Borneo Rainforest vaccinations
 

Can anyone tell me if they got yellow fever vaccinations for a visit to the Rainforest?
Is it enough just to have Malaria medication?
Thanks so much,
Linda

We didn't get yellow fever vaccinations for our Nov trip.

For malaria prophylaxis we took Malarone - saw a few mosquitos, got even fewer bites.

http://www.mdtravelhealth.com/destin.../indonesia.php

best health info malaria meds if in risk areas.

YF jab/cert not needed required UNLESS you will be arriving

from a YF country.

Happy Journey,

There is no yellow fever anywhere in Asia. It occurs only in parts of Africa and South America. If someone tells you get the yellow fever vaccine for your trip, that's a REALLY bad sign.

You will want an antimalarial for the BRL.

Make sure you have routine vaccines like tetanus up to date. I assume you've had the Hep A vaccine.

I like www.cdc.gov/travel
and www.fitfortravel.nhs.uk
for travel med info.

My husband is worried about Dengue Fever as well. Is the risk pretty low? From the above post, I assume there are very few mosquitoes, not like the forests on the east coast of the US.
Thanks for the info. to help reassure him!

Secondly, I am not sure what kind of shoes to take. Would leather hiking boots not be appropriate?

Sure, leather hiking boots would be fine and one person in our group happily wore a pair.

However, most people at the lodge were wearing running shoes/trainers. The issue with a light weight athletic shoe is that once muddy and subsequently washed off, there is little chance that the shoes will dry. I would classify the trails as easy to moderate. Even those trails with steep elevation changes are well groomed.

The guides at the lodge wear a completely rubber shoe sometimes called Adidas Kampungs, available all over Kota Kinabalu for under $US 1.50. You read that correctly $US 1.50. So we bought those and had runners as a back up. The rubber shoes had surprisingly good traction.

http://www.google.ca/images?hl=en&q=...=UTF-8&source=

There is dengue fever all over the tropics (including Hawaii). You should always wear repellant. Dengue is more a disease of cities and populated areas (this has to do with the type of mosquitoes that spread dengue, a different type than spread malaria).

We were bitten a few times at the BRL in spite of repellant, but there were not swarms of mosquitos.

BTW, if you opt for leather hiking boots, make sure thay are lightweight and breathable. We were there in the days before the adidas kampungs, but those look like just the thing!

Hi there -- my brother returned from Central America this summer with Dengue fever. Nasty illness -- took him a full two weeks to get his strength back. Dengue mosquitos bite during the daytime, and there is no vaccination. Wear repelant!

I do have a question about the adidas kampung. We plan to buy them when we arrive in KK, and are otherwise traveling only with Keen-style sandals. Are they comfortable enough? Did they cause any blistering or rubbing?

They were just fine for us - no blisters - and both our of guides preferred to wear them with bare feet. Remember you will likely be wearing leech socks with the kampungs so imagine wearing a thin cotton fabric inside a pair of crocs. That might feel similar.

After our experience in Borneo, I wouldn't be nearly as worried about the leeches. I would wear leech socks with your Keens and not bother withe the kampungs, especially if you have the new versions of Keens with the lightweight webbing. Mine are years old and have the thicker material, more difficult to dry, which would be my concern.

Rivet -- thank you so much for your feedback! I have been totally stressed about footwear for this trip! If we wear the leech socks with our keens, the leeches still can't get through the leech socks to bite our feet, right? In that case,it shouldn't really make any difference! We are traveling with kids, too. Would your advice be the same for them?

Thank you!