Preparations for South Africa Trip

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  Clearwater, Florida
Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Preparations for South Africa Trip

Anti-malarial precautions 

Today I begin taking my anti-malarial pills.  I was instructed to begin taking them 2 days before my trip begins, everyday during the trip and a full week after I return.  While in Kruger national Park I will be in a high malarial area. Since malaria is transmitted by mosquitoes and they love me….I'm going to follow doctors orders on this one.  In addition to the drugs, I am bringing the following mosquito prevention items: 

Insect repellant containing Deet

Avon skin so soft lotion

Dryer sheets (carry one on you as they don’t like the smell)

Insect repellant towelettes 

Nothing succeeds like excess right?

South African Currency 

When I travel I use my debit card to get local currency from ATMs and that usually works well.  The currency in South Africa is the rand.  It takes its name from the Witwatersrand (white-waters-ridge), the ridge upon which Johannesburg is built and where most of South Africa’s gold deposits were found.  The ISO 4217 currency code identification for the rand is " ZAR “. From the Dutch Zuid-Afrikaanse rand (South African Rand). The is echoed in South Africa’s internet top-level domain name “.za" from the Dutch Zuid-Afrika meaning South Africa.  I always wondered where that “.za” came from. 

Currently there are 8.03 rand in one US dollar.  So, when I see something with a price tag of 2400 ZAR I will divide by 8 and know that it will cost me about $30.  I have also have a currency conversion application on my iphone to assist with that process. 

 Driving/Purchasing Gas for Car

Look out  South Africa…an American on the road!  I got my “International Driver’s License “ at the AAA Center and yes, I will be renting a car and driving on the left side of the road while sitting on the right side of the car.  I got my training on that while driving in Ireland about 10 years ago.  And, I remember very well and promise  not to pull into McDonald’s or any other drive through on the right hand side of the building….learned that lesson!!  Drive on the left, pull in on the left! 

Luckily the current price of gas in South Africa is about $2.62 per gallon according to the money.cnn.com website.  I’m not sure if they have self-service stations or if they pump it for you.  I’ll soon find out. 

Telephones

My iphone has international calling available so I can use it when necessary but at a rate of $1.69 per minute I won’t be making many calls.  And, using data out of the country is also very expensive if you use the 3G network.  But, if you are in a wi-fi area you are not roaming and do not incur data fees.  So, I will turn off the roaming setting on the phone, look for those wi-fi hotspots and only make limited calls.  I may also purchase a local phone once I am there if I can find one for a reasonable price so I can contact the people I will be staying with during my travels.


Passport/Visa

My passport is up to date with more than 6 months before it expires and plenty of blank pages for country stamps.  No Visa is required for US Citizens to enter South Africa.  

Packing

My suitcase is almost packed and filled with all the khaki/green/safari/Columbia sportswear clothes I own.  No formal attire or dressy clothing.  The temperature in Cape Town yesterday was 35 degrees celcius which is about 105 Farenheit so summer clothing only.  

 Two more days of anticipation and then I'm on my way!

 



 

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