Take The Path Less Ordinary

If you walk into a jungle and see lots of them, your guide has made good his promise of untouched wilderness. See, leeches shy away from places with traces of industrial chemicals, acid rainfall and urban waste. Moreover, the presence of leeches indicate a healthy population of wildlife. They need a thriving population of warm-blooded mammals to feed on and they usually wait around places and trails frequented by wildlife instinctively.

Simply put, if you don’t see leeches - it ain’t good rain forest.

What happens if I am tagged?

Don’t let hell break loose and scream for your guide. You’d only loose a few spots of blood.

You can simply wait till it drops off after it has taken its fill, thereby avoiding touching the slimy thing. Or, you can yank it off but then it may leave bits of its mouth parts embedded in the skin potentially leading to infection.

Also, you can use chemical means - anything that the leech hates like such as salt, insect repellent or, our personal favourite, heat-rub spray (usually used by sport men to remedy muscle aches) and strong mouth freshener to kill and make them drop off. The bite spot will bleed for sometime after the leech is removed. This is normal. The bite mark will itch for the next few days while it heals. Try not to scratch (we know it’s hard) and bruise the spot, leading to infection. After a week or so, you won’t notice it’s there.

Leech proofing

Before anyone comes up with the thought, “Can we wear thick socks?”, let it be known that leeches can easily wriggle in the thickest socks through tiny weaves and seams, especially cotton ones. By the way, you should also remember that tunnelling into animal’s thick fur is like a walk in the park for them. The thickest socks won’t stop leeches from throwing a drinking party on your legs.


Some trekkers swear by ladies’ pantyhose. No joke. It works to a certain extend and it’s a cheap option. Get the thickest pantyhose and slip into them after you’ve worn your socks.

Lastly, we are sure by now you would have heard about the legendary leech-socks. Yes, so far, it’s the most effective mean for leech bite prevention. They are specially designed to seal up your lower leg up to the calf. The lower part is made of thick canvas and the upper half is made from nylon. An elastic grip holds the sock in place and prevent leeches from sneaking in.

Extra Protection

Spray the pantyhose or socks with lots of mosquito repellent, especially areas around ankles, to make your legs distasteful for leeches. If you need recommendation, we suggest you buy Ben’s Insect Repellent (nope, we don’t work for them). We have seen foreign guests using it and leeches absolutely hate Ben’s. See Ardern Healthcare UK website. Sadly, Ben’s is not sold in Malaysia.

Of course, many of you have heard about leech dislike for tobacco. It’s true, tobacco kills leeches quite effectively. Most of our Orang Asli guides who trot into the jungle barefoot of strappy shoes rely on tobacco to keep leeches at bay.

Tobacco tames leeches

Soak some tobacco with water. Squeeze the juice out and rub it all over your legs, feet, shoes and socks. Place some juiced-out tobacco residues inside your shoes, socks and shoe lace area. Sweat and tobacco from your feet will absolutely intoxicate any leech that dares to touch you. Even if they manage to wriggle in, you will find them dead in a matter of minutes. So far, we have not experience tobacco’s side effects on our skin. It works for us.

Interesting things you didn’t know about leeches …..


1. A leech has 32 brains! Actually, these brains are suprapharyngeal and suprapharyngeal ganglia that comes with each of its 32 segments.

2. Leeches aren’t entirely pesky and repulsive. Leeches are used by Orang Asli shamans in bloodletting their patients, whose disease could best be described as having “bad blood” that causes skin diseases and hypertension. Orang Asli natives also swear by leeches as effective baits for fishing in jungle streams. Fast river whoopers like tengas, kelah and sebarau love leeches.

3. Although there are over 500 species of leeches in the world, the Malaysian rain forest is home to only 3.

4. Leeches secrete an anti-coagulant into the wound to prevent the fluids (i.e. blood) from clotting. When you are bitten by a leech you will bleed long after it’s had its fill. One microgram of pure Hirudin, a chemical only found in leech saliva, inhibits about 10 U of human thrombin. It is the most potent anticoagulant in nature and is currently experimented for blood thinning application for artery blockage patients. The Malaysian native leech Hirudinea medicinalis is the only kind approved by U.S Food and Drug Agency (FDA) as medical device for blood-letting and biotherapy.

5. Leeches easily dry out and go into a torpid state if they do but add water and they will rapidly spring into action.

6. Leeches will pump the fluids from their prey until they are gorged (swelling 2 to 10 times their normal size). After a hearty drink, some leeches can fast for up to several months.

7. Contrary to popular belief, leeches are not found in all rainforests. It is only present in the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, Wallacea, Australia, Melanesia, Madagascar and the Seychelles. You won’t find leeches in Africa or South America’s jungles … but it’s not all good news, because these countries are home to far more dangerous pests like Tsetse fly, ticks, Assassin bugs … etc.

Other good reads

1. Danger and hazard in the Malaysian jungle and countryside
2. Other articles on jungle travels