Top TEN Tips for Dealing with Sandflies and Black Flies

Better Outdoor Tips

Whether you call them Sandflies or Black flies they are the same ferocious bugs.

With the fun of summer comes the buzz and bites of bugs. After several years of living and raising small yummy morsels called kids on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand.

See more of Goodbye SANDFLY

~ Here are my top tips for dealing with Sandflies/Black flies:

1. Protect your ankles with socks or bug repellant. Sandflies tend to start their attack at the ground level and work upward.

2. Wear light-coloured clothes. Black flies are attracted to dark clothes. If you have on light trousers and stand next to someone with dark trousers, the sandflies swarm the darker legged person.

3. Walk. Sandflies and Black flies are very slow creatures. As long as you are moving they can't swarm. I've spent many a lunch on the coast, slowly walking in circles!

4. Keep your car, caravan, and boat closed up or screened. Sandflies are notorious for their ability to find openings to enter and fly in wait. If you have no screens, keep downwind windows and doors closed. They prefer quiet air to wind.

5. Boats can anchor offshore a short distance to minimize the bug effect. A portable net can be draped over doors and hatches for a much more peaceful night.

6. Use a bug repellent - like Goodbye SANDFLY - that feels good to use. Re-apply regularly.

7. Avoid using "sweet" smelling body care products. Eat less sugar. Sandflies love sweet people.

8. Sandflies and Black flies will go into a feeding frenzy just before it begins to rain. Nothing you can do, except wait for the rain, and then they go away.

9. Sandflies, unlike their friends, mosquitoes, go to bed when it gets dark. For mozzie prone night-times, use a net, there's no better way to keep them from buzzing your ears.

10. Remember to keep looking around you at the magic outdoor places. The sandflies protect some of the most amazing scenery in New Zealand, just as Black flies protect Canada. Don't let the bugs chase you away!

Goodbye SANDFLY Bug Repellent and Bite Soother ~ Made in New Zealand

Goodbye SANDFLY has been New Zealand's #1 selling natural bug repellent since 2009. It is certified natural by NATRUE, very gentle on skin. It works by hiding you from the bugs. It is effective on many kinds of bugs around the world- from New Zealand sandflies and mosquitoes to Canada black flies. Best of all,

Goodbye SANDFLY actually smells nice, which means you'll like it, even though the bugs don't.

Get your Bite Soother & Bug Repellent here!

About the author

Becky Cashman

Goodbye makes certified natural, water-free products that take care of skin outdoors. Established by Becky in 1999, the key message has been consistent from the beginning. Outdoors is good. We belong outdoors. It's better outdoors. Being outdoors is self-care in it's most natural state.

Alongside this message of wellness outdoors is the ethos that we take care of what we love. When you are connected to your environment, you naturally take better care of it.

Becky is the product maker for Goodbye products, sometimes development takes years. As a former outdoor guide, she has remained focused on bringing performance and portability to genuine natural products.

Her products are a good reason to keep showing up to the conversation about a life lived better outdoors.

Join the neighborhood! There's a sign up at the bottom of this page.