Africa Trip Planning (Personal Docs 1)

Photo by Torsten Dettlaff from Pexels

Crossing Africa by whatever means has been the attraction for many an explorer and intrepid traveller. The "Dark Continent", as it is still referred to by those who have not experienced the delights, spills and drama Africa provides, can be very much in your face. Most will either fall in love with it or just hate it straight out with the minority of travellers falling into the latter category. My saying has always been "...the only constant in Africa is that nothing is constant!"

This unknown is probably the greatest magnet that is Africa.

Planning for a trip/expedition across Africa should thus never be taken lightly. If you can think of something that can go wrong, add it to your list of back-up solutions required for the trip. Of course, in an ideal world, everything will go as planned and nothing will go wrong or awry - just remember, ideal world is pie-in-the-sky when we're talking Africa.

Let's start with the basics like documents you should always have with you. 

Personal Contacts Sheet

Personal details and contact details of family and/or close friends summarised on one sheet goes a long way to putting in place a good chain of communications should something happen or go wrong. This contact sheet should be sent to each of the family members/friends you want to keep in the loop. That way if one gets a call for assistance, they can contact one of the people on your contact sheet.

Traveller Registration

Closely related to this is letting the Foreign Office/Foreign Service of your country know when, how long and where you will be going. Most western countries now have online registration systems in place for this purpose. Depending how deep into the 'sticks' you're venturing, you could drop off/e-mail a copy of your contact sheet to your embassy in the country you're visiting, that's of course if your country is represented there.

Local Mobile/Contact Number

On arrival in your destination country, it's also prudent to let your contacts know what your local mobile number will be. (Local sim cards mean cheaper calls abroad as opposed to very expensive roaming fees)

The following post on  Personal Documents (2)