Safety February 2022?

Are there any recent K&T participants here that can comment on how safe they felt on this trip. This is a bucket list trip for my now very healthy 85 yo mother that has been delayed more than a year due to COVID. We have some anxiety about the state department saying do not travel but also concerned that another delay could mean she is not in the health required for enjoying this trip.

Comments

  • edited October 2021

    Sharon, reports have been good. If you look at state department warnings for many many countries, they have said do not travel for years, quite often it’s because of crime and terrorism and natural disasters and not the Pandemic
    I’ve taken the K and T tour twice, most recently December 2019. We have also taken the Tanzania Zanzibar tour that covers much the same terrItory. The African safaris are the least ‘strenuous’ of any of the Tauck tours as there is hardly any walking. In fact, you sit for hours in a vehicle and feel totally unfit from sitting and eating when you get home.
    As long as your Mom can get in and out of a Safari vehicle, I see no problem from a physical standpoint. The roads are improved, so it’s less bumpy. Places we had to drive to on our first time there are now by plane. If you are more worried about illness, then it is very isolated. I would recommend extra evacuation insurance over and above what Tauck offers. The one we have includes getting you back to the US rather than taking you to the nearest decent hospital. You can be escorted up to your front door with a nurse escort once fit enough with ours.
    In addition, if you get Chris as tour guide, he is excellent, he lives in Tanzania, so he knows the ropes

  • Sharon_Smith9--has your mother received the Yellow Fever vaccine? If so, any reaction/issues?

  • I would imagine that being 85 will get her a seat next to the driver instead of ‘climbing’ into the back of the safari vehicle. But, we. just traveled with a woman who was 89 and walked with a cane, and she went everywhere. Much younger people sometimes need some ‘push’ help if they are overweight.

  • She has been told she does not need the yellow fever vaccine due to age but we have an appointment with a travel clinic to discuss it.

  • Thank you Sharon_Smith9. I'm 76 and really am not keen on the shot so I'd be interested to hear what the travel clinic has to say. I've not discussed in detail with my primary care doc as yet either. I just don't want to be on the border there and have an agent tell me sorry no admittance without it. My trip is not until next October so I have plenty of time.

  • Here is a link to the CDC’s vaccine safety statements for the Yellow fever vaccine
    If your Doctor advises against the vaccine or you decide not to get it, you must still be able to show a specified document to boarder officials. Seethe end of the article
    If you plan to go to some South American countries, you will run into the same problem

    https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/vis/vis-statements/yf.html

  • Sharon I'm 78 and just returned from that trip. I felt very safe all the time, I must say that some of the safari drives were very bumpy but I had no effects from them, one of the ladies in the tour was told that she did not need the yellow fever vaccine as she was 65 years old, but another in her early 70's had the vaccination. Your mom will love this tour.

  • We took the Kenya and Tanzania tour a few years ago. My husband was 70 and was advised by the travel doctor not to get the yellow fever vaccine. The doctor filled out the yellow card under the contraindications section and stamped it with his official yellow fever clinic stamp. He then wrote a letter on his letter head stating a medical reason that he was exempt. He had no trouble entering Kenya, but things could have changed.

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