Leech Attack!

There was one incident on our holiday that caused us bears particular amusement. We don’t have a laugh at our minders expense too often as they are very good to us, but there are occasions when it just can’t be helped.

The occasion in question was a ranger lead walk in the Periyar national park. We had to meet the ranger bright and early in the morning so as to have the best opportunity for animal sightings – we were particularly hoping to see a tiger. As it was the end of the monsoon season it was very damp and steamy in the park: ideal conditions for leeches. Our minders were therefore issued with some very peculiar leech socks, which completely covered them from knee to toe. They then put their shoes on which made them look really strange. We thought how lucky we were to have stuffing rather than blood and so be of no interest to leeches. We didn’t want to miss out on a photo opportunity though so we posed alongside a pair of leech socks.


We’d only taken a couple of steps and hadn’t even been rafted across the lake to the heart of the park before the leeches struck the humans. We found it fascinating watching them arching their way over our minders’ shoes looking for a way in through the laces.

It wasn’t long before we discovered the disadvantage of leech socks: they don’t cover the upper part of the body. Our female minder said she felt a tickling sensation on her stomach and when we had a look we discovered a leech had crawled up the inside of her shirt and firmly attached itself to her stomach. There was another two and a half hours of the walk to go which would have given the leech time to get very fat, so we thought we had better put a rescue plan into operation. We checked available resources and settled for a DEET (mosquito repellent) spray. This worked a treat, although we did feel a bit sorry for the leech! He soon let go and we were able to pull him off. Bears to the rescue yet again.

That was actually the most eventful part of the walk as there were few animal sighting – mainly just monkeys. When we got back to base our minders found the leech socks had worked a treat and their legs and ankles were leech free but their shoes were full of leeches. There were a tense few moments getting all the leeches out, but after we gave the ranger his tip he was very attentive and did a great job of clearing our shoes. Clearly all part of a day’s work if you’re a park ranger in India, but we’re not sure we fancy it.

Lots of love, George & Yorkie xxx