When we first announced to our friends, family and fellow travellers that we intended to travel independently through Southern Africa for just over three months, we were met with a lot of questions about personal safety, exotic illnesses, scary creatures and dire transport. As our trip loomed ever closer, we ourselves were apprehensive about these issues.

So, were we right to be worried?

Well, I think a certain amount of caution was useful. We always tried to be aware of our surroundings and put safety first, and happily, without too many incidents, we survived and feel great achievement at having made this trip. Here’s the worst of what we encountered:

Health

Our most persistent health problem was not some tropical illness but actually the common sore throat. Dave and I both suffered with these on and off, probably due to the dust and extreme changes in temperature between day and night. I recommend anyone coming to Africa brings a hearty supply of Strepsils ;o)

Dave suffered with a few should-be-easy-to-treat-but-persisted-for-ages problems including an ear infection after diving on Zanzibar and a cut on his foot following a slip down a canyon on the way to white water rafting. On a more exotic note, I was suspected to have Malaria despite taking anti-malarials, the true answer to which we’ll never know but the medication I was prescribed did the trick for whatever it was. And as it is now three months since we last swam in Lake Malawi, we have taken medication to kill any bilharzia that we may have contracted – it’s a nasty disease that can lay dormant, so better to attack it then wait for symptoms, we decided.

Scary creatures

Our most memorable encounter with a scary creature was in Tanzania, when a deadly green mamba climbed on to our guide’s shoulder whilst we were having lunch – I found it hard to sleep in our tent after that! Staying on the killer reptile theme, we saw a tree snake in Malawi and an unidentified snake at Deadvlei in Namibia, both at a safer distance than the mamba. Other than that we had to deal with a few small spiders, an elephant on a slow charge towards our car in Etosha National Park and listening to ‘wild animal’ noises whilst camping alone in the wilderness at Gross Barmen.

Personal Safety

More cautious than most travellers, we rarely went out after dark, and if we did,then we took a taxi. This was mostly on the advice of hotel staff, who told us that up to 7pm was fine, but by 8pm we should be tucked up in bed. When questioned about what awaited us if we went out after eight, the answers were always a bit sketchy. Unfortunately, we found out for ourselves the one time we did walk around after dark, when a local tried half-heartedly to mug us. We’re thankful to the four Italians who bundled us in to their car and aided our escape.

Other than that,the closest we came to trouble was the with the touts in Tanzania. They were persistent and often aggressive, particularly at bus stations where they would be ready to grab our bags and cart them off as soon as the luggage hold opened. Early on Dave worked a way to fox them by padlocking the bags to the hold – it proved an immensely effective solution ;o)

We were very careful to use hotel safes where possible and were lucky enough to have only my bra and thermal socks stolen at the bizarre Mdokera campsite in Malawi. Other travellers reported being pick-pocketed in the bigger cities and having valuables pinched from tents, but happily nothing more serious in general.

Transport

As expected, the standard of driving was hideous, both on buses and in taxis, made worse by the lack of seatbelts. We just had to take our chances, and tried to go with the more reputable companies. Because of pot holes, we also tried to avoid travelling at night where possible. We endured a laborious journey in a private car, regularly squashed into over-full minibuses, and bumped along on rickety, dirty buses. But we’re fortunate to have survived with only a sore bum and dead legs.

I tell you all this in the hope that any travellers who come across this post will be encouraged that Afria isn’t all bad, like the Western press makes out. Of course, you need to be careful, but do consider going. We had a truly amazing time, and I already miss the beautiful sunsets and days of adventure.