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Used to be paranoid about Malaria and took it every time. Now I only take them during the rainy season or if I'm in a camp near civilization or near a major water source (i.e. Skukuza, Crocodile Bridge, Shimuwini, etc.).

Tried the Malanil last time. Only side effects was that it was bad for my skin and it made me drowsy at night, after taking the pill. Was worth it though to only have to take it for a week afterwards.

If you don't live in a Malaria area I'd say it would be foolish not to take it when visiting, especially once the rains start.

We didn't take any as we didn't see a single mosquito.
My mother had bad side-effects from the medicine, panic attacks and the like, so I wasn't really inclined to take any. Same genes and all of that...

We've taken Doxymal (Doxycyclin) the last few times. Take it 48hrs before going and for 4 weeks after. Take it in the evening after meals. Have had no side effects. Best part is you get it on prescription and med aid pays for it.

I took Mefliam. No side effects, however if you are prone to depression they recommend that you don't take it. You take one tablet a week before, and then once a week while you are there and then carrying on for two weeks after you have left. Worked out cheaper than Doxycycline (R 140), it was about R 90.

I also used Mefliam. Cheaper than most medication and convenient. One pill per week! Also ,no side effects!

I took Mefloquine (larium) successfully for 2 years but the 3rd year I suffered dreadful phsychological side effects - I literally went 'crazy' towards the end of the 2nd week of my 5 week stay! Not a pleasant experience!

Since then I have taken Malarone a couple of times but each time found that there were no mozzies around so stopped taking them after a couple of days and relied upon bug sprays instead (just in case the mozzies paid an unexpected visit) so I have no idea whether I would react badly to this drug

My visits to Africa are mostly just before or just after the mozzie season and, although I know that I should take proper precautions, the memory of my 'crazy' episode, which lasted, in total, for over 3 months, makes me a tad nervous of taking malaria prophylactics.

Hi Tabs

I experienced a particularly nasty bout of depression which lasted over 3 months after taking Larium so I will never take it again! My father-in-law had a very bad reaction to Doxycycline, which left him with a very swollen face and terrible itching for over a year. Before our trip in 2003, I visited the travel clinic in my home town and they recommended Malarone for its low level of side effects and they were definitely right for me. The only side effect I suffered was the cost of the tablets! I wouldn't use anything else now. We're going to be over there in May 2005 and I'm going to be watching the weather forecast to see if I might be able to get away with just gin & tonic & tabard...

I wasn't only depressed from taking Larium - I was positively psychotic! I can laugh about it now but it was not funny at the time, especially as I was just into the 2nd week of my 4 week Field Guiding practical course with Freda and Ngala, who are very good friends but whom I treated very badly at the time as, in my screwed-up state of mind, I thought they were plotting against me, among other things - ewwwwww! Thank goodness for good friends tho - they understood what I was going through - and 'stood by me' and we have remained friends.

I am not altogether sure that the effects have left me completely to this day..... 3 years on I still have occasional mild bouts of depression and psychosis, which I never suffered before taking Larium!

Malarone is bloody expensive - I paid something like £60 for a 15 day course the last time - but it is worth it if it means that you retain your sanity

Malarone is covered by my health insurance in the Netherlands. Isn't this the case in the UK?

It is not covered under the National Health Service Gwendoline - and as far as I am aware, not even under any Private Health Insurance scheme.

We have to get a 'private' prescription from our doctor and then pay whatever the going price is for the drug from the pharmacist. Larium (for example) is cheaper than malarone but only relatively so because it is a once-a-week treatment whereas malarone has to be taken daily - we pay according to how many pills are needed.

Unfortunately not. We have to pay for all travel medicine. A pack of 12 malarone tablets costs about £40

tula, it seems to be twice as expensive in SA, according to this article I found. Hope this helps
"The latest drug is Malarone, (called Melanil in South Africa) which seems to have few side-effects. Doctors recommend it for short trips because you don't need to take it more than 24 hours in advance to get protection and you can stop taking it seven days after you get back. You take it daily. It’s expensive though (R45 a tablet) and available only through selected travel clinics."

I also experienced severe psychotic side effects from Larium, after taking the course during a trip to Zimbabwe. This was when it first came out in about 1992. I vowed that I will never touch the drug again.

Needless to say, thereafter relied soley on the prevention insect replellants provide - until I got to know of someone who developed cerebral malaria and was hospitalised for just over 2 months. This person went into multi organ failure and was ventilated in ICU for about 8 weeks - prognosis wasn't that great, but managed to pull through and was eventually discharged home.

Hence this experience changed my attitude about taking adequate precautions, so last year before our trip to KNP, our GP unknowingly prescribed us the generic of Larium. After experiencing the previous psychotic episode with the original, I had him and the pharmacist on the phone for a few days trying to agree to a more appropriate combination pill. With a bit of research on my part, we all came up with the unanimous decision to use Mananil.

It is quite expensive, cost me (our medical aid) R1984.19 for a 5 week course for 2 of us. But was well worth the cost considering the devastating consequences of Malaria. Neither my husband nor I suffered any side effects from taking the Malanil.

After 15 years of shoving vile tasting malaria medication of every description down our throats we have finally stopped. We found ourselves in situations where we were still on the course from our Kruger trip and were due to go to Zululand and hence were on Malaria medication for literally months at a time. There is also a school of thought that taking malaria medication masks the symptoms if you are unfortunate enough to actually catch it. Instead we have adopted a strict regimen of literally covering ourselves in either Tabaard or Peaceful sleep cream (better than the spray as you can make sure it is a complete coverage of all skin), burning coils right round the perimeter of our verandahs at night as well as bug candles and then at around 5 in the afternoon we close up all windows of sleeping accommodation, put the air con on and plug in a bottle of anti-mozzie stuff directly into the plugs on the wall. We have done this for the last 5 years and despite going to the Park in the rainy season (January) have not experienced a problem. One piece of advice though one has to be religious and after bathing at night we re-apply cream to our whole bodies. During the day we take the sticks with us in the car and if we perspire excessively replace the layer of mozzie repellant immediately. So far so good!!