Russia’s Lake Shchuchye is, by all accounts, a beautiful destination. A group of tourists who drove there recently wouldn’t know—they never made it out of their cars.
The footage, reported by NDTV, shows a swarm of mosquitoes so dense it blackened the sky above the Buryatia region. The tourists had come for a scenic lakeside trip. What they got was a cloud of insects so thick that commenters online compared it to a plague of locusts. They waited in their cars, hoping the swarm would pass. It didn’t. They left without seeing the lake.
Die russische Region Burjatien erlebt einen so großen Mückenangriff, dass Schwärme dieser Insekten die Menschen daran hindern, aus ihren Autos zu steigen. pic.twitter.com/rv0MxfYFm4
— Nachrichten (@NewsFokus) June 8, 2026
Social media reactions were, of course, predictably shocked. “This year there are a lot of mosquitoes everywhere, but I’ve never seen anything like this before,” wrote one viewer. Yeah, bud. We haven’t either. That’s not a lot of mosquitoes. That’s a sky that has been replaced by mosquitoes.
The Mosquito Swarms Won’t Pass for Some Time
Entomologists say the extreme mosquito activity is expected to continue through next week. Local authorities have recommended repellents and protective clothing for anyone in the area—though notably not DEET, which a recent study found can paradoxically attract mosquitoes rather than repel them.
The itching, though, may be the least of anyone’s concerns. Russia’s Kursk region has been dealing with cases of dirofilariasis, a mosquito-borne disease caused by roundworms that migrate under the skin. Mosquitoes pick up the parasites by feeding on infected dogs and cats, then pass them to humans through bites. Treatment involves surgery to remove the worms. The CDC has documented the spread of the disease in the region.
Russia has been here before. In 2021, a massive swarm descended on the Kamchatka Peninsula near the Bering Sea, forming rotating columns of insects so dense that they looked like tornadoes. It was captured on camera by people who, for reasons unclear, chose to stay and film rather than leave immediately.
Lake Shchuchye is reportedly beautiful in person. Just not in June.
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