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Tips for Traveling to Africa

Things to bring

  • Passport, with at least 6 months remaining
    • Visa in passport
  • Yellow fever card, if necessary
  • Flashlight (preferably, headlamp), esp. if traveling to a country with intermittent power
  • Laptop, possibly spare batteries
  • Digital camera
  • As much money as you expect to spend in cash - especially in Nigeria, you will not be able to use credit cards or ATM cards. If you do not take cash, you will not have money.
  • If you can, take a world cell phone. SIM cards in Nigeria are very inexpensive.
  • Letters of invitation (from MIT and from the Africans)
  • Contact info for whomever you will meet at the airport
  • If you have a chance, a guidebook (or at least the name of a hotel in the city you are arriving in, as a fallback)

If you have spare room in luggage, you can take old electronics equipment (from Reuse and otherwise). The Africans will appreciate it. Even broken equipment that would be thrown away in the US is often repaired in Africa.

Things to do first:

  • Go to see travel medicine at MIT Medical, to get immunization shots. Some of these require multiple shots, spaced out over several months, so it is good to go well in advance
  • Read about culture of country in question
  • Apply for visa. If you're in a hurry, use a visa service. We've had bad luck with Travel Document Systems, and good luck with VP2Go
  • You will want travel insurance (MISTI can arrange this for you)
  • You will need to sign a travel waiver (same people at MISTI will give this to you)
  • Buy a plane ticket (usually done through Gail at the Travel Collaborative). Be aware that, depending on the source of funding, you may need to travel on a US carrier (this is the case for many NSF-funded trips, but usually does not apply to us).

You'll need to brush teeth with bottled water. To do this, without wasting a ton of water: brush teeth as you would normally. Suck toothpaste off of toothbrush. Rinse with bottled water, but do not spit. With water in mouth, brush again to clean toothbrush. Spit. Suck remaining water/toothpaste off of toothbrush. If necessary, rinse again.

Once in Africa, some notes for OAU: Eat food at New Buka. The best food in New Buka is probably at Spices, but A La Carte is almost as good, but quiter, faster, and much cheaper. You get around campus by motorbike. A motorbike from the computer building to New Buka costs 20 naira. You may confirm prices with the locals when you arrive, but don't let the motorbike drivers cheat you. Let the guys at the guesthouse do your laundry (about 400 naira per week). They can also cook, but it is somewhat expensive compared to New Buka (~600 naira per meal, vs 150 at A La Carte, and maybe 400-500 naira at Spices).

You can often schedule travel around Africa for not much more money, if you have the time. The procedure is that MIT pays what the airfare would be to the country you want to visit, and you pay any costs above that.

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