Ahhh ... La Gloire De Mayotte Fabuleux-- Know Anyone Who's Ever Been To The French D�partement Of Mayotte?

A friend of mine just got back from Mayotte. He was only at Dzaoudzi Airport, across the channel from Mamoudzou, his plane having stopped briefly on a trip between Moroni on Grande Comore and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania (a stopover itself on the way to half a dozen other places on an inconvenient and circuitous route to Florida). And there is no convenient way to get to Mayotte from America, take my word for it. But people do go there. It's a couple of islands in the Indian Ocean between Madagascar and Mozambique. There are no hotel chains... always a very good indication that you might be onto someplace worth going to visit. Mayotte is part of a larger small chain of Islands, the Comoros, but Mayotte's 50,000 people voted to stick with France when the rest of the islands formed an independent country in 1974. There was another referendum in 2009-- since the population had grown to nearly 200,000-- and 95.2% of the voters decided they'd rather be part of France than part of the Union of Comoros. 97% of the people there are Muslims. Before being taken over by France in 1841, Mayotte had been conquered by Madagascar and a succession of Afro-Arab sultanates.

The Comoros, which has been chaotic and politically unstable, claims sovereignty over Mayotte and the UN has tended to agree. In 2011 France vetoed a Security Council resolution giving Mayotte back to the Comoros. It's now France's 101st d�partement. That's an unheralded victory over Sharia Law, which is being eased out in favor of the French civil code. (Someone needs to tell American Islamaphobe Bryan Fischer.)

French is the official language of course, but more people speak Shimaore, Shindzwani, Kibushi and Shingazidja than French, at least as a primary language. On the other hand, the currency is the Euro and Americans don't need visas to go there. The tourist attraction is unspoiled nature and unspoiled beaches. Tourists go for the snorkeling, scuba diving, whale watching and sailing. It's always hot and tropical but the best time to go is between June and October when is relatively cooler and free of the cyclones that plague the islands during the rainy season (November to May).

Mayotte... that's all there is

Bored With Mali? There's Always Guinea-Bissau... Unless You Worry About Safety

Guinea Bissau is bigger than The Gambia

That the Tuaregs of Mali (as well as Niger and Mauritania) hold hundreds of thousands of Bella and other black Africans in slavery is certainly not enough to motivate any kind of intervention from France, Britain, NATO or anyone else. Even when the Tuaregs have captured, in quick succession, Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu-- and two-thirds of Mali-- it wasn't until Islamist groups with a jihadi agenda and murky ties to al-Qaeda, that the West intervened. Mali has no oil but it isn't that far from oil-rich, Muslim-roiled Nigeria. Oil and Islamic jihadis... that gets the West's attention-- and fast. Slavers taking over a country-- who cares? Same with international drug barons... it might be inconvenient and yucky-- but if there's no oil or jihad involved, you're on your own.

I know people are just starting to figure out what Mali is; so I feel bad having to introduce a whole new country and it's problems onto the blog. AroundTheWorldBlog, meet Guinea-Bissau. This small (slightly bigger than Maryland) West African state tucked between Senegal and Guinea, was once part of the Empire of Mali. Portugal began colonizing it in the 1500s and kidnapping it's people to sell as slaves. Coincidentally, it used to be identified on maps as the Slave Coast. A rebellion began against fascist-led Portugal in the 1950s and they finally drove the Portuguese out in 1973. The first elections, though, weren't held until 1994 and since then every government has been violently overthrown. Not one president has finished his term. It's one of the poorest countries in the world-- on a level with Nepal, Burundi, Niger, Congo, Mali, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Somalia, Haiti, Liberia and Malawi.

The country has no embassies in the U.S. or Britain and little tourism. If you want to visit, you have to stop in Lisbon and get a tourist visa there-- just like in the old colonial days! (It only takes a couple hours though... not counting the flight to Portugal.) Virtually no one will accept credit cards anywhere in the country but everyone love Euros and dollars. International phone service is, at best, sporadic. The country is considered one of the most violent in Africa and much too dangerous for tourists and the U.S. State Department warns American citizens to not travel there. From the State Department website:

The United States established diplomatic relations with Guinea-Bissau in 1975, following its independence from Portugal. Post-independence, the country has seen a mix of coups, attempted coups, civil war, assassinations, and democratic elections. The United States strongly condemned the April 2012 attempt by elements of the military to forcibly seize power, called for maximum restraint on all sides and the restoration of legitimate civilian leadership, and continues to work with its partners in the region and beyond as it monitors developments on the ground. Now that the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has returned Bissau-Guinean military factions to their barracks and a civilian government is in power, the United States is working with its partners and the Transitional Government of Guinea-Bissau to facilitate free and fair elections by Spring 2013, and to promote basic reforms on governance, justice, and economic development.

There is no U.S. Embassy in Guinea-Bissau. All official U.S. contact with Guinea-Bissau is handled by the U.S. Embassy in Senegal. Local employees staff the U.S. Office in Bissau, and U.S. diplomats from the Embassy in Dakar travel frequently to Bissau.

Given the April 12, 2012 coup, the United States was obliged to terminate foreign assistance to the Government of Guinea-Bissau consistent with the requirements of section 7008 of the Department of State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations Act for 2012. Previous limited non-humanitarian assistance focused primarily on the justice sector as well as demining and proper weapons storage programs.

It gets worse. If you happened to read a report by Adam Nossiter in the NY Times last November, you're probably aware that Guinea-Bissau has been taken over by an international drug syndicate and is the major hub for cocaine traffic-- 30 tons a year-- between Latin America and Europe. The country is addicted to coke and crack and it defines the term "narco-state."

When the army ousted the president here just months before his term was to expire, a thirst for power by the officer corps did not fully explain the offensive. But a sizable increase in drug trafficking in this troubled country since the military took over has raised suspicions that the president�s sudden removal was what amounted to a cocaine coup.

The military brass here has long been associated with drug trafficking, but the coup last spring means soldiers now control the drug racket and the country itself, turning Guinea-Bissau in the eyes of some international counternarcotics experts into a nation where illegal drugs are sanctioned at the top.

�They are probably the worst narco-state that�s out there on the continent,� said a senior Drug Enforcement Administration official in Washington, who spoke on the condition of anonymity so as not to jeopardize his work in the region. �They are a major problem.�

Since the April 12 coup, more small twin-engine planes than ever are making the 1,600-mile Atlantic crossing from Latin America to the edge of Africa�s western bulge, landing in Guinea-Bissau�s fields, uninhabited islands and remote estuaries. There they unload their cargos of cocaine for transshipment north, experts say.

The fact that the army has put in place a figurehead government and that military officers continue to call the shots behind the scenes only intensifies the problem.

...Was the military coup itself a diversion for drug trafficking? Some experts point to signs that as the armed forces were seizing the presidency, taking over radio stations and arresting government officials, there was a flurry of drug activity on one of the islands of the Bijag�s Archipelago, what amounted to a three-day offloading of suspicious sacks.

That surreptitious activity appears to have been simply a prelude.

�There has clearly been an increase in Guinea-Bissau in the last several months,� said Pierre Lapaque, head of the regional United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime for West and Central Africa. �We are seeing more and more drugs regularly arriving in this country.�

Mr. Lapaque called the trafficking in Guinea-Bissau �a major worry� and an �open sore,� and, like others, suggested that it was no coincidence that trafficking had spiked since the coup.

Joaquin Gonzalez-Ducay, the European Union ambassador in Bissau, said: �As a country it is controlled by those who formed the coup d��tat. They can do what they want to do. Now they have free rein.�

The senior D.E.A. official said, �People at the highest levels of the military are involved in the facilitation� of trafficking, and added: �In other African countries government officials are part of the problem. In Guinea-Bissau, it is the government itself that is the problem.�

United Nations officials agree. �The coup was perpetrated by people totally embedded in the drugs business,� said one official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the political environment here.

The country�s former prosecutor general, Oct�vio Inoc�ncio Alves, said, �A lot of the traffickers have direct relationships with the military.�

...Officials point to several indicators, besides the increase in plane flights, to show that Guinea-Bissau has become a major drug transit hub.

They cite photographs of a recently well-cleared stretch of road in a remote rural area near the Senegal border, complete with turning space for small planes. The clearing was created under the supervision of military authorities, officials say. They also note mysterious absences of fuel at the tiny international airport in the capital, presumed stolen by traffickers.

Four months before the coup, a plane, with the aid of uniformed soldiers, landed in a rural area in the center of the country, which is the size of Belgium, said Jo�o Biague, head of the judicial police. The landing took place not far from General Injai�s farm.

Mr. Biague heads what is nominally the country�s antidrug agency, though he made it clear that he and his staff are largely powerless to practice any form of drug interdiction despite receiving frequent tips about small planes landing from abroad. �The traffickers know we can�t do much,� he said.

The agency is so starved of funds that he does not have money to put gas in its few vehicles, Mr. Biague said. Paint is peeling on the outside of the judicial police�s two-story colonial building downtown, and mold blackens the ground-floor pilasters. It is allocated $85 a week from the country�s Justice Ministry.

�The agents we have in the field want to give up because they have nothing to eat,� Mr. Biague said.

In the last three years, there have been more than a half-dozen unsolved political assassinations here, including of the longtime president and the former army chief of staff, as well as at least two coup attempts, besides the successful coup. Nobody has been successfully prosecuted, though drugs were linked to many of them.

Last month, the justice minister of the transitional government warned opposition politicians not to speak publicly of �cases that don�t concern them,� under threat of criminal penalty.

This week, the repression appeared to tighten. General Injai threatened journalists with death if they asked questions about the assassination of the former president, and he warned that there would be many arrests as a result of the countercoup attempt.

There is remarkably little public talk of the unsolved political killings or of the country�s relations with the drug business. There have been no demonstrations; no discussion in the Parliament, shut down since July; no news conferences.

�A country that�s not capable of discussing its own problems-- it�s not a country, it�s not a state,� said Mr. Alves, the former prosecutor general.

The Obama administration, while encouraged France and then Britain, to intervene in Mali and is offering material support for the endeavor, has a very different attitude towards Guinea-Bissau. After explicitly linking the country�s military to the drug trade in 2010 and freezing the U.S. assets of drug kingpins ex-chief of the navy, Rear Adm. Bubo Na Tchuto, and the air force chief of staff, Ibraima Papa Camara, the Obama administration has backed off considerably. The top U.S. diplomat at the Guinea-Bissau desk in Dakar, Russel Hanks: "You will only have an impact on this transition by engagement, not by isolation. These are the people who came in to pick up the pieces after the coup.�

And, no, neither Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham nor Kelly Ayotte brought up Guinea-Bissau in the Senate confirmation hearings for Chuck Hagel today. Awesome tunes though:

Are Countries Ditching Fran�aise For English? Oui, Bien S�r

Hollande et Bongo

Avez-vous des difficult�s � comprendre la langue quand vous voyagez en pays de langue fran�aise? Cela pourrait aller dans le sens de l'oiseau Dodo.

Although Roland is from French background and although I loved in France and taught in Montreal, neither of us is really fluent in French. A couple years ago we were worried about a month we were spending in Senegal and Mali, two Francophone countries in West Africa, formerly Afrique occidentale fran�aise. But, as it turned out, everyone we met in the big towns spoke English and in the countryside almost no one spoke French anyway, just local languages. I've been to Morocco, where almost everyone does speak French, other than in the extreme north, over a dozen time and it's always been easy enough to communicate with pidgin French and English, And it looks like in some of the former French colonies of Africa, where France has created incentives to stay in a Francophone community, countries are embracing English, just like the rest of the world. I always felt so very lucky in my travels. I could be sitting around in Kabul or Katmandu or Goa with a dozen people from half a dozen countries and everyone would use English. I worked 4 years in a meditation center in Amsterdam where we had a constant flow of people from France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Morocco, Portugal, Eastern Europe, Japan... not to mention Dutchmen-- and the official language of the center: English. And France is just as happy to see them go.

Gabon�s President Ali Ben Bongo announced in October the country will start promoting English as a second language, in addition to the current French in a move that seems to be a growing trend in Francophone West Africa.

Gabon's presidential spokesman, Alain Claude Billie By Nze, says efforts to adopt English will begin within the educational system, but classes will also be available for adults. He says Gabon is not the first country in the region to move in this direction.

He says Rwanda, another African country that formerly called French its official language, made the switch to English in 2009.

And according to Strategico political risk analyst Lydie Boka, who is based in France, Burundi could be the next country in Africa to join the English-speaking Commonwealth.

�Burundi is going that route," said Boka. "I think they�ve asked to join the Commonwealth without saying whether they would abandon the Francophonie. I think a number of African countries, rightly or wrongly, think the English-speaking countries develop faster.�

Some African officials note that French keeps them regionally isolated and if they wish to diversify their global economic interests or partnerships, then English is the best way to do so.

The timing of Mr. Bongo�s announcement could not have been more pointed, coming just ahead of this year�s summit of Francophone nations, hosted by the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Boka says Gabon�s decision to move toward English could be seen as a political snub to new French President Francois Hollande-- whom the Gabon leader felt did not afford him the proper reception during a recent trip to France.

�The same day he met with Bongo, the (Gabonese) opposition met with the Socialist party, which is the party of Hollande," said Boka. "And the Socialist party issued a communiqu� that the French Socialist party was concerned about the democratic deficit in a number of countries, including Gabon.�

The Bongo family is one of three African presidential families being investigated by French authorities since 2008 for so-called "ill-gotten gains"-- cars, homes and other luxury assets in France allegedly bought with embezzled state funds.

French President Hollande took office earlier this year professing, as many of his predecessors have, to finally do away with "Francafrique."

Francafrique refers to the sphere of influence France has sought to maintain over its former colonies through what many say have been corrupt, personal ties with African leaders and off-the-books diplomacy, often at the expense of democracy and human rights.

Analysts say that Gabon, in particular under former president Omar Bongo, epitomized Francafrique.

It was former president Bongo who was so memorably quoted by a French newspaper in 1996 as saying that "Gabon without France is like a car with no driver. France without Gabon is like a car with no fuel."

President Hollande's desire to recalibrate France's relationship with Africa was reflected in his comments to reporters just days before he travelled to Kinshasa for the 14th Francophonie Summit.

He said the Francophonie is not simply about a language and French is not simply for France. He said French is also the language of Africa and in coming years, more Africans will speak French. This language, he said, belongs to them but it is also a language representing values and principles, including democracy, good governance, and the fight against corruption.

Gabon's presidential spokesman, Billie By Nze, says the country's move to English is about pragmatism, not politics.

He says President Bongo went to Rwanda to study its experiment with bilingualism before making his decision, which he says was based on economic and educational motives.

Learning English, he said, is a good business decision, as oil accounts for 80 percent of the Gabon's exports and much of that, and other, business is done in English with the Middle East and China.

Since World War I, English has gradually eclipsed French as the modern lingua franca, the language of global diplomacy and trade.

Gabon's decision to put English at the heart of its education system reflects a growing interest in English among young people throughout West Africa, whether it be to understand the words to American rap music or one day score a job with an international NGO or a multi-national cooperation.

Francophone organizations say they are not alarmed by Gabon�s announcement.

Ousmane Paye-- special assistant for the secretary general at the International Organization of the Francophonie-- says French is not an endangered language in West and Central Africa.

He says of the 53 French-speaking member nations who gathered at the 14th Francophonie Summit in Kinshasa in October, 28 were African countries and more than 55 percent of French speakers currently live in Africa.

The International Organization of the Francophonie estimates that by 2050, more than 80 percent of French speakers worldwide will live in Africa.

Although those projections were put together without factoring in Gabon and Burundi, let alone other countries that might follow their lead.

Group Travel "Survival" Strategies-- Guest Post By Pete Mandra

This is the final episode in Pete's series about his travel adventures in Africa. I hope everyone has enjoyed them as much as I have. The book is even better!

I�ve precariously canoed past watchful crocodiles and anxious hippo pods on Africa�s Zambezi River.

Mere feet separated me from a skittish Black Mamba, a snake so deadly its venom is 100% fatal to a bitten man within an hour.

Unpredictable elephants, always-opportunistic lions, and stealthy leopards demanded your full awareness when spotted in the African bush.

But as stress-filled as those truly memorable moments of my African journey were, nothing compared to the trials of group travel.

Don�t get me wrong-- signing on with a group travel tour, just as I had to visit southern Africa (and later Egypt and Jordan), is an effective way to navigate across a country while taking in its highlights. You not only eliminate the hassle of getting from Point A to Point B, but it�s generally much more cost effective than if you were to attempt it by yourself.

The challenge, though, arrives when your tour takes you through a less-developed country like Africa, where personal safety, and few diversions like museums and shopping, dictates the group spending time together for seemingly every waking moment. It is then that a strange, almost magical transformation occurs-- you stop acting like a group and start acting more like a dysfunctional, slightly manic family, filled with just enough underlying tension to drive one another crazy. In Africa, we fought over food, relaxed every ambition imaginable a little too much for comfort, and almost purposefully got on each other�s nerves. Though I can�t share all of the sordid details here, suffice to say I did start to wonder, after that whole experience, how any of us could once again function in normal, everyday society.

OK-- so I exaggerate a bit. Then why, you�re probably asking yourself, after my trying experience traveling with a group through Africa, did I participate in another such trip shortly afterwards through Egypt and Jordan? Because Africa taught me what I refer to as essential �mental survival strategies� for group travel, essential to enjoying your trip and dealing with the sometimes difficult group mentality.

The following, then, are my 5 tips for mentally �surviving� a group travel tour:

1. Grab alone time (when you can get it!). There�s nothing wrong with retreating to your tent or room for a little bit if you need a break. Don�t think that just because others always hang out that you are required to, also.

2. Protect that personal space! In Africa, the seat you grabbed on the truck that first day was yours for the next six weeks. It sounds crazy, but on group tours, your instinct is to protect all space in that immediate vicinity as your own, so you don�t feel too crowded and have room for your gear. Only remove gear from the truck that you need for that particular moment, using the rest as a personal space holder.

3. Stay connected with family and friends back home. Receiving an email, video chat, or just hearing the voice of a loved one has a way of bringing you back to reality, especially when you need a break from present company. And best of all, you can find an Internet caf� in even the most remote places in the world (though you may have to deal with a dial-up connection).

4. Zone out. Bring that music-loaded Ipod for those long road trips when you don�t want to spend another 4 hours (again) talking to your seat mate. Or be really devious and only pretend you�ve fallen asleep.

5. Go with the flow. Will the group annoy you at times? Absolutely! So expect that you may not get along with everyone, and accept that you�re personal freedom may seem compromised from the outset as you (often) follow rigid schedules and full days to take in all the sites. A mantra may help, too. Whenever I wanted to strangle someone, I took a deep breath and repeated to myself you�re on vacation�you�re on vacation. It usually did the trick.

Hopefully, after reading this you aren�t scared off if you were considering signing on with a group tour in a less-developed part of the world. Following my own advice on my Egypt and Jordan trip proved extremely helpful, so I�m confident, if you have any such concerns, these same strategies can work for you, too.

Tips For Choosing An Africa-Based Overland Tour Operator

This is third in our series from traveller and author Pete Mandra. If you're planning a trip to Africa, you might want to take a look at the first two posts, here and here. Today Pete is being very practical for us:

I like to think of guided overland travel through Africa-- where you travel with a group from Point A to Point B in a customized vehicle-- as a rustic (sometimes VERY rustic) take on an all-inclusive vacation.

Exploring South Africa to Kenya? Nothing for you to do but sit back and enjoy the scenery. Need overnight accommodations? Typically included in the cost of your tour package, along with meals and some attraction entry fees.

Using the Web to find a list of Africa-based overland tour operators is never a problem. But finding the best fit for you personally, as operators and packages vary wildly-- is the challenge. So if you�re considering such a trip, I offer the following related advice, based on my personal experience:

� Follow the leader. When I first signed on for my overland trip, I naively imagined my tour truck situated in the middle of nowhere, solitarily navigating across the vast expanse of Africa by its lonesome. The reality? Not so much. In truth, my route (South Africa to Kenya) is wildly popular and followed by many similar tour groups, all stopping at the same locations to take in the same sights. Do your research, but know that with few exceptions, most itineraries along major routes are essentially the same.

� Comfort is king (or not�) The biggest difference between overland tour operators? Level of comfort, which naturally directly impacts overall price. Remember how I described overland travel as a �rustic take on an all-inclusive vacation�? It didn�t get much more rustic for me, spending most nights in a tent (with the opportunity to upgrade indoors to a hostel bed about once a week). I didn�t mind it too much, but took some pity on the elderly Canadian couple traveling with me who experienced the same (the hard ground did nothing for the old guy�s back!) Conversely, other tour operators treat their groups to warm beds every night. The lesson? When you factor price into your decision, keep in mind your desired level of comfort. That dirt ground can feel pretty hard after a few weeks�

� Not all meals are created equally. Ever heard of a TLC sandwich? I didn�t either, before overlanding through Africa, but the Tomato-Lettuce-and-Cheese sandwich quickly became THE (largely unsatisfying) lunch staple of my trip. No matter the operator, meal choices will be limited, but like choosing your level of comfort, meal treatment also varies widely. On our trip, the guides provided staples for simple, self catering breakfasts (bread, cereal, fruit) and lunches (the �glorious� TLC sandwich, along with the occasional tin of sardines). Dinner was slightly different-- cooked by the guides and limited to pastas, hamburgers, and local fare like pap, a traditional maize-based porridge. Though it was nice to be cooked for, we�d often not eat until well into the night, after the guides performed all of their tasks to prepare for the next day on the road.

Though I believe other tour operators handled breakfast and lunch similarly, one group put a very interesting spin on dinner, where travelers partnered up and cooked dinner for the entire group on a given night, purchasing more premium ingredients from local markets with a collected �food kitty.� So do you prefer being cooked for, or a little more variety to your meals? Again, just something to be aware of so you can make the decision that�s best for you.

� Know what�s NOT included (and bring enough money for it!) Snacks during those long truck rides and special excursion �add-ons� (like helicopter rides over Victoria Falls, or special game preserve drives in the wee hours of the morning, when animals are most active) are typically not included in package pricing, so make sure you bring enough money to splurge when you feel like it. Many tourist �hubs� exist throughout Africa that offer everything from hot air ballooning to ATV driving to bungee jumping-- the more commercial an area is (like Victoria Falls, for example), the more choices you will have-- and the more you will pay. My personal advice? Always opt for a game drive at dawn for the best animal viewing. And for the best soft drink on the planet, pick up a bottle of Stoney Tangawizi, a crisp and refreshing ginger ale I would love to see available in the States!

� Don�t arrive empty-handed. This last piece of advice is not so much specific to overland travel, but don�t overlook the power of barter-- it almost always gets you a better deal on that souvenir you are bargaining for. What you barter with doesn�t have to be anything special, but I find that sports team merchandise like logo-branded shirts do best (plus they can usually be had for cheap and are easy to pack!) Or better yet, bring some pencils and pens for gifting to young children, who may not have access to adequate school supplies, to spread some goodwill and joy along your travels.

Is It Safe, Health-wise, For Tourists To Go Galavanting Around Africa?

camping next to a termite mound

This is the second in a series of posts intrepid traveler and novelist Pete Mandra is doing for us. In way of a little background, Pete began his writing career freelancing for various Chicagoland publications before settling in as a news reporter at the famed City News Bureau, where covering breaking crime news proved the perfect compliment to the dark sense of humor you see so fully developed in Overland. Always more of a homebody who had only left the country once for a stay in the Bahamas, Pete's world turned upside when he met his future wife, Jessica in 2000, who shared with him her infectious spirit of travel and adventure. In short order, the two left their corporate jobs, cashed in their savings and gave up their apartment to backpack around the world, including Africa, the Middle East, Alaska and Europe.

-by Pete Mandra

As a travel destination, the African continent offers much in terms of thrilling excitement, though taking certain medical precautions is an absolute must. Spotting a pride of lions stealthily creeping through the savanna grassland? Absolutely exhilarating. Needing medical attention after contracting an unusual parasite or virus? Not so much.

After participating myself in a six-week tour through Africa, I offer the following medical advice to anyone considering a similar trip through Africa, with the goal of making your experience as memorable as mine with as little health-related stress as possible. My advice is not designed to scare-- only to encourage you to use common sense. And if you happen to be the �paranoid� type, the one who relies on the internet to diagnose their ever-changing �life threatening� symptoms? Take a deep breath and read on. Calmly.

Prior to your trip, seek out a travel clinic for necessary vaccines. By law, you are only required to be vaccinated for Yellow Fever before entering many African countries. However, if you visit a travel clinic (usually affiliated with major hospitals), a medical practioner will review your itinerary and advise you on other potential medical risks and recommend additional vaccines when appropriate.

Malaria medication-- choose wisely. In most cases, you will be prescribed antimalarial medication, which vary greatly in terms of side-effects and dosage requirements (some, like Lariam, require taking once a week, while some, like Doxycycline, require daily dosing). Based on your medical history, you may be allowed to select your medication preference. Results vary, but my own experience with the drug Lariam made me wish I had opted for an alternative. With potential side effects of eliciting strange dreams and hallucinations, Lariam did not disappoint-- many nights I�d wake up from a sound sleep inside our tent convinced it was moving!

A water filter can be your best friend. Schistosomiasis, also known as bilharziasis, is a snail-transmitted, water-borne parasite found in sub-Saharan African fresh water (lakes and rivers) with severe consequences of infection, including bladder cancer and renal failure. So imagine my dismay, on my group tour, when the guide created a lunchtime fruit drink by dunking the empty pitcher into Namibia�s Orange River, the ideal habitat! Additionally, other parasites also exist in African fresh water that do not play very nicely with �Western� immune systems.

Though filtering drinking water is a personal choice (my wife and I were the only ones on the group tour who brought one), I had peace of mind in doing so (though filtering enough water every night for the following day got old in a hurry). It�s also very hard to resist the temptation to dunk yourself in a stunning, African lake to cool off on a hot afternoon, but that, too, increases your risk.

I can�t link drinking filtered water with my staying healthy my entire six weeks in Africa, but I did learn post-trip that some of my fellow travelers ended up being treated for a variety of symptoms later on.

If you need medical attention, beware of �local� cures. Lastly, in terms of medical advice, if you aren�t feeling well during your Africa adventure, be wary of any �cures� offered by the locals to treat your symptoms. Though well-meaning, such �cures� can lead to more issues. For example, during my group trip, a woman unable to have a �movement� for several days (!) took the advice of a local man and consumed a strange root rather than seeking the immediate medical attention she should have. The result? The root made her nauseous, even more miserable, and did nothing to avoid her being air lifted to the nearest hospital to remove the intestinal blockage.

So there you have it-- some practical medical advice for your trip to Africa. It�s hard and stressful enough trekking through the rugged Africa terrain-- anything you can do from a health-related perspective will make life that much easier.

Meet Pete Mandra-- And Overland Travel From Capetown To Nairobi

Pete Mandra is an experienced Africa traveler. He's the author of the humorous novel describing a real life, 6-week overland tour through Africa-- Overland. Here's the first of a series of posts he's agreed to do for us about his adventures:

The day my future wife Jessica and I had finally arrived in Cape Town, South Africa will forever be burned into my mind.

Cape Town is a city of contrasts, contrasts that appeared even sharper after our brutal flights to get there (14 hours in the air, from Chicago to Amsterdam to Johannesburg to (finally!) Cape Town). I see shanty-type huts, constructed from wood and sheet metal, crowding the main road, eventually giving way to the pristine, gated communities of those better off. Pollution and trash exist here as in any other city, yet seem markedly out of place as Table Mountain towers overhead, glowing in the setting red Africa sun.

We visited Africa, which led to the inspiration behind my book Overland, to get a taste of adventure and to see this beautiful continent for ourselves. In a way, Jessica and I were a contrast as well-- at a time in our lives when most couples are worrying about what school to send baby Timmy to, we were ending our apartment lease, cashing in our savings and quitting our jobs (since US firms NEVER give you enough time off!) to see the world.

Our plan was simple-- we had given ourselves three full days to explore Cape Town before meeting up with our tour group-- a full, six-week overland junket that would take us and an entire truckload of strangers from South Africa to Nairobi, Kenya and all points in-between. And as a launching point for our Africa odyssey, Cape Town proved perfect, a mix of majestic beauty, soaring landscapes and proud people.

Table Mountain? Magical (though take a cab back to your hotel, if you plan on hiking it!) Looking out from Cape Point, you can imagine how it earned its deserved reputation as the �point of no return� for many a sailor. In the Cape Town area, I also had my first African wildlife experiences-- first spotting the playful Jackass Penguins near Port Elizabeth (again-- more contrasts!), and then foolishly slowing the car when I spied some baboons who interpreted my actions as a lunch delivery.

But as much as I loved Cape Town-- and I am very looking forward to returning one day-- I am very grateful that we didn�t decide to make it our only stop on the African continent. Africa is a very rich, very diverse land that can�t be represented by a single country within its geographical space, as we quickly found out as we moved through Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania and Kenya. One would not visit Greece thinking they�ve seen all of Europe-- South Africa is much the same way.

For strictly selfish reasons, though, I am certain staying put in Cape Town would not have afforded me the material for Overland, as the book, which I describe as �Bill Bryson meets Generation X�, is as much of a celebration of traveling through Africa as it is the trials of �joys� of group travel. Travelling through a constantly churning continent like Africa will provide its share of anxiety from time to time. Throw a group of strangers into the mix, each one stranger than the next, and THEN you�ve got something...