Tuppy1

Good advice, thank you

wavejourney

I'll be spending 2 nights (Feb 7,8)at CC Africa's Madikwe Safari Lodge, then 4 nights in Pilanesberg (Feb 9-13) - 2 nights at Ivory Tree Lodge, 2 nights at Tshukudu Bush Lodge. Will be posting info about them on my blog and website (www.wavejourney.com)if you're interested in checking them out. I was looking for malaria free parks and top class accommodations/service, etc. Would love to share any info with you if you need it.
Viv

Tuppy1

Thank you Viv. I'll look forward to your observations.

jasher

Hello,

If elephants are your thing, you may want to consider splitting some time between Madikwe and one of the camps near Addo in the Eastern Cape. This area is malaria free and known for its elephants.

Cheers,
Julian

Tuppy1

Thanks Julian.

Jess215

This gives me something to think about, as my trip is already planned - I do not know what prevents one, medically, from taking malaria medication!!! I am allerginc to penicillin, sulfa, clindamycin....so now I'm wondering.
Thanks
Jess

sandi

Jess -

Discuss with your physician or a tropical disease specialist taking your medical history into consideration. An alternative to malaria specific meds would by doxycycline, an antibiotic. While this is less expensive than Malarone, it comes with possible side-effects. Sun sensitivity, so you have to use SPF, women may get thrush (discharge), the pills have to be taken daily (as with Malarone), but for 30/days after leaving the affected malaria area.

Again, discuss with your physician.

Jess215

Does everyone really take some preventive if they travel in in these areas -- what about using lots of DEET and running for luck -- ? Seems to me that's what friends did when they went a few years back.

sandi

There is no inoculation against Malaria. Wish there was, as they've been working on one for years. Hopefully, with the funds that Bill Gates is putting into this project, we'll see one in our lifetime.

So any malaria preventative is just that, a preventative. You still need to apply repellent on exposed skin and coverup during mossie biting time - dusk to dawn. Of course, one can opt not to take anything and hope for the best. But know that malaria is a nasty disease, killing over a million people yearly, children and elderly mostly, worldwide.

You may want to search out the report by "kavey" about her dad contracting malaria... not a pretty picture.

patsy120

Tubby1, if you're still following this thread I'm curious which lodge in Madikwe you decided on. We've stayed at Mateya and IMO, it is the nicest lodge anywhere. It's MUCH nicer than any of the surrounding camps we visited one afternoon for fun.