlike gnats, these insects will sting. Protect especially your armpits and groin.
Beware Invaders
Keep clothing and footwear off the ground. This is to prevent creatures like scorpions, snakes and other nasty critters from invading your gear and giving you an unnecessary surprise. Always shake out clothing and check boots and other footwear before putting them on. Also, be cautious when putting hands into pockets. When waking up, be careful, Centipedes tend to curl for warmth in some of the more private body regions.
Beware Caterpillars Too!
As if mosquitoes and leeches sucking your blood, painful bites from centipedes and the risk of scorpion and snake bites are not enough, you also have to look out for hairy caterpillars. Be careful to brush them off in the direction they are traveling or small, irritating hairs may stay in your skin and cause an itchy rash, which will likely fester in the heat.
Mosquito Protection
When it comes to mosquito protection, wear a net over your head, or tie a t-shirt or singlet over it, especially during dawn and dusk. An even better option is to take a strip of cloth long enough to tie around your head and about 18 in (45 cm) deep and cut it to make a series of vertical strips hanging from a band that will hang around your face and over your neck. Your next step will be to saturate your clothes and bags, etc., with repellent, if available.
At night, keep yourself covered, even your hands. Use bamboo or a sapling to support a little tent of clothing plus large leaves, rigged to cover your upper half. Oil, fat or even mud spread on your hands and face may help to repel mosquitoes. While in camp, a smoky fire will help keep all insects at bay. If you are bitten, make sure you don’t scratch, regardless of the desire, as this may let infection in.
Leeches
Leeches lie on the ground or on vegetation, especially in damp places. Here they wait to attach themselves to any luckless animal (or person) that passes by so they can get a meal of blood. Their bite is not painful, but they secrete a natural anti-coagulant that makes the wound messy.
Left alone, they will drop off on their own once they have had their fill. BUT, if you’re covered in them you will need to do SOMETHING! Do NOT pull them off! There is a risk the head will come off leaving the jaws in the bite, which could turn septic. You definitely don’t want this to happen, especially in a survival situation. Remember, your goal is always to reduce the amount of injuries as well as your chances of injuries.
Remove them with a dab of salt, citric acid from fruit, alcohol, an ember or a flame.
Beware the Candiru!
OK – this tiny Amazonian catfish is about 1 in (2.5 cm) long, very slender and almost transparent. It sucks blood from the gills of other fish. It is reported to be able to swim up the urethra of a person urinating in the water – where it gets stuck by its dorsal spine. The chances of this happening is remote but the consequences could be dire! Also, do you really want to play the odds on this? Personally, I cringe even at the thought! Do yourself a favor, cover your genitals and don’t urinate in the water.