Tips for traveling in Africa

Last updated 04/10/2010

Great African Gap Year

Money

In most cases the local currency will not be available in the UK. US dollars are almost universally accepted, and in recent times Euros are also becoming acceptable. Indeed, many things, such as airport exit taxes, visa fees, and even safaris, can only be paid for in dollars. Buying dollars in the country is difficult and expensive so take plenty with you. Travellers' cheques, while more secure, are very difficult to exchange and incur high charges and lousy exchange rates, so there is really no alternative to taking a wodge of dollars. Make sure you have a money belt or other secure place about your person to keep it.

For longer stays there are cash machines., which will supply local currency. There is usually a daily limit, and remember that you get an awful lot of notes (in Malawi, for example, the largest banknote is MK500 which is worth about £2.50, or $2). Take time before your trip to find an account that won't sting you with charges. In addition to the Visa card on my bank account (which charges getting on for 5% for cash withdrawals) I went for a Nationwide FlexAccount which is accepted by Mastercard, and is supposed to have zero charges. (This has now been replaced in 2010 by a Visa card, but it still incurs lower charges than most - about 2% I believe). There are a lot fewer Mastercard machines than Visa machines in Malawi, so a Visa card is better, but you may be charged by both your bank and by Visa themselves, so check it out carefully (and be prepared for the bank to suddenly decide to withdraw the account you so carefully chose and replace it with a different one while you are in the middle of Africa with severely limited email and telephone facilities).
Credit cards can also have vicious charges. I went for a Post Office Platinum mastercard, which, again, is alleged to have zero charges. I only used it once, to pay for a Safari. I wasn't charged any extra by the card, but the Safari company themselves charged me 5% for paying by card, and I got an absolutely appalling exchange rate.

Equipment

Computer - don't be afraid to take a lap-top or net-book, but do take precautions. I took an Asus Eee 901 which I believe still is the smallest PC you can get (except that you can't get them any more - I bought mine second hand on Ebay).

Storage: USB memory sticks are very expensive in Africa, so take plenty with you. Get robust ones, prefereably ones that can be closed but don't have caps that you can lose;
Data security: If you have sensitive information on your computer, make sure it's encrypted in some way just in case the computer gets lost or stolen. Likewise, if you think you may put confidential information on your ESB drives, which are even easier to lose, encrypt it. Better still buy memory sticks with built-in encryption. These are really good - the encryption is already on the stick and is quite transparent. You need the accompanying software to set up the password but after that you can use them on any computer as long as you know the password.
Viruses: These are a major problem in Africa. They are everywhere. You must assume that any computer other than (hopefully) your own is infected with viruses, and act accordingly.

Make sure your virus checker is up to date before you go. Internet access is somewhere between slow and ditch-water depending on where you are, and it will probably be difficult or impossible to download updates;
The most likely way to get a virus is not from the Internet, as most people suppose, but from a USB stick (or other shareable medium like a CD but this is less likely because it is more difficult to write the viral information onto them). So:

Try not to put your stick in other people's computers or other people's sticks in yours;
Don't put executable files on your sticks. As well as .EXE files this includes batch files (.BAT, .CMD), all Microsoft Office documents (.DOC etc.) as well as several other types. As far as I know there is no definitive list, but there's a pretty good one here. Try to ensure that sticks you put into your PC don't have executables on them, and under no circumstances run or open an executable file from someone else's stick. If you stick to photographs (.JPG, etc.) you should be OK. If you need to look at Office files, such as Word documents, turn off macro execution first.
Get sticks with a write-protect switch. That way if someone only wants to read your stick they can do it safely;
Other than via executables, the most common way to transfer a virus via a stick is using Autorun.inf. Windows uses this to perform a specified action whenever the stick (or CD, or DVD) is put into the computer. You would think that Microsoft would have realised the danger of such a system, but on the contrary they've made it really quite difficult to turn it off. Theoretically it is disabled by default, but in fact it's quite easy for viruses to turn it on again. In order to prevent this you should:

if you are fairly technically competent, make sure autorun behaviour is indeed disabled. This requires looking in the registry, as described in detail here. You should make sure autorun is disabled at least for unknown types (0x81), removable drives (0x04) and CD-ROM drives (0x20), and unless there is a good reason not to, probably everything else as well. (Note that the details may vary depending on which version of Windows you are using, see the Applies To list at the bottom of the page.)
for the less technical - hold down the shift key whenever you insert a USB stick;
better still get an autorun blocker program. Panda USB Vaccine looks pretty good. This will allow you not only to "vaccinate" your computer by blocking all autorun behaviour, but also to "vaccinate" each of your USB sticks, preventing any infected computer from writing the autorun files onto them.

Mobile phone technology has really taken off in Africa, so take an unlocked phone (although you will be able to buy one out there without any trouble). Pay As You Go SIMs are readily available, and top-up cards are sold on every street corner.
Electricity: The villages probably won't have mains power, but in the towns and cities mains electricity is available. The voltage and plug shape is largely dictated by which European country originally colonised the African country. In Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania etc. they have UK sockets and 240V mains. You would be well advised to take a surge suppressor as the mains supply can be glitchy.
Take a good head torch - Petzl are expensive but worth the extra money. I took the Myo XP which was excellent.
Take plenty of batteries, the ones you get out there are rubbish. If you're out for a while you might try taking rechargeables. I did notice (and other people confirmed this) that rechargeable batteries seemed to go flat even when they weren't in use - this may be something to do with the heat and the humidity. This is an annoyance rather than a problem, but I would suggest looking at low self-discharge batteries. This is a fairly new technology and somewhat more expensive, but sounds good. I had a good quantity of ordinary rechargeable batteries and decided not to replace them with these. However I will certainly be looking into this technology when I next buy rechargeables.
I took a Uniross Globetrotter battery charger which was absolutely excellent - it is very compact, comes with a set of power socket adapters, and will charge 1, 2, 3 or 4 batteries at a time (Watch out for this one - a lot of chargers will only work with all four batteries in, or with two in. My Petzl headtorch took three batteries so being able to charge three was very handy). I also invested in a Freeloader Pico - allegedly the smallest solar-powered battery charger on the market - this was useless: Apart from the fact that I couldn't actually get it to charge at all, it allegedly takes 10 hours to accumulate its own internal capacity, specified on the web as 800mAH. At that rate it would take over 12 charges - ie nearly two weeks at 10 hours sunshine a day - to fully charge four 2500mAh batteries. Not much use, that!! (The technical specification says "Charging current 150-300mAh", which illustrates their technical inadequacy, not knowing the difference between current and charge. The instructions also state that a full charge will charge the two supplied 1300mAh batteries to 75%, which implies a capacity of 1950mAh, which shows that they're not too hot at arithmetic either.)
Camera. Take a good one, you'll regret it if you don't. I bought a new 12Mp Canon PowerShotSX20 which never let me down once. For someone who grew up in the days of 35mm, when any lens over 100mm needed a tripod, the image stabilisation technology on today's modern cameras never ceases to flabbergast. The SX20 is a "bridge camera", meaning it's more than a pocket but less than what is somewhat incorrectly known as a "Digital SLR". The lens is not interchangeable, but it zooms (optically) to the 35mm equivalent of 500mm and produces rock-steady pictures hand-held.
However, it is quite bulky, and if you take something similar you might want to take a cheap-and-cheerful pocket camera too for emergencies. Don't go too cheap though. I bought a Vivitar Vivicam 8018 which died on my second day out. Not only that but when my family in the UK tried to replace it Vivitar were completely uncontactable and no help at all - Vivitar used to be one of the great names in photography when I was young but sadly no longer. Funnily enough the camera works fine now that it is back in the UK. I can only assume that the African heat and humidity were too much for its economy construction - be warned.
Mosquito net - most places have them and you may never use it, but then again it could save your life.
Zip-loc bags. Take loads. In my opinion they are indispensable. Take a couple of big bin-bags too, they don't take up mush space and often come in handy.
Pillow case. Comes in handy for all sorts of things including as - a pillow case.
Wonder towel. Ordinary towels take up a huge amount of space, and the modern high-absorbency towels are brilliant.
Universal plug - sinks will never have plugs, so take one of your own.
Pegless washing line. Very handy. Ask at your local travel shop.
Locks for the rucksack - my advice, take combination locks. Locks with keys are a pain because you always lose the keys.

Clothes

Don't assume that because you are going to a tropical country you will never get cold. At night, especially high up, it gets very cold. Take at least one warm long-sleeved shirt, and a fleece or jumper.
Are you going in the rainy season. A small fold-up umbrella and a packable mac may be a good idea.
A good hat - preferably one that is properly UV-proof
Remember, good quality clothes and shoes are not going to be available. Pack the good stuff - Rohan, Paramo, Craghoppers, Merrell, Tilley. Then when you get there have fun buying cheap every-day stuff on the market.

Pharmaceuticals

Malaria prophylaxis - first priority. Check with MASTA or a similar service for the right Malaria drugs for the region. For a small fee MASTA provides a full health check for wherever you are going. If your options are Lariam or Malarone (as they are for Malawi) then my advice is that Malarone is probably better but 7 times more expensive (one tablet a day as opposed to one a week), while Lariam has the well publicised propensity for rather nasty side effects. What I did was take Lariam for three weeks starting several weeks or even months before I departed. This then allowed plenty of time to a) recover from whatever it did to me, and b) come up with an alternative plan if the Lariam was unsuitable. As it turned out Lariam had no side effects for me whatsoever (not even the interesting dreams some people enjoy so much!)
REMEMBER: these drugs do not stop you getting Malaria, they simply boost your defences to give you time to get to a hospital and get treatment.
If you're travelling, especially if you're travelling by yourself, you should also considering buying an artemisinin-based Malaria cure such as Coartem when you get out there and keeping it with you. Also known as qing hao su, this chinese herb is extremely effective as a cure (NOT a prophylaxis - the half-life in the body is too short). Go to a reputable pharmacist in a big city and they will advise you. (As with all drugs you buy in Africa, check the packet and make sure it is manufactured in South Africa, India or a first-world country).
Sun tan lotion - take plenty!! Black people don't get sun tanned so it's virtually impossible to buy out there. When you leave give any you have left to someone who will make it available to albinos, who need it desperately.
Plasters, antiseptic and antibiotics. Wounds take a lot longer to heal in tropical countries, especially in the hot wet seasons, and plasters are quite difficult to find except in the big cities. Take an iodine based antiseptic (Betadine). It's also well worth taking a wide-spectrum antibiotic such as Ciprofloxacin. Your GP should give you a prescription for this without any fuss. The prescription is more expensive than the drug, so if you're going for any length of time take two or three courses.
Jabs, including yellow fever: Make sure you get them all, and in particular, if there is the remotest possibility of travelling to a yellow fever country, make sure you get the immunisation and take the certificate. Many countries will simply not let you in without the certificate, and getting the inoculation out there is generally not possible. (Tip. I keep copies of my passport, my travel insurance, my yellow fever certificate and any other important documents stuffed in as many places as possible.)
If you are going to be travelling well of the beaten track consider taking a sterile first aid kit, including sterile needles.

What every traveller should have in his/her day sack at all times:

Toilet paper
Hand wipes or cleansing fluid
Tissues
Plasters
Sun tan cream
Swiss Army Knife
Water

Download The African Traveller's Packing List

This is a sample shopping and packing list, based on the one I use. It is intended as a guide only - what you take will depend on where you are going and for how long, as well as your own personal preferences.

Dave's Tips for Travelling in Africa

Last updated 04/10/2010