Different Approach
I am currently in Game lodge at the Eastern end of the Caprivi strip in Namibia. We have ridden up from Cape Town. According the the UK NHS we are right in the middle of a hot malaria zone. We have been taking the prophylactics now for 4 days and are suffering from the squirts quite badly as a result?
What intrigues me is that every single local we speak to don't bother with any meds. The 70plus year old guy who owns this lodge doesn't even bother with a net over his bed. He keeps a fan on which he reckons blows them away. He has never had malaria.
I know the stats about it being one of the world's biggest killers but it is astonishing just how relaxed people are about it. Perhaps we are seeing monied people not worrying because they know a private hospital will sort them if needs be but in truth if they got it regularly you wou'd think they would take the meds despite the side effects.
Perhaps it's an education/poverty thing again? I am really struggling to reconcile all the dire warnings received when preparing for this trip with what i see and hear from the people who live here.
|