mosquitoes

Hey jaymmzzs,

It all depends on where in Africa you are travelling to? In southern Africa there will always be mosquitos around but in winter, which is around the time you are talking about, they are less of a problem due to the cold weather. I run a volunteer based company (www.theconservationco.com) in South Africa and we reccomend that anyone coming out to volunteer with us in South Africa bring malaria prophylactics as well as mosquito repellant regardless of the time of year. Reply to this

You would be silly not to see a doctor about getting malaria medication. I know that in the big National Parks in SA they tend to spray the campsites so often there are not too many mozzies around.

It obviously depends where you are going? Reply to this

Jaymmzzs, uhm, chill out on the attitude. You asked the question, and if you had gone to a travel doc, you wouldn't have needed to waste OUR time answering your question. We're happy to help, to share what we've learned, but don't go jumping on people who bother to help you.

Yes, you'll need Malaria meds for the places you mentioned. Monsoon is basically June & July, so there will be standing water. Some 2000 people die EVERY DAY on the African continent from Malaria, including whites and Westerners, so take it seriously. Some MDs prescribe dioxycycline as a preventative, and then have you take one of the heavier treatment/cures with in case you actually contract the disease itself. The other meds are hard on the bod, some make you feel sick, and others give you all-too-vivid dreams/nightmares. Mosti (mosquito) spray is a must-have, as is a no-see-'em level screen tent. I personally strongly recommend the Hubba-Hubba from MSR (Mountain Safety Research) in that it has plenty of ventilation, the rain fly actually works and keeps you totally dry during monsoon rains, and it's very light and compact to carry.

Hrm... having shared that shameless plug for MSR, I think you'll still be wanting to be INSIDE on that part of Africa; pitching a tent could make you what's for breakfast in some of those areas.😉 But you'll still want the netting or somesuch. Personally, I ddin't mind the slight weight of the Hubba-Hubba, and even set it up in a room at one place that wasn't particularly clean and all.. as a barrier against whatever might have been in and on the bed and in the room. But your call.

You'll need Yellow Fever vaccination. The WHO has a yellow card for your shots. Some places will ask to see it, many won't give a rat's butt, since it's not them getting sick or dying. Strongly recommend the full battery, including reup of your polio if it has been a good while since you had one. Hepatitis.... the travel doc will have a list. Get 'em all. You still may not have anything for cholera, or tse-tse fly (sleeping sickness.)

The east coast of Africa may be more sophisticated in places than West Africa, but that doesn't necessarily mean diseases from one side don't make it to the other.

Hope this helps. If you don't care for the reply, don't pay for it.;P

Peace & Creation,

JT

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Jaymmzzs, just relax. You asked a question and I provided some personal input. Input that was almost exactly the same as the two posts above. I cannot be held responsible if you choose to take my advice completely the wrong way. Reply to this

falc ,
you have personal problems ,
you never answered my question you just tried to sell some products ,
then you start name calling .
whats next you going to ask to fight ?
time to grow up , maybe stay away from my questions if you dont like them. Reply to this

OMG
What the hell is wrong with you ?
you say isnt there an ignore button , but you keep coming back here.
Maybe its hard for you to figure out but a way to ignore this topic is not click on it.
thats hard for you to understand isn;t it.
The only troll here is you . I asked a question and for some reason you jumped in trying to sell something , spammer.
Then in message 9 you resort to name calling , but for some reason , I guess its your memory failing , you come back to say you never called names,
Well that is you posting in message 9 ,
Maybe you have alzheimer's , but god I hope when Im as old as you I am not hanging around some site calling people names , then not remembering it an hour later.
So one more time for you , to ignore this post , dont click on it ,
Try to remember that for longer then two minutes.,.
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