South Africa Travel

No vaccines are required before entering South Africa, if you are not arriving from countries in South America or from other destinations in Africa. If you do, a certificate of yellow fever vaccination is required before entering South Africa.

Even if no vaccines are required, a basic protection is still good to have before traveling abroad. This includes the following vaccines:

• Hepatitis A. Transmission of hepatitis A virus can occur through direct person-to-person contact or through exposure to contaminated water etc.
• Hepatitus B, if you might be exposed to blood or body fluids (for example, health-care workers), have sexual contact with the local population, or be exposed through medical treatment.
• Rabies, if you might have extensive unprotected outdoor exposure in rural areas, such as might occur during camping, hiking, or bicycling, or engaging in certain occupational activities.

Important information about Malaria

Malaria is a serious disease and may be a deadly illness. Humans get malaria from the bite of a mosquito. There is no vaccination for malaria, but you can get a prescription for an antimalarial drug. You should always use this drug when traveling in areas with risk of malaria. Contact your health care provider for information about antimalarial drugs and how to use them.

Not all of South Africa is a malaria risk area, but few areas are, such as the frequently visited Kruger National Park. Consult your health care provider and look at this malaria risk map for an overview.

• More information about malaria in South Africa
• For US travelers: Center for Disease Control And Prevention (CDC)

South Africa is a country quite far away from where I live, and even if we don’t plan do survive on a small budget or do a lot of backpacking or hiking, there are still a few things that need to be done, purchased and thought about.

To help you speed up your own preparations, here is my own quick checklist before traveling to South Africa.

Things to do

• Get the proper vaccinations. Depending on what country you are ariving in South Africa from, you need different vaccines. Check this article for South Africa Vaccines.
• E-mail your password and tickers numbers to yourself or copy and keep it with you in a safe place. If you loose your belongings you can log on to your e-mail and find the necessary information there.
• Buy and read a good guidebook! No matter where you are going, you will always experience and enjoy your trip better the more you know about the destination before you leave.

Things to pack

• Going on a Safari? Great! But don’t forget to dress properly before you leave. Long pants and shoes for walking out in the nature is really good. Some sort of boots that reach higher up your leg is good, but they can’t be to warm. The same goes with the pants, if possible uses a model that can be tightened at the end of your legs and they should also not be to warm.
• Even if you sleep in a bungalow and eat your malaria medicine, a mosquito net is always good to bring. You can hang it up over your bed or simply cover yourself just before you go to sleep. At least I sleep better when I know the bugs can’t reach me.
• Considering the crime in some areas a safety bag that you wear inside your shirt is always a good idea. They can generally not be spotted outside your cloths so if you do get robbed, you still get to keep your passport, keys and some money…
• That guidebook you studied at home! Even if you studied it at home, always bring it with you. It’s always funnier to be able to read more about the things you see before you forget about them.

Things to consider

• Traveling in major cities? Know where you should not go. The crime levels in the major cities of South Africa, such as Johannesburg and Cape town is still really high. Read your guidebook and ask the staff at your hotel about which areas to avoid. If you do this, you should be quite safe.
• In South Africa you drive on the left side of the road. Depending on where in the world you live, this might be a huge difference from home. It’s not really that hard, but if you are more than one person in the car, let your companion remind you every now and then so you don’t make a wrong turn.

Have all the above cleared out? If so, you are ready to visit South Africa! If I should stress any of the above one more time, don’t forget about vaccination and a guidebook.

If you have any additional suggestions for this checklist, please leave a comment bellow.

I’m happy to announce that I and my girlfriend will be visiting South Africa for two weeks during the fall this year.

I might not be able to write right here during our stay in South Africa, but I will surely take notes and post our experiences here when we get home again. If I find anything interesting to write about before our departure I will do so as well.

Hopefully our traveler’s story from South Africa will inspire others to visit what I believe to be a wonderful and beautiful nation and also add some useful information to this website as well.

I hope to return shortly with more information.

This is a website about traveling to and experiencing South Africa. On this site I hope to publish simple, readable and accurate information for travelers and tourists wishing to experience the nation of South Africa.

I hope you will find the information on this website useful, and please let me know if you have any suggestions of corrections to the information found here.

Travel safe!