KEMP LAND stamps.

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   One of the curses of the modern era is the proliferation of  sandflies, also known as midges.  

To call attention to the campaign to exterminate this evil vampire, Kemp Land released a set of three commemorative stamps.

Kemp Land 2000 Anti-Sandfly Campaign,
plus the 45c overprinted later that year to celebrate the CHADPEX stamp exhibition.

 Kemp Land Post Office wrote:

Kemp Land will issue an attractive set of three stamps on 5th June 2000 to call attention to the Anti-Sandfly Campaign, announced President Eric Gardo at his weekly press conference.

Each stamp shows a closeup view of the tiny vampire insect that is responsible for so much misery throughout the world. The sandfly, Phlebotomus, or Lutzomya, settles on an animal or human and begins to feed on the blood. In many ways, sandflies are even more lethal than the widely-abhorred mosquito, which was subject of a worldwide eradication campaign some years ago, in a bid to wipe out malaria. But the sandfly is responsible for spreading leishmaniases, a group of diseases caused by protozoan haemoflagelates. Leishmaniasis affects animals such as rodents and possums, as well as domestic animals such as dogs, and humans. The disease is especially widespread in tropical areas of the world, but also affects such regions as Kemp Land, South America, and North Africa.

Besides spreading disease, sandflies are also guilty of another crime. They make pleasant places unwelcoming for humans. A classic case is the small coastal town of Jamestown, on Martins Bay, in what is now New Zealand's Fiordland National Park. In 1872, the perfect location was chosen for the town and port. It was surveyed and prepared for settlement. Land was sold. The settlers arrived, but found it to be so completely infested with the vile insect that they were driven to distraction every minute outdoors. The town was abandoned and never re-settled. Only a map reference marks its location. Today, Fiordland remains heavily infested with sandflies.

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