COVID-19
As of the publishing of this article, the situation is still fluid and we are not willing to publish any related information. You may want to visit the official Corona Virus portal here.
Malaria
Malaria, while not common, is far from being eradicated. Malaria is common in the northern, eastern and north-eastern parts of the country during the rainy season (September to April). These areas include Greater Kruger National Park, parts of Kwazulu-Natal, Limpopo, North West and Mpumalanga provinces.
To prevent being bitten use a good mosquito repellent that you apply frequently (every hour) and especially at night. For nighttime, we recommend you purchase a plug-in mosquito repellent device (it comes with the machine and a refill from most local supermarkets). When going on safaris wear long sleeve shirts and avoid sweet perfumes and deodorants.
Use a good quality mosquito repellent, and where possible use the air conditioner at night, it seems the mosquitos don’t like it much. See above for plug-in devices.
Tick fever
Tick fever is not preventable with repellents or tablets. The only precautions available are the following: wear long trousers when on safari or walking in the bush. Additional precautions are that you wear long socks and wrap an elastic band around your ankle in such a way that ticks and other critters cannot crawl over your shoe and up your leg, or tuck your trousers in your socks.
Bilharzia
Again not common, the parasite lies in stagnant pools of water and enters the body through wounds. Scratches and drinking. Precaution: don’t walk in or through still water puddles or pools and don’t drink water out of pools, rivers and such. Stick to your bottled water.
Lastly, should you feel sick in the months immediately after your visit to South Africa, tell your treating doctor that you were in South Africa. Signs and symptoms can include vomiting, frequent headaches, flu-like symptoms and diarrhoea to mention a few. Do not think that if the symptom is not on this list that you shouldn’t visit your doctor.
Both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the South African National Travel Health Network have valuable and up to date information for your perusal.