Yes! Africa is absolutely amazing. Open skies, undisturbed deserts, fields of wild animals that turn every amateur and pro photographer click-crazy. Despite these exciting things you can do while you’re in Africa, you need to be aware of things to prepare that will make your trip safe and enjoyable.
- Back-up copies of your travel documents. Your passport, your itinerary, and identification cards should have back-up copies both in print and in digital form. You can keep printed copies in your luggage at the hotel while you carry the original ones during your trip. You also need to keep digital or scanned versions of such documents in your email. If you lose your original documents and your luggage during unfortunate circumstances, you can always log in to your email and retrieve a copy.
- Know where your country’s embassy is located. Take note of the address of the embassy when you visit a particular country. This ensures that you’ll always have somewhere to go during emergency situations.
- Travel light. As much as possible, only bring basic necessities with you.
- Medication while on vacation. Even when you’re away from home, you can still get sick, especially with extreme temperature changes. Bring a first aid kit and a set of medications/remedies for common illnesses like colds, cough, etc.
- Keep hydrated. Make sure to have water to carry around during your trip. A tumbler of H20 should always be handy.
- Insect repellent will be your best friend. When you go on a safari tour, put on some insect-repelling lotion or carry mild insect spray with you. Those tiny bites could destroy your mood for the trip big time.