A few general points while getting ready

Part of the fun for this course will be that we camp in some of the most interesting places on the planet. Campsites will be dark at night. There are no city lights or campsite lights to provide the kind of twilight you might find in many camping locales in Canada. So, you're going to need a light source on the trip. Almost any light will suffice - no need for anything especially pricey. Some people use headlamps, which are inexpensive and can easily be found at MEC or other retailer. I usually use a small, LED flashlight that is really bright and has long battery life. If you need replacement batteries in the Serengeti, you'll pay an arm and a leg for them, so come prepared.

Bring sunscreen (I use SPF 30, which seems good enough for my pale skin) and lots of lip balm. Chapped lips are painful and you will probably not be able to find lip balm once you are there. It's the little things like this that make a big difference.

A note on the FLIGHTS. Flights will be departing from either Ottawa OR Toronto. When we ask, just tell us which.

Some course participants may not have travelled far on airplanes before. For this course, you're travelling around the world and crossing into the opposite hemisphere (eastern, southern). It's a long trip and it's gruelling. Some people take something gentle (e.g. sleep-eze, or Ambien) to help get a little more sleep on this leg of the journey. Be careful about this if you choose to do it - don't take something you aren't sure you can tolerate and be aware of possible interactions with other drugs you may require/be taking. Take medical advice. Expect to be tired when we arrive in Tanzania and to have a few days of jetlag. We'll be outside a lot (read: lots of sunshine), so jetlag passes reasonably quickly for most.

Dehydration can make you feel very uncomfortable on the course. It's easy to get dehydrated. You may arrive a little dehydrated from the flights (rules I follow on these trips: no alcohol, lots of water). It will usually be very dry during the days and perhaps a little warm. Your body will lose water fairly quickly. We're not travelling through any intense deserts, so that is not the kind of situation you'll encounter, but it is still easy to get dehydrated. Dehydration causes lots of problems, including dizziness and faintness, headaches, a host of digestion problems, and potentially urinary tract infections (among other things). These problems can differ in likelihood among men and women. Drink lots of water. 

Suitcases: fit your stuff into a single duffle or suitcase. This should not be hard. Make sure you can carry what you are bringing with you. You'll have to carry your stuff sometimes and everyone else will have their hands full. While generous gestures such as carrying large amounts of old textbooks may seem kind, consider the logistical challenges and the actual priorities of the people in Tanzania. We will probably, as per our previous course iterations, engage in very significant community work while in Tanzania. Such activities are intended to be as helpful for local communities as possible and are geared to known needs.

Keep valuables and important personal items well out of view in your room. Remember that an ipod touch has a pricetag equal to about twice the annual income of some of the people in Tanzania. Keep your travel documents safe. Losing a travel document in Tanzania is a serious logistical problem and effectively may remove you and an instructor from the course while we drive across the country to the capital city to get new documents from the High Commission, which may cause missed flights that you must then repurchase yourself. Be extremely cautious about all valuables, including documents.

Insecticidal bednets: should you or shouldn't you?

This is a decision for you to make. The mosquito nets that students have purchased in the past have been largely unused. It is unlikely that you can hang a net in the tents you will stay in for most of the course. Tents normally function like mosquito nets in that they prevent mosquitoes from getting to you.

If used in an environment where it is possible to hang the net properly, nets are good at stopping mosquitoes from biting you. Nets, if tucked in properly around the sleeper, will also kill bedbugs should you be unlucky enough to be in a room with some of these in it. The problem is that nets require hangers and a bed, which we generally won't have. The dry season in Tanzania has few mosquitoes that bite humans, so insect repellent and anti-malaria drugs (that is: malarone, doxycycline, or lariam, depending on your doctor's advice) are effective at addressing this problem. 

A properly treated mosquito net will set you back very roughly $50 and it lasts two or three years (at most). After that, the insecticide has faded out of it, and it's just a regular net that creates a physical barrier against mosquitoes.