Preparation for our desert adventure trip to Namibia was a challenge because of a number of reasons. Firstly, we were traveling to Africa; secondly we were going on an “almost camping” tour (I say almost because the only difference was that most of the time, we stayed in lodges rather than tents) and thirdly, we were preparing for our trip from Cairo, Egypt. Some tips and an update on some experiences:-
BAGGAGE
Baggage- No Samsonite style luggage for this trip. Backpacks and daypacks are the recommended kind of luggage to carry. Check out our hunt for backpacks in Cairo on my other blog at www.egyptiansanks.blogspot.com
VISAS
Namibian visa-Namibia has a High commission in Cairo and the address is as follows:-
41, Nada Square
18 Street, Ist Floor,
Flat No 51
Tel:23590151
Tel: Fax : 23598170
We applied for the Namibian visa on a Monday morning and it was done in a couple of days-we got our visas on Wednesday morning. They are extremely courteous and helpful at the Namibian High Commission. Along with the application form, you will have to submit an invite letter and show proof of flight bookings. The hotel or the tour company that you are booked with can help you with the invite letter. Also you will need to submit four passport-sized photographs.
For a visa for South Africa, allow for at least 6 working days for the visa to be processed. They do not accept any applications on a Sunday-so effectively you need to plan your submission from Monday to Thursday-since the embassy is closed on Friday and Saturday. In this case too, your application has to be accompanied by an invite letter and proof of flight bookings.
BECOME INTERNATIONALLY MOBILE
Activate international roaming on your mobile-in case you do not already have it. This will make you feel more secure, knowing that you are always reachable. Since I am a Vodafone subscriber, I have the relevant information:-
Vodafone recommends Vodacom to be your network during your trip o South Africa, if you use Vodacom, your outgoing calls will be charged at 10LE / minute as compared to LE 28 for any other network. In all cases, your incoming calls will be charged at LE 4/ minute, you can send SMSes at LE 2 and receive SMSes for free.
For Namibia Vodafone recommends MTC. Outgoing calls are charged at LE 28/minute, incoming calls at LE 4/minute, outgoing SMSes at LE 2 and incoming SMSes are free.
Vaccinations-Traveling to the African means the red alert for health related precautions. To err on the safe side, every possible vaccination is recommended and the malarial prophylaxis are a must-take. Read all about it on my other blog on www.egyptiansanks.blogspot.com
TRAVEL INSURANCE
Travel insurance-Get a travel health insurance in place for those unforeseen emergencies and exigencies. And look out for that airlift clause which will pay for your air-dash to a hospital in the event of an emergency since the medical facilities in the African continent are not the best and not easily available. We approached a number of insurance companies but none of them were offering the airlift option. So, finally we decided to go ahead with the travel insurance from Egyptian Saudi Insurance House. For a premium of LE 150, we were provided an insurance cover worldwide (excluding USA and Canada) for 15 days
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