Before Your Safari: What Caucasus Travellers Need to Know About Malaria

By Safari News — Africa Calling Safaris, Partner desk, Nairobi · 07/10/2025

Updated 23 October 2026

For GTour readers extending a Georgia trip into East Africa, malaria remains the chief health concern on safari, though it is largely avoidable with planning. The parasite spreads through the female Anopheles mosquito, active mainly from dusk to dawn, and risk in Kenya and Tanzania shifts with altitude and rainfall rather than staying constant across a trip. Nairobi, sitting at 1,700 metres, is considered low but not zero risk, while the Masai Mara (1,500–2,000 m) sees seasonal spikes, particularly during and after the long rains of April to June. Travellers flying from Tbilisi typically connect via Istanbul or Doha, which leaves enough lead time to start any prescribed prophylaxis before arrival.

Three prophylactic drugs dominate prescriptions for the region: atovaquone-proguanil (Malarone), started one to two days ahead and continued a week after departure; doxycycline, cheaper but linked to sun sensitivity; and mefloquine, a weekly dose requiring three weeks’ lead-in and carrying a higher chance of neuropsychiatric side effects. None replace physical barriers — DEET repellent at 30–50% concentration, long sleeves at dusk and permethrin-treated nets remain essential additions.

Figures from the World Health Organization put global malaria cases at 249 million in 2022, with 94% occurring in the African region. A review of 840 post-trip questionnaires collected by a Nairobi-based operator between 2019 and 2024 found eight malaria scares requiring medical assessment — every one involving travellers who had not completed their prescribed course.

Doctors stress that any fever appearing during travel or within three months of return from a risk area warrants immediate evaluation, with full disclosure of African travel to attending physicians.

Based on reporting by Safari News, the travel desk of Africa Calling Safaris (Nairobi), GTour’s partner for East Africa. Read the original there.