Warm-weather travel around the Dead Sea becomes intolerable as swarms of six-legged visitors follow your every move.  We’re talking millions of pesky flies that dive-bomb your food, mate on your drink, and get stuck on your lotion-lathered limbs. It’s the worst aspect of summer travel here – and while they don’t bite – they do disgust.

You’d expect to encounter nature while hiking to Lot’s Cave or soaking in Ma’an Hot Springs, but it’s another thing altogether to get covered in critters while lolling poolside at a swanky resort.

Hotels and restaurants have yet to solve the problem of insects who congregate (and breed) everywhere there’s fresh water – and Jordan’s recent rainstorms will guarantee an especially strong fly season.

A variation on these bins may  be the solution.

According to designers Chang Shih-hsun and Hung Jui-yuan the slits on the bottom of their “Fly Catcher” bin allow odors to arise, attracting the flies. Bugs “check-in” to this death hotel, but they don’t check-out until the owner empties the unit (after the bugs starve to death). Last year the duo won a Red Dot award for their prototype design.

My own fly-trapping technique is to set a shallow dish of fruit juice adjacent to where I sit outside; it seems more attractive to bugs than I am.  I can accept being less sweet that orange juice, but am I inadvertently fueling future fly generations?

Images from Yanko designs

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