Health, Vaccinations & Malaria

Vaccinations

Travel clinics usually recommend that travellers to East Africa are up to date with:

• routine vaccinations, including tetanus, diphtheria and polio;
• hepatitis A and typhoid, both spread through food and water;
• hepatitis B, rabies and meningitis, depending on your trip and how long you stay;
• yellow fever (see below).

Yellow fever certificate

• Tanzania asks for a yellow fever certificate if you arrive from, or spend more than 12 hours in transit through, a country with a risk of yellow fever, including Kenya and Uganda.
• Uganda asks every traveller for a certificate.
• Kenya asks travellers arriving from countries with a risk of yellow fever.

If your trip combines countries, you will almost certainly need the certificate. Keep it with your passport.

Malaria

Malaria is present in most of Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda below about 1,800 metres, including the safari parks and Zanzibar. It is preventable:

• Ask your doctor which anti-malaria tablets suit you, and take the full course.
• Use an insect repellent containing DEET or picaridin, especially from dusk to dawn.
• Wear long sleeves and trousers in the evenings, and sleep under the mosquito nets that lodges provide.
• If you develop a fever during or after your trip, see a doctor straight away and tell them where you have travelled.

The good news: in the dry season mosquitoes are far fewer, and many highland lodges have very few.

Altitude

Ngorongoro's crater rim is around 2,300 metres and Arusha about 1,400 metres: most people feel nothing more than cooler nights. Kilimanjaro (5,895 metres) and Mount Meru (4,566 metres) are different: altitude sickness is the main reason climbers turn back. Choose a longer route, climb slowly, drink plenty of water and tell your guide about any symptoms. Our guides check every climber twice a day. Read more in our Kilimanjaro guide.

Sun, heat and water

• The equatorial sun is strong even when it feels cool: bring a hat, sunglasses and high-factor sunscreen.
• Drink plenty of bottled or filtered water through the day.
• Eat sensibly in the first few days: freshly cooked food is safest. See our food and water guide.

Your travel first-aid kit

• your personal prescription medicines, in original packaging, plus a copy of the prescription;
• anti-malaria tablets, rehydration salts and something for an upset stomach;
• pain relief, antihistamines, plasters and blister care;
• insect repellent, sunscreen and hand sanitiser.

Our safari vehicles carry a first-aid kit, and your guide has first-aid training. Medical evacuation cover in your travel insurance is essential.