Planning a Gap Year in Africa

So you've decided to take a gap year between school and university or maybe between uni and starting out in the world of work. People sometimes choose to do it as a career break a bit later on too. Whatever your reason, gap year Africa is what you have in mind.

Why Africa? It's hot and dusty or hot and humid according to whereabouts you go. It's full of scary animals and dangerous terrain, isn't it? Well yes but isn't all that part of the attraction? It's a vast continent with an infinite variety of landscape, wildlife and people. It's one of the most fascinating places on Earth. One of the first things you need to remember is that once you've been there you'll always be drawn back. Africa does that to people!

A gap year in Africa usually means getting involved in voluntary work of some kind. Africa's home to some of the poorest people on the planet living in some of the harshest conditions so the scope for doing something to help is just about endless. You can spend your year doing some of the most worthwhile things you'll ever do in your life. In doing so you'll learn more about yourself, life and the world than you'd ever think possible. It doesn't matter how old you are, you'll grow up some more!

It's a fantastic opportunity, not only to meet some really great people and make a real difference to their lives but also to see and experience things you'll never forget and that you wouldn't have missed for anything.

So we've got the hang of why you want to go and indeed why if you've got the chance you should grab it with both hands. Thing is though this isn't a fortnight in Benidorm. This needs planning with a capital "P" You need to sort out your travel, not just from Heathrow to Nairobi or Capetown or wherever but on from there to your actual destination that may be hundreds of miles away in the bush. Transport at that stage may not be quite so simple as you've been used to!

Accommodation is another obvious consideration whether it be in campsites, rented accommodation or hostels. If you haven't already organised the funding of your gap year Africa then you'd probably better do that first.

Assuming you've already got your passport you'll need to arrange all the necessary visas for all the countries you'll visit or pass through. Remember there's a lot of different countries in Africa and they're all likely to have different requirements.

You'll have to get yourself and your project covered by insurance against all sorts of risks before you go. Don't forget also that you're going to places where all sorts of diseases you've probably never heard of are rampant so you must get all the necessary inoculations in good time.

It sounds as though you really need two gap years. One to get yourself organised before you start on gap year Africa for real! Don't let all this put you off though. Just don't leave it to the last minute. Give yourself plenty of time to organise and plan everything and you'll be fine.

In fact your best bet would almost certainly be to put yourself in the hands of one of the specialist organisations that exist to arrange these things. Actually if you're going to take on any kind of voluntary work in Africa, and that's got to be the way to get the most out of the experience, you'll need to do just that anyway. There are several of them. All do tremendous work and your hardest task will be deciding which one to go with to make gap year Africa the most memorable year of your life and for all the best of reasons.

Author Biography -:

Michelle Tutt

Camps International

www.campsinternational.com