Is there anyone coming from/having visited in south America, middle Africa or Indonesia?
I would like to know what is living there?
I'm seeking for adventures in those areas and I think it is good to know something about the riskies in streets and in jungles or forests(I dont know exactly what king of nature there are)?
What kind of people there are? Do they come to speak a stranger? Are they friendly?
And if there are robbers, could you tell me, what is their styles to steal(pic pocketing, murdering...)?
And if there are robbers trying to steal with a weapon, could you tell me what kind of weapons they are...pistols, knives, sticks,sleeping gas...
And how big teams robbers steal in generally speaking? What kind of places or situations they try to steal?
And last, if you can not respond my questions, can you tell me what is a better newsgroup or place for my questions?
I would like to know what is living there?
I'm seeking for adventures in those areas and I think it is good to know something about the riskies in streets and in jungles or forests(I dont know exactly what king of nature there are)?
What kind of people there are? Do they come to speak a stranger? Are they friendly?
And if there are robbers, could you tell me, what is their styles to steal(pic pocketing, murdering...)?
And if there are robbers trying to steal with a weapon, could you tell me what kind of weapons they are...pistols, knives, sticks,sleeping gas...
And how big teams robbers steal in generally speaking? What kind of places or situations they try to steal?
And last, if you can not respond my questions, can you tell me what is a better newsgroup or place for my questions?
Vastaukset 5
Vanhimmat
If you are so worried about weapons and robbers and murders I recommend travelling somewhere little less worrying...
I used to live in central Africa, in a small village in the middle of the bush, for a while and I never faced any horror scenarios like the ones you presented. Same goes with the big cities I've stayed in. Generally people were friendly and open and accepting, despite the color of my skin or my origins. Obviously you travel and move around with common sense and remember to be careful as anywhere, I don't recommend wandering round Luanda or Kinshasa late at night drunk or you will most likely get murdered, or worse.
Travel book might give you some good advice, although I am not sure that even they list weapons or alike..
I'm not afraid of robbers but I think it is still good to prepare murdering and steling tryings althought there is no murders or stealings normally. Every new land has its own new riskies also, and I think it is good to know something about the new riskies, so I asked about the stealings, If it is in random the new risk(Who knows!).
And reason two:
I'm interested about weapons becouse I can defend myself if there are no guns, or certainly not lot of guns. "Land of no guns" offers me a posibility to wander everywhere, so thats why I'm keen on about it.
But I still thank you giving advice. If there are person who knows more and tell me his pieces of advice, I'll be more thankfull then:)
You Chalkeia, I think you know something about the nature around the areas you used to live. Is there any beasts around the village? And what kind of vegetations there are? Could I, for example, to wander in the forest with out the big problems such like dangerous insects or snake preventing me all the time to go anywhere. And what I must to remember when going to forest?
If there are lakes or rives, could I swim there without a worm tries to come in my body. Or are there something other dangerous least squares in water or swamp?
I want to be sure that middle Africa doesn't offer me funny surprises when I'm swiming in river:) In Finlad I can do that wihtout any concern disregarding cold water but maybe In Africa the situation is not same.
ok, fair enough, understand your concerns now.
What I said earlier still stands; you just gotta be careful and use common sense. My experiences are mainly from a fairly pieceful country, Zambia, and at least people in the rural areas wouldn't carry a gun. in the cities, might be different, you can never know what people's intensions are. Also a good one to remember is not to trust police officers too much; they do carry weapons, obviously, but the mentality is not quite the same as what we are used to in finland... Also I would avoid any restless border areas. If you are determined to go to sub-sharan africa you have a plenty of choice of peacefull countries to go to.
Nature in Africa is so varied it is impossible to give any specific details, you can find out information from travel books and choose the kind of environment you would like to explore. "Beasts" as you call them are many, but of course the big African animals are mainly to be found at national parks, occasionally elsewhere as well. Snakes, as you said are common. The best information you can get is asking the locals, where ever you go to. The worst "beasts" are probably mosquitos spreading malaria- but can be pretty much avoided with malaria medication, and other protection, but again, you'll still the risk of getting it. Also some areas, at least in the areas familiar to me, have a plenty of tse-tse flies which spread the sleeping sickness- a fairly dramatic disease. But the flies are big and slow and easy to spot.
I do NOT recommend swimming in lakes, or rivers even. Bilharzia is a nasty disease you are quite likely to get if you swim in a wrong place. Rivers that flow fast there is no such problem but you have to remember the presence of crocodiles. Again, locals are a good source of information...although they aren't always aware of the health risks. So I would be very cautious. There are safe places to swim as well, you just have to find them!
One more thing that springs to mind is doing laundry...if you are in the rural areas you'll obviously have to wash your clothes by hand. If you dry your clothes outside, they NEED to be ironed before use, everything. An insect lays eggs on hanging laundry and when you wear them you'llget them on your skin - result: you'll get these worms inside your body that will however eventually make their way out through your skin so you can pull them out bit by bit, but it's not a very pöeasent experience. :(
I would strongly recommend that you read books about the area you decide to go to. You can find some useful tips. And once down there, you always bumb into other europeans living there and you can get valuable information from them.
Good luck with it all, and if your plans come reality, please let us know how it went and what did you get up to.
p.s. keep in mind the very bad HIV situation in the sub-sharan africa
You know so much that I would ask still few more question :)
What about fire working? Are people allowed to do fire in forest or anywhere?
Are people allowed to camp in land(I'm meen sleeping in tent or doing somekind of stick house) which are owned by state and the land are't public area?
It is easy to communicate with local people? Could somewhere be areas or villages where nobody understand english?
You tell me to read travel books. Do you recommend me to read any special book? If you did, could you tell where I can get it?
How can I protect myself for insects you told me? In additions to vaccinate myself, can I prevent mosquitos by clothing? Have you any good tips of preventing, like staying in smoke a short period :) (its helps in Finland, I have tested)?
What you meen about this:"they NEED to be ironed before use"
I don't find any good word about ironing in my dictionary.
More thanks to you!
I don't know about rules concerning fires, i wonder if there even are rules about that! You'll be ok, just don't start forest fires!!
Camping should be ok as well...i really don't think there are particular rules about that either! If you're camping by a village I would ask the people if it's ok, and they will most definately tell you it is ok. The land is in many places owned by a state but ruled by the chief of each village, or owned by the chief. So he is the to turn to if you are in an area where there are people living. They will be most happy to have you, in most placves anyway. Just remember to act respectfully.
Depends very much in which country you go to, if they'll speak english or not. If you are in an old british colony there are always people who speak english, even in the villages. And at least to my experience it is easy to communicate, even without a common language.
Lonely Planet books are recommended my many travellers, you can finf them on different coutries and I think there is one that covers the whole of Africa as well. Can be bought at any major book shops, find them in libraries, they have a website as well:
www.lonelyplanet.com
Worth visiting maybe.
You have to start taking the malaria tablets, like quinine and chlorine, at least a week before you travel, some recommend two weeks, keep taking them regularly and carry on taking them at least a week or two after your return. Get a doctor's appointment and you'll get the medication and all the necessary information from there. The medication depends on the area you go to. But it is good to remember that nothing can prevent it 100%. Use mosquito repellants, wear long sleeves after sunset and use a mosquito net when sleeping, making sure it's far enough away from you so that the mozzers can't get you through it. If you get the malaria after all, get to the nearest clinic or hospital, you'll get a blood test taken and then the suitable medication if you need it. Buy needles before you go! NEVER let them take a blood test with anything than your own needle that is safe. (unless you are absolutely sure that the needle is unused and disinfected as it should be) (HIV!!)
(I don't know about smoke...you can always try!)
Iron= silittää in Finnish. Obviously it may be a little difficult to iron if you are in the bush, some people in villages have the old cole irons, like the ones you see in a museum in finland! But...if you're out there, dry your clothes for example in a tent. And not all places have the particular insects.
Guess that's all again for now!
:D