So I’m getting ready to take off on my fall trip. My plan is to take 3-4 weeks in Madagascar and 4-5 weeks in South Africa, Botswana, and possibly Lesotho and Swaziland. The question is: How do you prepare for such a trip?
(Note: This is a post from my 2003 travel blog IMoL: Travels and Travails.)
The first thing I did was figure out which countries I was going to visit! Why did I choose these countries? No real reason. I’ve travelled in ‘Western’ countries quite a bit, but never anything really different, so I thought about South America, Africa, and Asia. Since I was heading back to Switzerland anyways, I decided to stay in roughly the same time zone and go to Africa.
I initially picked Morocco, Kenya, and South Africa but decided that this would require a fair bit of air travel and associated complications. So, looking at a map of Africa, I chose Madagascar and South Africa because flights are direct and this will allow me to visit Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, and Swaziland if I am so inclined.
Once the destinations had been chosen, I needed to figure out which vaccinations to get. Oh, the joy! I went to the travel clinic in Kingston to find out what inoculations are required for the areas I planned to visit. Thankfully I only needed a couple of booster shots (typhoid – OUCH – and TPD). The other big health issue is malaria, so I had to choose an anti-malarial prophylaxis. I’ve heard too many bad stories related to mefloquine, so I chose doxycycline which has the added advantage of covering a lot of other nasties.
A large part of my preparations, in fact, have been related to health. Besides the vaccinations and the anti-malarials, I had to put together a fairly comprehensive first aid kit. According to everything I’ve read, Madagascar does not have much of a medical system, so I need to be as prepared as possible. I bought a cheap first aid kit, removed some of the extraneous items (i.e. cold packs and splints), and stocked it with things which were missing (i.e. needles & syringes, antibiotics, and anti-diarrheals). With the help of my parents I’ve put together quite the kit!
First aid kit for travel in Madagascar & South Africa
Hopefully I won’t have to do any self-surgery, because the clamps I have are not sterilised.
Once I had the med-kit taken care of, I needed to consider what else to take. Since I’m going to be living out of my backpack for two months, and I don’t really know how much I’m going to need to carry it, I chose to go as light as possible. For clothing I packed two pair or ‘convertible’ quick-dry pants (zip off to become shorts), three pair of quick-dry boxers, three pair of smartwool socks, two long-sleeve quick-dry shirts, one coolmax t-shirt, sandals, hiking boots, a light fleece, a travel vest, a knee brace, and, of course, a Tilley hat. If I get invited to dinner with the King of Swaziland, I’ll have to improvise.
Other than clothes and the med-kit, I packed an ultralight sleeping bag (good to +8), a survival blanket that doubles as a ground sheet, a water filter and purification tablets, toiletries (all travel-size, of course), ziplock bags to waterproof things, journals to write in, and a digital camera with charger and many compactflash cards.
Backpack + kit for travel in Madagascar & South Africa
If I need anything else, I’ll probably be SOL.
So, health and clothes covered, what else is there? Well just the little details like flights, how to travel when I’m there, and visas to enter the countries. I went to a travel agent to get my flights, but it was pretty much a waste of time, so I booked them online. I fly into Antananarivo on 7 October 2003 and fly out of Johannesburg on 5 December 2003. Other than that, I haven’t made any travel arrangements. I did, however, get an International Driving Permit from CAA so that I have the option of renting a car in South Africa. In terms of visas, the only country I’m visiting which requires one is Madagascar, so I contacted their embassy in Canada and they told me I could get it upon arrival in Antananarivo. I hope this is the case, otherwise it’s going to be quite a short trip!
The final thing I had on my list of preparations was to make sure I had copies of my documents (passport, inoculations, driver’s permit) and addresses and phone numbers for embassies and consulates in the areas I’m going to travel. I’ve left a copy with my parents, and I’m taking a backup copy with me in case I lose the originals.
So that’s it. If I’ve forgotten anything, then I guess I’ll find out while I’m travelling. The only thing I can do is learn from it and apply it to my next trip.
I’ll keep you posted.