Hidden on a private island in the Maldives, a holiday resort called Soneva Fushi has spent years making the holiday spot mosquito-free.
Kunfunadhoo Island, where the resort is located, had a long-running issue with mosquitoes, which was made worse during its monsoon season – between May and November.
Many attempts were made to eliminate mosquito breeding grounds. Still, each one was difficult until one of Soneva Fushi’s solutions led to a significant decline in the number of mosquitoes while vitalising the island’s tropical plants and animals at the same time.
The resort worked with Biogents, a Germany-based company that produces ‘highly efficient’ mosquito traps that rely on environmentally friendly attractants.
Arnfinn Oines, Soneva’s director of social and environmental consciousness, said: “We had been looking at ways to manage mosquitoes without the use of chemicals.”
Another tactic used was “hot fogging and mist blowing”; however, the method wasn’t precise in targeting the best and was not the best approach as although the resort tried to use the techniques discreetly, they would have still disturbed the guests.
The Biogents system was first introduced to the resort in 2019. It used two different traps and placed over 500 across the island.
The first trap called the BG-GAT is a passive trap meant for tiger mosquitoes that have already bidden someone and are searching for a place to lay their eggs.
The second trap, BG-Mosquitare CO2, attracts mosquitoes in search of blood. It does this by using carbon dioxide produced through yeast and sugar fermentation, plus lactic acid to mimic human skin.
In just the first few weeks of usage, the traps caught thousands of mosquitoes every day, and the resort said it recorded a dramatic decrease of 98% in the first year.
They installed traps at their second resort, Sovena Secret, which opened earlier this year and have recorded zero mosquitoes over the months.