“There were so many, especially near the lamps. After 3 days, I thought to myself that it must be considered a natural disaster.”
These are vacations with would be Well spent Luana and her companion Fabio, a couple from La Louvière. Luana reached out to us via the orange Alert Us button to describe what she calls a ruined vacation. How would you react if an invasion of mosquitoes literally ruined your vacation days? We are not talking here about a few occasional stings which can be annoying, but about a tidal wave of stings which turns into madness, according to the story of our alerter.
A failed arrival
Everything starts mid-September: Luana and her companion Fabio can finally enjoy 14 days of vacation. The Hainaut couple manage a chain of pizzerias. “We work a lot and it’s hard to take vacations”says Luana. Suffice to say that this moment of respite is eagerly awaited. Direction Cape Verde, an archipelago of islands located off the coast of Africa. The couple paid 4,200 euros to afford a hotel of choice by the sea. Heavenly.
Once arrived at the hotel, a first alert. “There were plenty of dead mosquitoes,” she remarks. Nothing to worry about and anyway the resident of La Louvière is busy settling a problem related to the reservation of their room.
To enter our own room, we had to move our bath towel to ward off the mosquitoes from the entrance.
But very quickly, once installed, things will turn sour. “NoWe were eaten by thousands of mosquitoes. There were millions of them everywhere. says Luana, supporting photos.
Morning, noon and especially in the evening, mosquitoes attack Luana, Fabio and a couple of friends also on the trip. “The only solution was to go in the pool. To enter our own room, we had to move our bath towel to ward off the mosquitoes from the entrance.”
The mosquito repellent stock emptied
Very quickly, Luana informs the staff of the establishment, because many customers are suffering from the situation. The hotel staff are sorry for the situation, but show their helplessness. “They were saying the boss didn’t want to act.” The couple are told that heavy rains fell a few weeks before their arrival on the island. Rains that caused a proliferation of mosquitoes. “I had bruises on my legs from scratching myself. My companion had a swollen eye”further details Luana.
A horrible scenario for the Belgian couple which repeated itself for days. “We went to the reception to ask for products. We were redirected to the shop that sold mosquito repellent. Even the shop guy was sorry, we had to buy all the stock. The products cost here in Belgium 6 euros, there 16 euros.”
The days follow each other and resemble each other. Nothing moves and the mosquitoes tirelessly attack the tourists of the hotel. One day, Luana goes to town to buy lemongrass, a plant known to be an effective repellent against mosquitoes. “When the taxi driver saw that we had bought a lot of citronella, he told us, referring to our hotel, ‘Over there, a lot… Mosquitoes!!'”
Back from vacation, Luana feels wronged. She would have liked the organizer of the trip, the tour operator, to warn her in advance of this invasion of mosquitoes which she considers similar to a “natural disaster”. She says she could have turned to another destination, especially since she had taken out cancellation insurance at 140 euros per person.
It’s part of the risk of travel
Christophe Depreter is the general secretary of the Professional Union of Travel Agencies (UPAV). The Union believes that it will be difficult to consider the mosquito invasion as a “Natural disaster. No, it’s part of the risks of the trip.”
On the other hand, the UPAV recalls that in theory the organizer must warn “travellers whether to be vaccinated or possible risks of dengue fever, malaria, etc.” Even if there is no obligation. If Luana wants to contest, the UPAV advises the Louvièreoise and in general “to supply a file with photos as soon as things go wrong on vacation, especially if the client feels that the order form does not correspond at all to what was sold in the agency.”
For her part, Luana intends to get in touch with the tour operator and inform them of the situation experienced, in order to discuss possible compensation. “When you spend almost 4,200 euros, the minimum is to spend 14 quiet days.”
A few months ago, we raised a relevant question: why are some people more bitten than others?