Tourist gets lost while trying to escape sandflies

A Swedish tourist who went for a walk after being plagued by sandflies on the West Coast had an unscheduled overnight stay in the bush.

The man left the Lyell camping ground to try to get some peace from the clouds of sandflies, but then lost his way in the upper Buller Gorge.

He had planned to return after about an hour but searchers were called in at 1am today.

Police found the man about 1km from the camp, with the help of Murchison searcher Larry Charles and his dog Ngamo.

The tourist said he became disorientated after going in the wrong direction.

- NZPA