Stuff To Do Before We Go

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There is a lot of information our there on how to prepare for the sort of trip we're doing but it takes some tracking down. The information on this entry might be useful to anyone thinking of going off to Africa in a similar way.

Getting There

Getting there, staying there, staying fit.

We decided to book our flights on the internet. We got a good deal with BA, flying out to Nairobi in Kenya and back from Cape Town in South Africa. Nine hours out. Twelve hours back.

We discovered during our planning that December and January are prime times for flying to Africa from the UK so worth booking early.

Accommodation

We booked accommodation for Nairobi and for Cape Town on the internet using www.tripadvisor.com for advice and then through www.ebookers.com for the bookings in Nairobi and Cape Town. TripAdviser is a really excellent web site but see the 'Just Because I'm Neurotic' blog about ebookers and see later entries for details of whether the accommodation lives up to expectations.

Getting About

Because of concerns about security, and because we wanted to make sure we got to places we otherwise might not see, we decided to travel with Dragoman Overland Tours (www. dragoman.com). Their staff were first rate in planning the trip. Watch out for later updates.

Visas

We're assured by Dragoman that we can get all the visas we need at the borders to the various countries we are going through (Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Botswania, Namibia, South Africa) so we've done no preparation on this.

Update as at 22nd November:

We've checked the position and visas are NOT needed by British citizens for Malawi, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. We need visas for Kenya which we can get at the airport on arrival and for Tanzania and Zambia which we can get when we arrive at the borders.

Vaccinations

We've decided it's a big mistake reading the various web sites for guidance on health information - there are just so many scary things out there just waiting to get you. In the end, we've gone for the following:

Polio / Tetanus / Diptheria / Typhoid- single mostly non-painful injection on the NHS. (OK, it made Annette's arm sore and red for a few days.)

Hepatitis A- single non-painful injection on the NHS at the same time as the above

Yellow Fever- single non-painful injection done by private prescription. Most GPs can't administer this but can arrange it for you. We got ours done via the Nomad chain of shops (www. nomad.com) at a cost of £45 each.

Rabies - This requires three injections over a minimum 21 days so allow enough time before you go. Can't be given at the same time as the Yellow Fever injection. Probably non-painful generally but the second one hurt because our arms will still tender from the previous injections. Aaah! The main reason we went for this is that if you don't have the three injections up front and get bitten / scratched, the initial treatment is with immunoglobulin products which are apparently blood-based. HIV and Hepatitis are rife in Africa so avoiding such treatments is advised.

Meningitis - Requires one injection which was a bit sore, again because the arms were still tender.

Heart Attack - we had to get the Rabies and Meningitis vaccines on private prescription at a total cost of £121 per person. Hopefully we'll have recovered from the shock by the time we are due to go.

Malaria- we're just about to start our pre-trip medication. Taken in tablet form before, during and after the trip. We've opted for the one tablet a week variety (Larium) as it's best suited for longer trips. On the downside, it's expensive (at around £2.30 per tablet ) and can give you psychotic side effects.

It's not worth going without tablets of some sort. Around 75% of Brits who got Malaria last year didn't have medication. That said, we are consistently being told to make sure we don't get bitten. The tents we are going to be using have mosquito nets but we have been advised to take our own to ensure we know when they were last treated with mosquito killer. We've discovered that the nets work by killing the mosquitoes chemically rather than just keeping them out and general advice seems to be to have your own net.

Update - 28th November

The Larium tablets suited Annette fine. I was less happy with them so have switched to a daily tablet which I will start taking just before we go. There are two sorts, one at 19p per tablet which makes some people photo-sensitive and therefore not recommended for people in the sun. I went for the other one.

Other - We discussed vaccinations for Hepatitis B and Cholera with the practice nurse and opted against these. These are primarily recommended for people working in communities for sustained periods of time. We may consider it for later parts of our travels together with vaccination for Japanese B Encephalitis and other nasties but that's enough to be going on with.

Overall, the strongest advice we've received on health grounds is don't let the mosquitoes get anywhere near you, and think before rushing to assist anyone who might be bleeding whilst abroad!