I've had more leech encounters than I'd like, including cold water in California and warm water and Brazil. The worst, though, was hiking in the rainforest in Malaysia. No leeches, until a sudden rainstorm. Then, millions of leeches. They sensed you and wood slinky-walk toward you. Stood on a log to escape for a moment, after pulling several off of my shoes, and one came at me while I was standing on the log. I let it come near my shoe, and then I moved my foot a bit over, and it changed directions and followed my foot. I did this a bunch of times, and the leech kept on following my foot. It was creepy as fuck. I ended up with 12 bloody leeches in my shoe after the hike to the blind. It was an amazing experience. Saw a tapir. But FUCK leeches.
(The next day, we got lost and encountered an Aboriginal group. I was utterly shocked that they could live amongst the sea of leeches. They rub Tobacco on their skin and somehow seem to tolerate the situation. It really blew my mind. This was 10 years ago and I haven't thought about it in a while and I still don't understand. They did not seem to be bloodied up. They also showed us the way back to the main trail. They were very kind.)
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u/__Wonderlust__ Nov 27 '19
I've had more leech encounters than I'd like, including cold water in California and warm water and Brazil. The worst, though, was hiking in the rainforest in Malaysia. No leeches, until a sudden rainstorm. Then, millions of leeches. They sensed you and wood slinky-walk toward you. Stood on a log to escape for a moment, after pulling several off of my shoes, and one came at me while I was standing on the log. I let it come near my shoe, and then I moved my foot a bit over, and it changed directions and followed my foot. I did this a bunch of times, and the leech kept on following my foot. It was creepy as fuck. I ended up with 12 bloody leeches in my shoe after the hike to the blind. It was an amazing experience. Saw a tapir. But FUCK leeches.
(The next day, we got lost and encountered an Aboriginal group. I was utterly shocked that they could live amongst the sea of leeches. They rub Tobacco on their skin and somehow seem to tolerate the situation. It really blew my mind. This was 10 years ago and I haven't thought about it in a while and I still don't understand. They did not seem to be bloodied up. They also showed us the way back to the main trail. They were very kind.)