Safari in Africa: Part One -- Visas and Vaccines and Pills, Oh My!
Don George is about to embark on a two-week adventure in Kenya and Tanzania. But the journey begins at home -- with visas, vaccines, and other essential preparations. Join him as he starts this adventure of a lifetime...
I’m going to Africa!
I’m taking Micato's Grand Safari, departing May 13 and returning May 27 -- and, well, I’m incredibly excited! The itinerary starts in Nairobi with an overnight at the storied Norfolk Hotel, then goes on to visit Amboseli Park, the Mount Kenya Safari Club, and Maasai Mara in Kenya, and the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania. It is, as many people have told me, the adventure of a lifetime...
The tour documents arrived a couple of weeks ago, but I’ve just this week been able to clear the desk enough to sit down and begin to absorb them.
I’ve sent off my application for Kenyan and Tanzanian visas.
Yesterday I did my imitation of a human pin cushion at the Traveler’s Clinic at Kaiser hospital. While no vaccines are absolutely required for entry to Kenya and Tanzania (well, yellow fever is required if you’re traveling from an endemic zone; visit this Centers for Disease Control page for more details), a number of precautions are recommended.
I opted for the full menu and ended up getting five shots: Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B, plus tetanus/diphtheria/pertussis, yellow fever, and meningococcal vaccines; I actually wanted a typhoid vaccine as well, but the nurse took pity on me and gave me four caplets instead of another shot. For dessert I got a prescription for Malarone, an anti-malarial medication, which I need to start taking the day before I depart and to continue taking daily throughout the trip and one week after I return.
My arm is sore but I’ve felt no other side effects so far.
Now I’m sitting on the sunny terrace of the Caffe Strada in Berkeley, holding my San Francisco-London-Nairobi e-ticket like a talisman in my hand and losing myself in a glossy photo of zebras and giraffes on a plain of golden grass....
