Clothing and mosquito bite prevention advice please. Pursuit, West Africa , November '23

[lovetocruisedublin]

On 6/9/2023 at 10:16 AM, lisiamc said:

We did this cruise in March from the opposite direction, and had a great time. We didn’t get any bites, but we did use repellent in some places.
 

You might consult your GP about anti-malarials too. We had some, and did take them, but stopped when we were a few days out of the malaria areas with no bites.

 

You may also need a Yellow Fever vaccination certificate to go ashore in some countries. If you’ve ever had that jab, it’s good for life. 

Thank you for going to the trouble of answering my question.  I'm just getting the hang of answering the comments so bear with me please😊

It is great to get first hand information, I will arrange vaccines and malaria tablets. I've also ordered DeetMaxx from Amazon. 

Was the sea calm on your trip? We had a 2 day disaster on Bay Of Biscay in November on Queen Victoria. 

😘

[lovetocruisedublin]

19 hours ago, Mackdogmolly said:

Well, you’ve put ME right off any Africa itineraries!!

Yep if I hadn't already booked.......😮

[lisiamc]

37 minutes ago, lovetocruisedublin said:

Thank you for going to the trouble of answering my question.  I'm just getting the hang of answering the comments so bear with me please😊

It is great to get first hand information, I will arrange vaccines and malaria tablets. I've also ordered DeetMaxx from Amazon. 

Was the sea calm on your trip? We had a 2 day disaster on Bay Of Biscay in November on Queen Victoria. 

😘

As I remember it, it seemed pretty smooth, with a couple of slightly rough patches. We are lucky enough not to suffer from motion sickness, but it you think you might, I’d recommend to take your preferred remedy with you. 
 

I will include one cautionary tale, to do with excursions. This is less likely to affect you, because I think the itinerary has changed or will be changing slightly. When we stopped in The Gambia, there was an excursion through Azamara that went to Senegal for the day, for a game drive. Some people booked a private excursion doing a similar trip, for a fraction of the cost. In the morning, there was a delay getting cleared by the port authorities and getting on the ferry, so everyone started a bit late. It was a long day, and when the tour groups were coming back, one of the two ferries broke, so it took a while to get all the Azamara coaches back, and the queue for the one functioning ferry was very long. We heard that the private excursion, in a smaller van, was at risk of not being allowed on the same ferry with the final Azamara coach. Of course, the ship was planning to leave as soon as all the Azamara coaches were safely back, since departure was delayed by quite some time already. Fortunately, the private van driver had the nous to ask one of the Azamara coach drivers if he could fit the van passengers on his coach, and ensure that they got back to the ship in time. If I had been one of those van passengers, I’d have been severely stressed at the prospect of being left behind! Of all the places that we could be most at risk from problems on a private tour, that would certainly be one of them! Weigh things carefully when considering a private tour in some of the ports on your itinerary. We saw the condition of the ferries used for crossing that river, and we were incredibly happy that we had not chosen that excursion, either privately OR through Azamara.

 

I have since heard that the itinerary will change to have a separate stop in Senegal, for those that want to do a game drive without having to take that ferry, or risking being late enough to be left behind. If your itinerary does not yet include that separate stop in Senegal itself, choose your excursion carefully.

Edited June 10, 2023 by lisiamc

[Grandma Cruising]

We’ve done 6 Safari holidays in Kenya & Tanzania & loved every one of them. We used repellent and covered up in the evenings (which is when there are more likely to be mosquitos about). We took malaria medication prescribed by our doctors. We didn’t get bitten by mosquitoes, but did by Tsetse flies. That’s a nasty bite - painful at the time - but doesn’t itch so much afterwards. We love Africa and saw some amazing wildlife!

[lisiamc]

37 minutes ago, lovetocruisedublin said:

Yep if I hadn't already booked.......😮

Seriously, we had a great time! Nothing bit us, neither mozzies nor ticks. No malaria, and no chikungunya. We had three days pre-cruise at the Sanbona game reserve three hours away from Cape Town, and saw everything we wanted to see, then had two nights in Cape Town at a lovely hotel. Because of the load shedding for electricity in Cape Town, the game reserve staff warned us not to drink the tap water in Cape Town, as the load shedding could affect the completion of the sanitising cycle. Some people on the ship, including two of our friends, had some intestinal problems that I believe they picked up ashore. We did not. 
 

Plus, because we booked early, we had a year of fun telling people who asked us where our next cruise would be that we were cruising to Angola. They’d say, “No, really, where are you going?” And we’d answer “Yes, really, Angola!” 
 

It was not a typical resort-destination holiday, but it was fun. We saw a lot and learned a lot, and met great people. I hope you will have as good a time as we did! 

[The Salties]

Please see my reply to questions on Roll call Pursuit Nov 23. I have had many holidays in Africa especially South Africa in game reserves and on golf courses. Of course you can have problems anywhere in the world with insects, in fact the worst trouble I had with mossies was at an evening BBQ in Canada,

when we had been well sprayed but they seemed the size of locusts  and you could not see your hand in front of your face. Don't even mention South America, if you have survived there then, don't worry. Yes hospitals in parts of Africa are not as great as at home. However at Namibia, a certain film star chose to have her baby delivered there. In South Africa they performed the first heart transplant. Friends of mine used to wait until their winter holiday in SA and pay a third of what it would cost back home to have some treatments in what would be considered to be a 5star hotel.

I hope your trips go without mishap and I appreciate things can go wrong but please don't be put off, if we worried about everything like some would like,  we would be back to Covid days and not leave our house. Happy holidays

 

[terry&mike]

Avoid wearing black or navy tops, as this tends to attract tsetse flies. 

[Grandma Cruising]

49 minutes ago, terry&mike said:

Avoid wearing black or navy tops, as this tends to attract tsetse flies. 

We were told this too.

[lovetocruisedublin]

5 hours ago, lisiamc said:

As I remember it, it seemed pretty smooth, with a couple of slightly rough patches. We are lucky enough not to suffer from motion sickness, but it you think you might, I’d recommend to take your preferred remedy with you. 
 

I will include one cautionary tale, to do with excursions. This is less likely to affect you, because I think the itinerary has changed or will be changing slightly. When we stopped in The Gambia, there was an excursion through Azamara that went to Senegal for the day, for a game drive. Some people booked a private excursion doing a similar trip, for a fraction of the cost. In the morning, there was a delay getting cleared by the port authorities and getting on the ferry, so everyone started a bit late. It was a long day, and when the tour groups were coming back, one of the two ferries broke, so it took a while to get all the Azamara coaches back, and the queue for the one functioning ferry was very long. We heard that the private excursion, in a smaller van, was at risk of not being allowed on the same ferry with the final Azamara coach. Of course, the ship was planning to leave as soon as all the Azamara coaches were safely back, since departure was delayed by quite some time already. Fortunately, the private van driver had the nous to ask one of the Azamara coach drivers if he could fit the van passengers on his coach, and ensure that they got back to the ship in time. If I had been one of those van passengers, I’d have been severely stressed at the prospect of being left behind! Of all the places that we could be most at risk from problems on a private tour, that would certainly be one of them! Weigh things carefully when considering a private tour in some of the ports on your itinerary. We saw the condition of the ferries used for crossing that river, and we were incredibly happy that we had not chosen that excursion, either privately OR through Azamara.

 

I have since heard that the itinerary will change to have a separate stop in Senegal, for those that want to do a game drive without having to take that ferry, or risking being late enough to be left behind. If your itinerary does not yet include that separate stop in Senegal itself, choose your excursion carefully.

I'm getting excited now for this new adventure. Thank you very much for all the information 😊. We have used private excursion in Europe and Caribbean but only for 4 hour trips. Africa is a huge change for us, so will stick to the beaten path and Azamara trips. 

[lovetocruisedublin]

1 hour ago, terry&mike said:

Avoid wearing black or navy tops, as this tends to attract tsetse flies. 

Thank you Terry&😊

[lovetocruisedublin]

4 hours ago, The Salties said:

Please see my reply to questions on Roll call Pursuit Nov 23. I have had many holidays in Africa especially South Africa in game reserves and on golf courses. Of course you can have problems anywhere in the world with insects, in fact the worst trouble I had with mossies was at an evening BBQ in Canada,

when we had been well sprayed but they seemed the size of locusts  and you could not see your hand in front of your face. Don't even mention South America, if you have survived there then, don't worry. Yes hospitals in parts of Africa are not as great as at home. However at Namibia, a certain film star chose to have her baby delivered there. In South Africa they performed the first heart transplant. Friends of mine used to wait until their winter holiday in SA and pay a third of what it would cost back home to have some treatments in what would be considered to be a 5star hotel.

I hope your trips go without mishap and I appreciate things can go wrong but please don't be put off, if we worried about everything like some would like,  we would be back to Covid days and not leave our house. Happy holidays

 

I remember the first heart transplant!! Thank you for reminding me of that momentous occasion. 

We will certainly enjoy our trip, and your advice is very sensible. 

[lovetocruisedublin]

5 hours ago, lisiamc said:

Seriously, we had a great time! Nothing bit us, neither mozzies nor ticks. No malaria, and no chikungunya. We had three days pre-cruise at the Sanbona game reserve three hours away from Cape Town, and saw everything we wanted to see, then had two nights in Cape Town at a lovely hotel. Because of the load shedding for electricity in Cape Town, the game reserve staff warned us not to drink the tap water in Cape Town, as the load shedding could affect the completion of the sanitising cycle. Some people on the ship, including two of our friends, had some intestinal problems that I believe they picked up ashore. We did not. 
 

Plus, because we booked early, we had a year of fun telling people who asked us where our next cruise would be that we were cruising to Angola. They’d say, “No, really, where are you going?” And we’d answer “Yes, really, Angola!” 
 

It was not a typical resort-destination holiday, but it was fun. We saw a lot and learned a lot, and met great people. I hope you will have as good a time as we did! 

What an adventure, thank you for sharing. I hope we  enjoy it as much as you. 😊🥂🍾

[norn iron]

On 6/10/2023 at 8:59 AM, lovetocruisedublin said:

We were in Belfast 2 weeks ago! En route to Glasgow. My daughter was being presented with her OBE!!

I would love to meet up on your next visit south. phillangley@gmail.com

Phil, I've planned in the short term. I'll drop you an email.

 

OBE that's impressive. You must have been going to Glasgow by ferry.

[woodley]

We were advised to get MMR as we had not had it as a child in addition to boosters for all our childhood jabs, hep A and tetnus.  We also took malaria mediation.  We bought bands for our ankles and wrists to deter mosquito's and used a spray which we sprayed onto our clothes and exposed skin. Never got bitten and didn't really see that many insects while we were there but we did see some people that had quite a few bites.

 

If you are doing a safari we were advised to wear browns and greens not bright colors or whites, blues and black.