Hey hey....I'm jealous....
Beach driving is a BIG no no !!!! There is a small stretch at Coconut Bay ( Inhambane ) that I once drove on.... about 1km.... but that was a long while back. The problem with beach driving is the turtle nests in the sand.
As for malaria.... this is a VERY grey area. I personally.... and this is only my opinion ( so I don't get sued for misrepresentation.....
) don't take Malaria tablets. This is why....
1) I do scuba diving, and diving to say 40m below sea level, some malaria tabs can have detrimental effects. Nitrogen narcosis is bad enough to deal with when at that depth, without the worry of drugs making marakas ( no reference meant...
)
2) Malaria tablets are basically an antibiotic ( doxycycline ). Antibiotics basically prevent a secondary infection allowing your body to fight whatever is the primary infection is. In other words, if you cut yourself, and you take antibiotics, your body's white blood cells start to repair the damage and kill off any bacteria. Unfortunately the bacteria can possibly multiply faster than what your body can kill them off. This is now where the antibiotics kick in. They prevent or hamper the multiplying of the bacteria, allowing your body to fight the bacteria successfully.
With malaria, it is a sometimes FATAL illness. If you are aware of what the symptoms are of malaria, which everyone that enters a malaria area should know, you will VERY seldom get seriously ill.
Malaria has a gestation period. So, if I'm not mistaken, for 2 weeks after leaving a malaria area, you need to be aware of the symptoms ( We watch carefully for 2 months to be sure!!). These are runny nose, flu/cold symptoms, stiff or sore joints, weak, lethargic, general uncomfortable feeling and or vomiting.
If you or anyone so much as gets a sniff... or a sneeze GO TO THE DOCTOR !!!. My son seems to be allergic to malaria tabs, and we have been taking him to Moz since he was 1 year old. So from about since he was 2 ( when we realized we cannot give him malaria tabs) if he got even a slight runny nose ....off he went to the Doc.
BUT..... you MUST TELL THE DOCTOR THAT THEY MUST DO THE 2 TESTS. One is done with a malaria kit, and the other is done under the microscope, as some strains apparently cannot be picked up on the malaria kit!!!
But back to the issue around Malaria tablets. Be aware......
MALARIA CAN TAKE YOU OUT IN 3 OR 4 DAYS.... AS IN OUT
Should you get bitten by a malaria mozzie, which is not every mozzie by the way (as only a few carry malaria), and after say a week you feel snotty one morning.... you have basically 2 days to really get your A int G and get to a doctor, as even day 2 is pushing it. but lets say you feel crappy in the morning ( day 1) and go to the Doc for tests. They will then check etc and this takes time. so now you are on day 2. If you do have malaria, you can start the treatment straight away ( if the hospital/ pharmacy even has the correct drugs, which many don't up here in JHB or non Malaria areas) So now that's day 2, and by now you are going to feel as rough as a badgers butt. Day 3 will be a very bad day too, as the drugs start to win the battle. By day 4, you should be feeling remarkably better, and a few days later you will be back to normal.... hopefully ( define normal). Total of really bad days .....+/- 2-3 days!!
Malaria tablets DON"T prevent you from getting malaria.... OR cure malaria !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now when you have take malaria tablets, and should you get bitten by a malaria mozzie these antibiotics will start doing exactly what they should be doing. This process helps you recover easier from malaria as you now already have a "type" of antibiotic in your system, which will allow the malaria medication to sort out the malaria.
Now here is where why I do not take malaria tabs, remembering that malaria will take you down within a few days!! Also malaria tabs can make it a little more difficult to for them to pick up malaria in the tests!!
Due to having a "type" of antibiotic in your system the chances of you feeling a little crappy, snotty or flu/cold symptoms is I believe greatly reduced as the antibiotic is doing what it is supposed to do. so instead of catching the malaria symptoms at day 1, you may only pick it up at day 3. By now the malaria has gone ballistic in your system, so you rush to the Doc probably end day 3 or day 4. The tests take time, so possibly only get treated day 5. So only 8-10 days ( possibly more) later will you feel that life is worth living again. Total bad days ....+/- 5 days, as the malaria has had at least 3 extra days in your system to causer havoc, and that will naturally take longer to cure, hence the longer recovery time.
What I do, and have done over the years, was to stop in at any pharmacy in Moz, and ask them for the Malaria medicine. The one I have at home ( I'll have a look tonight for the name and let you know) come in a 3 day course, and works by body weight determining how many tabs you take. So day one , when you feel snotty etc ... you take the first dose, day 2 you will feel crappy... you take 2nd dose, and day 3 the third dose...... they say day 4 you will be enjoying a 2M beer that you smuggled back to sa...
.... And every year I throw away the old ones and buy fresh ones to keep at home.... just incase. I have also told my Doctor that we don't take malaria tablets ( He doesn't like it, but he also knows that Moz will probably know better than SA on how to work with malaria) and knows that I have the drugs to fix anyone of us, should we get malaria. I will
not wait an extra day for them to courier drugs in for me or my family, when every day counts !!
Please note this is
my opinion only and you must do what you feel is the best.
