Travelling without Yellow Fever jabs and an exemption certificate

[Deleted account 211025001]

Once south of Morocco it's advised (and in some countries required) to have a yellow fever jab.

Just found out this morning that I can't have the jab due to other nasty drugs I'm on so have been given an exemption cert...........still sorting options in my head at the mo..........

Has anybody had personal experiance of using an exemption cert at border crossings? Any issues?

Has anybody had experiance of travelling in these areas without a jab - what extra precautions did you take against being bitten?

Cheers
Andres

 

[Fanum]

Neither of the above- however, I've not seen or heard of one person being asked to supply the yellow fever certificate....they're just not interested or don't know about the requirement it seems

Even in the extremely unlikely event of being asked for one, a piece of paper (your exemption certificate) will almost certainly suffice, as the border guards speak mainly French and their local dialects....if the certificate isn't multi-lingual, point repeatedly at the words 'Yellow fever' and the official look of the exemption certificate should do the job...if it's in French as well, they'll understand it anyway.

Border guards and police down there are interested in paperwork and paper shuffling,........what that paperwork actually says seems to be largely irrelevant
(getting a van through with a 5 year old out of date SORN notice produced as a registration document several times underlines that )

In short, I wouldn't worry about it

 

[Fanum]

As for not getting bitten, Take several anti-bite type solutions and see what works best....Avon Skin so soft citrus (as used by hard squaddies and many a traveller ) is great, Jungle formula is fairly benign but effective and the various strengths of DEET based products are evil and dangerous but also very effective (Last resort time though)

Long sleeved t shirts that tuck under gloves, long buff to protect neck and thin longjohns tucked into long socks to protect ankles is the order of the day, particularly in the evenings.


When you get down to near Rosso and start to take the dyke road to Diama (SEE OG.....I REMEMBERED!!!) that's when the bugs are at their worst....it's a hard 90 miles of bumpy track along a swamp edge and the flys are like a wall in the evening......stop at the petrol station a few miles north of Rosso at the place where you turn off onto the unfeasibly small looking track and cover every inch of skin that you can.

If you can organise to do that section of track at lunchtime, you'll be far better off, but you then have a two hour waiting game at the border where you have to pay them to lift the bridge barrier to ride 20 metres etc

That night though, you'll be in paradise...the Zebrabar near St Louis Senegal...my one hot tip for there is to take your sleeping mat and bag and go up the observation tower to sleep......it's a) magical in the morning and b) 60 feet up in the breeze and thus fairly clear of mozzies.

Take a personal mozzie net, and although you'll look a proper 'nana in one, take a hat with a mozzie net that tucks into your buff and shirt.

After St Louis (don't take pics of police or anyone else or you'll be arrested BTW....DAMHIK) you're fairly ok for bitey things until you approach the river in Gambia.....

 

[Deleted account 211025001]

Blimey Bill - thanks for that

Had a suumend what you say about the cert so glad to hear you say the same and, re the rest, VERY useful, lots to read and inwardly digest

Can't wait to see what I look like in a hat/mossy net thing..............

Andres

 

[Fanum]

Blimey Bill - thanks for that

Had a suumend what you say about the cert so glad to hear you say the same and, re the rest, VERY useful, lots to read and inwardly digest

Can't wait to see what I look like in a hat/mossy net thing..............

Andres

My moby number's there if you fancy a chat at any point Andres........this is the sort of thing that I find myself typing out and all the time I'm doing so, other things and tips keep flooding out....often silly little things like making sure that you have a pack of wetwipes (non alcohol, biodegradeable as no sewage system) on your person all the time, a small bottle of alcohol gel rub as well (or better, the non-alcohol variety which doesnt dry the skin).

I'm so used to doing things like carrying WW's and the hand steriliser that I guess I kind of assume that everyone else will do so automatically, but if people haven't been travelling like that, it may be news to them....

That said, a large part of the whole trip is the learning process and discovery...too much information may just make it feel like a package tour

Bill

 

[Ogmios]

yellow fibber jobs be damned

never mind all that
far more important;
how the f*ck do I work out which one of the 64 products called avon-skin-so-sofTosser is THE one to use?
there's a bigger range than Aldershot out there!
with my delicate bits - i am a martyr to the mozzies. (i am serious actually)

though i am taking notes about Rossi, a Dyke and Lady Diama
Thank you Mr Fananum.

 

[Deleted account 211025001]

Thanks again Bill.

Marc, this is the 'version' I use.

Andres

 

[Fanum]

never mind all that
far more important;
how the f*ck do I work out which one of the 64 products called avon-skin-so-sofTosser is THE one to use?
there's a bigger range than Aldershot out there!
with my delicate bits - i am a martyr to the mozzies. (i am serious actually)

though i am taking notes about Rossi, a Dyke and Lady Diama
Thank you Mr Fananum.

The key is the Citrus bit....TBH I've never ordered it meself....I've just 'acquired' it

But Lemon is the bit the bitey bugs hate...as in citronella candles (actually, a citronella garden candle is a good thing to take....or citronella oil to burn in a tin can with a shoelace as a wick in the middle of the campsite.....I've used those outside at barbecues and on trips with great success in keeping buggies at bay )

 

[Ogmios]

rrright....
Thank you both Gentlemen.
i now return this thread to it's original topic.