Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

We're planning to go to Mozambique with friends the last week of November - to my understanding, the area between Maputo and the border crossing at Kozi Bay is Malaria region - any advice for prevention from the experts ? We have Malerone but are not really sure if this is really needed.

Thanks

A friend of mine, his wife, sister and BIL went to Moz for a long weekend.

"It' only a weekend, so why bother"

A week after they returned, they had his sister's funeral.

She died of cerebral malaria.
Three days after their return, he started feeling badly (like flu).
24hrs later she was dead.

There are two schools of thought - prophylaxis and prevention - and both have ardent proponents.

Take the prophylactics and prevent bites by covering up properly. As Gerhard says, not worth ignoring the risk.

When I read the replies here and in the 4x4comm....it all doesn't sound convincíng and too many different proposals/guidance....looks like we rather don't go.

Anyhow - thanks for the advice.

There's no reason not to go... just take precautions. Unless one of your party is pregnant there should be no problems.

I would rather postpone the trip till the winter, less mozzies and the weather is more moderate as well. It can get pretty hot in summertimes and when it starts raining travelling can become a problem.
My cousin use to farm in Mozambique for about 3 years, never got malaria until his last week there. He had 2 differant types at the same time and nearly died. He was in and out of consiousness for more than a week, when he woke up he thought he was only a sleep for 2 day, turned out to be a week and 2 days. He got infectected in summer time.
But if you still want to go it is best to speak to your GP and take what ever you can to NOT get bitten by a mozzie.

SimonB wrote:...Unless one of your party is pregnant ...

We left that stage long behind us

But I'm still not convinced, especially as my wife goes 1 week later for X-Mas to Germany - if she gets it then, the local doctors are not really used to Malaria.

Just for interest sake, IMHO:

This time last year I and 6 other friends went through Mozambique up north about 500km from Maputo for 12 days. Mozambique is an African Gem and you will not be disappointed. I love the country and will try and go back every year! We had all the malaria tablets etc.

There are several types of medication you can take for malaria. It is worth speaking to a doctor if you want more info. Some tablets are better for some, and not others. I had to take special ones (I have no idea what they are called) because I am allergic to certain meds. But knowing that you could miss out not going and seeing the country, in my opinion it is worth finding out more if you are concerned about how effective the malaria medication actually is.

Do you want to go diving in Mozam? If so, I think there are special tablets for that too.

These are just my thoughts.

We simply don't want to take any risk - while just being 2 years in the region. No experiments with local docs, nor with the ones at home ....The advices given (and well appreciated) are OK for us.

We just choose another time in the year - and that's it...

MR2-Blue wrote:We simply don't want to take any risk - while just being 2 years in the region. No experiments with local docs, nor with the ones at home ....The advices given (and well appreciated) are OK for us.

We just choose another time in the year - and that's it...

Surprise!
There are only less mozzies in winter. They are still around!