Vaccinations: Nairobi/Tanzania/Zanzibar

[jtessier]

Hello fellow travellers! Just booked the Tanzania/Zanzibar trip and was looking for feedback on vaccinations required. We are arriving in Nairobi and will be there for a full day before leaving for the safari in Tanzania. Very last minute booking! Leaving on October 22nd. Do not believe in "over vaccinating" if not necessary. Greatly appreciate info on this!

[moviegeekjn]

I always check with a local Travel Clinic to see requirements and recommendations.

Am heading to East Africa in mid November and this region (as expected) had many more items to consider than anywhere else I've traveled. Kenya is among the countries I'll be visiting; their visa requires proof of yellow fever vaccination.

Am also certain that malaria protection will be essential for your travel.

You will also learn about various other recommended vaccinations: hep A & B, typhoid, rabies, meningitis, etc.

[IncaTrail50]

In east-Africa there's no such thing as over-vaccinating! We got all the ones mentioned by moviegeekjn and then the Travel Medicine nurse dropped a stack of papers in front of us and said "Here's what we CAN'T vaccinate against. Don't let anything bite you."

That aside, we were in Kanya and Tanzania for almost three weeks and we loved it! Check out the Sheldrick elephant orphanage and the Giraffe sanctuary in Nairobi if you haven't already made plans for that day.

Enjoy!
Kim

[manon]

Hello J.Tessier,

Im doing the same tour but im leaving on the 30th of October. I

the vaccination you need is :

yellow fever, polio, hepatitis A-B, diarrhea and cholera, malaria (pills), tetanus. I hope you got the shot early cuz yellow fever as a lot of side effects. im still feeling it after a week and a half.

enjoy ur trip!

I will probably see you in Zanzibar as my trip starts there and ur ends there.


***thanks KIM for the info on the orphanage and giraffe sanctuary info, i was planning on doing it. Now ill do it for sure!

Manon

[moviegeekjn]

Once you've received all the recommended vaccinations for E. Africa...you should be good to go everywhere else in the world without additional ones (save standard traveler's diarrhea pills and malaria prevention pills)

[jtessier]

Thanks to all that responded! On the fence about vaccinations in general. But had no choice I guess. Had my dreaded yellow fever shot & cringed the whole time! Ha! Ha! However absolutely no side effects!

Regarding the elephant orphanage & giraffe sanctuary, sounds like an awesome idea! We are going to be in Nairobi a day before the tour begins & was wondering what we should do. Do these particular tours have to be booked in advance does anyone know?

[IncaTrail50]

We had arranged airport transfer last year with G Adventures because we were arriving very late. We happened to mention wanting to see a the ellie orphanage and giraffe centre and he told us he was already taking a few people around Nairobi the next day. If we wanted to join he'd get a van instead of a car! We all met in the morning and decided what we wanted to see. He was with us for about 6-8 hours, driving some here, some there, showing us where to get the tickets, etc. We bought tickets that day so no need to buy ahead. Basically he was our driver for personal tours rather than getting a taxi from place to place. It was very reasonable ($20 per person for his services) and then we paid for each place we visited. Our choices were the Karen Blixen Museum, the Giraffe Museum, the Elephant Orphanage, maybe a few that I've forgotten, and the Kazuri Hand-made beads place that made beautiful jewellery. Worth doing!
Such an amazing place!

[jtessier]

Thanks for all the great ideas on what to do in Nairobi! We too have arranged for a transfer pick-up from airport; Will mention it to our driver as well!

[AdamfromCanada]

We had arranged airport transfer last year with G Adventures because we were arriving very late. We happened to mention wanting to see a the ellie orphanage and giraffe centre and he told us he was already taking a few people around Nairobi the next day. If we wanted to join he'd get a van instead of a car! We all met in the morning and decided what we wanted to see. He was with us for about 6-8 hours, driving some here, some there, showing us where to get the tickets, etc. We bought tickets that day so no need to buy ahead. Basically he was our driver for personal tours rather than getting a taxi from place to place. It was very reasonable ($20 per person for his services) and then we paid for each place we visited. Our choices were the Karen Blixen Museum, the Giraffe Museum, the Elephant Orphanage, maybe a few that I've forgotten, and the Kazuri Hand-made beads place that made beautiful jewellery. Worth doing!
Such an amazing place!

I had a similar experience with GAP my first time in Africa. Talked to the driver from my airport transfer (which I think is grossly marked up now, having taken cabs in a few African countries since that time, but is still nice to have) and then ending up visiting the elephant orphanage, the giraffe centre and the Safari Walk (where the driver got us a zookeeper escort who took us behind the scenes, including an opportunity to enter the cheetah cage and pet one of them!) My second time in Kenya, again with a day to spare I went with another company to Lake Naivasha and Hell's Gate National Park for a day tour. I really enjoyed that, stopping at Elsamere - once the home of George & Joy Adamson and Elsa the Lion of Born Free fame and then hiking through a dried up river gorge in Hell's Gate.

If I were ranking the two experiences, I think I enjoyed the second trip more, but both were great and I was planning to take my wife to the giraffe centre this year during a layover in Nairobi, but a flight delay sadly wiped that plan out.

[juno427]

Did anyone actually get the rabies shot for their trips? I usually get what is recommended but at over $600 for the three shots I am wondering if it is worth it. Any advice would be great.

[AdamfromCanada]

Did anyone actually get the rabies shot for their trips? I usually get what is recommended but at over $600 for the three shots I am wondering if it is worth it. Any advice would be great.

I've done a lot of international travel, and I've never gotten the rabies vaccine. It's so expensive, and your chances of contracting rabies are pretty low if you're not actually handling animals. Don't pet stray animals, don't get too close to wild animals, and chances are pretty high you'll avoid it. If you do get a bite, then they'll give you the vaccine for free (although if you contract rabies, I believe you're stuck with it for life...)

Every travel health professional I've talked to has said it's a very low risk and they usually only strongly recommend it for those working with animals.

I've also passed on Japanese Encephalitis for the same reasons. Incredibly expensive, and the risks of contracting it are so incredibly low in most places unless you're there for a long time (although it is fatal if you do get it...)

[ExplorerWannaBe]

Did anyone actually get the rabies shot for their trips? I usually get what is recommended but at over $600 for the three shots I am wondering if it is worth it. Any advice would be great.

I got the rabies shots since my employer paid for it but wouldn't really recommend it unless you thought you were going to have much more direct and extended contact with the animals (unlikely on G Adventures trips).

[juno427]

Great thanks for the info. Glad I don't need to get these shots!

[moviegeekjn]

Did anyone actually get the rabies shot for their trips? I usually get what is recommended but at over $600 for the three shots I am wondering if it is worth it. Any advice would be great.

I debated a great deal about this due to the expense....and considering that chances for contact were very minimal. But finally elected to fork out the $$ and get the initial 3 shots.

Reasoning (despite the low odds)--many of the locations I'll be on E. Africa trip will not be close to medical facilities, so any bite would result in immediate departure from the trip since I would then need emergency shot within a short time span. $$ vs. trip and $$ vs. Life

[AdamfromCanada]

Did anyone actually get the rabies shot for their trips? I usually get what is recommended but at over $600 for the three shots I am wondering if it is worth it. Any advice would be great.

I debated a great deal about this due to the expense....and considering that chances for contact were very minimal. But finally elected to fork out the $$ and get the initial 3 shots.

Reasoning (despite the low odds)--many of the locations I'll be on E. Africa trip will not be close to medical facilities, so any bite would result in immediate departure from the trip since I would then need emergency shot within a short time span. $$ vs. trip and $$ vs. Life

I know it's playing Devil's Advocate on my own earlier post, but if you want one more argument FOR getting the shots, I did have a bat collide in to me in Samburu in Kenya. One of the strangest things that ever has happened...crashed right in to my chest as we sat around the campfire, and then fell in to the crook of my arm before flapping away. It didn't bite, but it was closer than I thought I'd get to any of the animals...we also had some incredibly aggressive baboons in Samburu as well...Olive baboons up that direction, which are bigger and more troublesome than the Yellow baboons of Southern Kenya & Tanzania. Some of them got a little close for comfort.

Still, no one has been bitten on any of my travels...*knock on wood*