american traveling to South Africa

[nata0742]

we have the chance to go to South Africa - leaving in 2 weeks.....

need to act fast to get babies passports, get visas and off we go

BUT

there is a vaccination requirement and we are a non vaxing family....

any advice?

[XanaduMama]

Are you SURE about the vax requirement??? I'm South African, and dh and ds have both been (they have US passports) several times and the vax thing has never come up. You can get a 4 month travel visa when you arrive in SA: they just stamp your passport (so you don't need it in advance, in other words). Do you have a US passport or another country's?

[theretohere]

AFAIK there isn't a vax requirement unless you are coming from an area with yellow fever.

[vesper0]

These ladies are right there isn't a vax requirement unless you are traveling to yellow fever areas. I was there recently with DH, who is South African, and we were all over S. Africa while we were there. They just stamp your passport as you enter the country and you automatically are on a temporary visa.

[crayolaab]

I am not aware of any vax requirements unless you are coming from a yellow fever country. BUT good luck getting the passports, there is a HUGE backlog so definitely do the expedited ones and include your travel itinerary with the application.

[ItsAllGood]

We are traveling to South Africa and then onto Senegal and the Gambia. We are a non-vaxing family.....would you still recommend the yellow-fever vaccination? I know about the CDC recommendations, we are prepared with documents to support non-vaxing, HOWEVER.....in real life experience, is the threat high over there, that you would recommend vaccinating??

[ItsAllGood]

HI all just a follow up - we traveled to South Africa just recently.
VACCINATION FREE with no problems.
We had a fabulous time !!