In spite of what your doctor might tell you, South
Africa is NOT the same as the rest of Africa.
You do NOT need any inoculations for South Africa.
Some diseases they inject people for, we have not
even heard of. People arrive here with sore and
swollen arms for absolutely nothing.
Tetanus is always a good shot to
have if you have not had one recently.
Not all mosquitoes carry malaria.
Our area is officially malaria free as the Anopheles
mosquito that carries malaria, does not occur in
our area. A good insect repellent after dark is
enough safeguard against mosquitoes. Some malaria
medication causes sleeplessness, hallucinations
and makes it harder to detect malaria in the blood
if it happens that you contract it.
If you plan to visit the Kruger
Park area or the lakes at Kosi Bay, you might need
to take precaution against malaria if you do not
trust the insect repellent alone. Once again, if
you go north of our borders - Mozambique, Zimbabwe,
Zambia - you will need to take malaria precaution.
Tick bite fever might be a problem.
It does not respond to antibiotics not containing
tetracycline. Ask your doctor to prescribe antibiotics
containing TETRACYCLINE, like Doxicycline, to bring
along. Just do not take it with antacid medication
as it neutralises the tetracycline. At the first
feeling of flu symptoms with a headache and accompanied
by a bite mark – red with a black centre –
take the antibiotics and you will feel better within
24 hours. It is not a deadly decease, but it causes
pain in the joints and it feels like aggravated
flu symptoms. If you could suffer it out for 21
days you will be immune to the decease for the rest
of your life !!!
South Africans also have to take
hepatitis shots and some of the other shots if we
go north of our borders - Mozambique, Zimbabwe,
Zambia and more north – but all of that is
NOT NEEDED for SOUTH AFRICA.
In Pongola, we have a very well
equipped hospital and 5 good doctors. The pharmacy
in Pongola has all the medication you might need.
Pongola is 37km (23 miles) from Zeekoepan. Therefore,
there is NO need to bring loads of medication for
“in case something happens”.