Burning Man Bugs Update: 2015 Festival Bug-Free, Infestation Gone Ahead Of Start
The latest Burning Man bugs update is reassuring to fans with plans to attend the week-long festival in the northern Nevada desert. According to a Re/code report, the site of Burning Man 2015 is bug-free.
John Curley, a blogger and knighted Burning Man organizer, shared the good news days after sending ripples throughout the counterculture sphere about the presence of swarms of flying insects on the campgrounds. He reported first seeing the creepy-crawlies at a filling station in Black Rock.
Before long, the “unknown bugs of mysterious origin showed up by the thousands or millions in Black Rock City over the past week,” Curley wrote. He also tells of how the flying beasties piled up inches high, forced staff to wear gear that resembled Hazmat suits and left welts on the backs of those who didn’t suit up for war.
Burners beware: #BurningMan‘s Black Rock Desert site has been overtaken by swarms of bugs http://t.co/TiDIC8d4hY
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) August 22, 2015
Riverside entomologist, Dr. Douglas Yanega, from the University of California, identified three types of bugs infesting the Burning Man venue, but none of them posed any harm to humans. Try telling that to those in attendance, especially newbies yearning to get their raunchy on. Yep, Hitchcock had his birds, and Burning Man had its bugs, folks.
“It’s all over. You can resume your packing. Sure, throw in some bug spray, because you never know, it could happen again. And it could rain. It could flood. It could be freezing cold or blisteringly hot. We could get dust storms. Winds could reach 100 mph. We could be stranded for days. And listen: We are not making any of this up. We are not hyperbolizing. Be prepared. Always be prepared when you come here. It’s called radical self-reliance.”
Curley added an extra helping of tongue-in-cheek while sneaking in a bit of Bug-101 for would-be party loyalists. And to cap things off, he conjures up images of the great cycle of life — albeit a short one, if you’re a bug.
“Okay, not every last stinking one of them, but pretty much. The swarms have [sic] dried up and blown away. People are working unmolested. Nature has run its course. [The bugs] were simply here to play their part in the natural order of things. The smaller get eaten by, the larger. The heat ended the infestation as quickly as it appeared, and the inches-high mounds were blown away by the desert wind. Finito.”
Although the Burning Man bugs infestation is gone — for the moment — it won’t hurt to bring along that can of Raid. And, here’s another thing: watch where you sleep. And for Pete’s sake, don’t sleep with your mouth open. Eek! Ew!
The folks at WIRED provided this survival guide for the bug plague at the 2015 Burning Man event.
[Photo by David McNew/Newsmakers]
