S Africa in August - would you take malaria tablets?

[loobylolly]

We are going to S Africa in July (Cape Town & safari in Kruger), 2 kids aged 11 & 5. Malaria tablets are recommended.

However:

• I have had a bad experience with malaria tablets in the past
• apparently they are not 100% effective EVEN if you take the right type for the type of malaria (which seems a bit hit and miss)
• apparently not many mosquitoes around at this time of year anyway
• the tablets cost a fortune (£hundreds)
• one friend has said not to bother with tablets, just cover up and use repellent...

What would you do??

MolliO - OCtober is the best time in the world in cape town. Honestly. It will be so beautiful and not too hot and gorgeous. I love October/early November and am now seriously that I haven't been there at that time of year in many many years.

I haven't read all the replies, so apologies if I'm repeating anything...

We went to Kenya during a "low risk" season but took malaria tablets (we went on safari and to the beach). Our ds was 5 and he also took them. When we arrived our friends took us to the chemist to buy some malaria cure tablets, which aren't available easily outside of Africa, in case we caught malaria after leaving (we watched any cold/flu symptoms for six months after coming back).

I've travelled all over the world and have never taken any extra medication but we did this time as a friend of my brother's caught malaria on his year out and it was awful (he's all OK now, thank goodness) - it didn't seem worth the risk.

You can buy the tablets there on arrival if you don't start taking them beforehand - just speak to a friend or go to a good chemist/pharmacy for advice.

Have a great trip!

FAQ no. My ds will be 5 and at least in SA it is very hard to find anywhere that permits children of that age to go on safari. Of course Zim may be different.

Bling we are lucky that ds gets two weeks for October half term. Can't wait to go as we had such a lovely time visiting SA before although we've never been to CT.

Thanks for the pharmacy info Fleshwound, will contact them.

And thanks for your link Bling, looks great, will peruse at leisure with a glass of wine later!

5yo is desperate to go on safari and can't wait, is v. good at sitting quietly, yes they are allowed and I am confidently expecting it to be a fabulous holiday for the whole family. Safari camp has lots of special stuff for kids too so they will be well occupied when not chasing lions!

Thanks Louise, good to know we can get the tablets on arrival.

Mollie I spoke to several tour operators in SA about our itinerary before we picked the best, all of them suggested various options for safari and none mentioned an age limit. On the contrary, most suggested particularly family-friendly camps with extra kids activities. We're staying at Londolozi Varty Camp and Ngala

I think some companies even do "kids safaris" - dumbing it down for them etc. I think the main challenge with children is that they can get bored looking at lions for hours, but if you've got a guide who is understanding, it should be fine. And kids are likely to be interested in the ridiculous little details i'm not - we LOVED being shown spoor in the wild , hearing stories about the animal types etc.

I'm pretty sure we have bought Malarone OTC in SA, when I managed to lose some of our prescription on one trip. Think it was also cheaper than in the UK.

If you do buy in the UK, ring around for the best price. Our usual chemist charged more than double the other local chemist (£90 instead of £40 for the adult prescitpion - but was ever so slightly cheaper for the paediatric malarone). Guess which chemist we now avoid!

I would definitely take malarial tablets if you are going to the Kruger. Previously, in winter I owuld only have done so for the camps above Olifants, but I have been told that the malarial risk is now higher throughout the year and even at the southern camps. (something to do with a greater number of illegal immigriants coming through the park and also lower immunities 'cos of the prevalence of AIDS, so there is a greater pool of malaria carriers).

Are yuo going to the Kruger proper or to one of the adjoining private reserves? If it is the Kruger, then, to address MollieO's concern, it is self drive, so you can take children of any age. You are in your own car and can control how long you spend driving about according to your kids' attention span.

Ds has now been 3 times: first time when he was just 13 months old (0bviously, more for his mum and Dad than for him! ), second time when he was 4 years old, which he really enjoyed and then last year, when he was 8, so he is now an old hand.

Whereabouts will you be staying in the Kruger?

I see you are going up-market! We've stayed at a cmap close to Ngala (Exeter), but not with ds (stayed there for our honeymoon and then again last year for our 10th wedding anniversary - but ds instead spent a couple of "quality time" with his great aunt - but we had just all spent 3 days in the Kruger itself and had a fantastic time).

We're going to go back in 2 years time for my 50th and treat members of the family and friends (we've started saving )

As long as the camps know you have kids, you should be fine. I think they will both abosultely love it.

Thanks Prettybird - v. interesting that the risk is now higher throughout the year. We will take the tablets. (Have googled Exeter and it looks gorgeous by the way!)

Mollie just in case it's of any use, we went with Rhino Africa in the end (Bianca Johnstone) - I don't have any affiliation with them other than as a customer - she was really excellent. I just gave her a list of all our requirements, she made various suggestions with pros and cons and kept tweaking until we were happy. I think they get good rates etc too so no more expensive than booking directly. And I know she knows plenty of child friendly safari camps!

Ooh this is interesting! I'm taking the family to Eastern Cape in August - we are sticking to non-malarial areas though, just a few days in Addo I think. Does anyone have any ideas or recommendations for camps there?

Why the Eastern Cape? it's not the standard tourism spot. I went to uni there so have fond memories and think it's underated, but except for Addo and the parks around there, it's not so well known.

Do you have specific plans? Beach areas in Kenton/Port Alfred (north of Port Elizabeth) are lovely. Further South, Plettenberg Bay/Knysna etc are all good (although technically still Western Cape).

bling, the primary motivation is to see an old family friend who I lived with 25 years ago in Zimbabwe who now lives in a small town in the Eastern Cape (inland from East London). When I started researching the area it looked perfect for a family holiday. We're flying to PE and that will be our most westerly destination - we'll be staying for about a week in Kenton, having a few days inland in the mountains and visiting my friend and then a few days at the end seeing animals. Haven't managed to find a final destination near addo for the safari bit yet - don't want to spend the earth but do want to be comfortable! The boys are 7 and 5 and will be happy with whatever animals they see I think - so I don't want to spend loads on an upmarked safari experience that will be wasted on them (we'll do that in 5 years time...!)

what town? Is it Grahamstown? [it's where the university and schools are - so quite popular]

There are some game farms around there, I just don't know them. A google search for games farms eastern cape might work? I'd say most SA safari type experiences are good at providing kid friendly advice. Or ask one of the tour operators already recommended on this thread?

No but we are hoping to visit Grahamstown, it looks interesting. Its a little one horse town kind of place (I imagine, I've not been there yet!) called Cathcart.
yes game farms would probably do the trick. i was hoping the place we're staying at Kenton would be able to help us out - I'm sure they'll be able to book us day trips while we are there - but I feel I need to book something in advance for the last couple of nights.

Where were you at uni? at grahamstown?
Anywhere else you think is worth a visit in that area?

It's near Grahamstown I think? Yes, very small one horse town!

Yes, was at uni at Grahamstown. I loved it. But I have to admit that as cool tourist spot goes, not high on my list. I think Kenton and then visiting your friend will be great - and in E Cape towns having friends is great because they'll all have big gardens and you can let the LOs run around wildly thinking they're exploring the African bush while really they're just hanging around in the back garden!

In case this might be useful to anyone else - I emailed Dis-Chem (thanks Fleshwound) who confirmed that Malarone is the recommended anti-malarial for the Kruger, it is recommended year round (yes well they would say that I suppose), not available OTC, a prescription is required from a SA-regd. dr. - but in any event their prices are 30% higher than Boots online for the adult prescription and 60% higher for the paediatric dose! (I would have put quite a lot of money on it being much cheaper out there so that shows my grasp of economics..!!)

I'm v. keen to hear any up to date restaurant recommendations for Cape Town if anyone has any opinions on this topic...

The rand is strengthening at the moment. so things they had to pay for in foreign currency (and I could be wrong but I'm guessing malarone is one) are probably more expensive suddenly as they had to pay say R100 to get £6 of drugs but those £6 of drugs now are only actually the equivalent of R90 or whatever.

You will find that while it is still cheap, it is not as cheap as it was a few months ago.

Although by August, depending on what happens with Zuma it could be back to being cheap as chips..!

what about here instead of the Kruger?? pilanesberggamereserve.com/index.html

better for small children (and people on shrter holidays) its a very much smaller park than the Kruger BUT you can see all the wildlife in a smaller area (so you see more things more quickly).

Two other plus points - it's not malarial (well is wasn't 10 years ago when we went) and it's near to Sun City so you can do the water park there at the same time!