Okavango Delta · Chobe · Travel Medicine
Floodwaters make the Delta. They make the mosquitoes too.
Get Malarone (atovaquone-proguanil) before you fly to Maun or Kasane. One pill a day, started a day or two before you land, keeps chloroquine-resistant malaria off the trip. Ready at your pharmacy before you board.
- Physician-founded
- Licensed in all 50 states
- HSA / FSA eligible
- Same-day Rx in most cases
The Okavango Delta and Chobe National Park sit inside Botswana's northern malaria belt, where CDC recommends chemoprophylaxis for every traveler. Chobe, Ngami, and Okavango districts together account for more than 85 percent of Botswana's malaria cases, and every strain of Plasmodium falciparum in sub-Saharan Africa is treated as chloroquine-resistant. Transmission peaks November through May, on the back of the rains, which is also when the Delta floods to its widest and the wildlife viewing is at its peak. Anopheles mosquitoes bite from dusk through dawn, which lines up exactly with sundowners on the deck, night drives in Chobe, and the open-canvas tented camps the region is built around. Once you leave Maun or Kasane, the gap between a bush camp and a real pharmacy is measured in flight time. Sort the antimalarial before you board.
Botswana travel health guide — vaccines, snapshot overview, and what to review before you go.
Orders are reviewed and prescriptions sent to your pharmacy within 24 hours.
Booking questions, platform help, or just not sure where to start, give us a call.
+1 (302) 251-2302Rx at your pharmacy in three steps.
No appointment. No waiting room. Answer a few questions and a licensed provider reviews within hours.
Your destination, dates, health history, and current medications. Takes about 2 minutes.
A licensed clinician reviews your health profile, checks for interactions, and approves your prescription.
- Allergy screen passed
- Drug interactions clear
- Prescription approved
Your approved prescription is sent electronically to the pharmacy of your choice. Pick it up when your pharmacy has it ready.
Skip the appointment. Get the same Rx.
Both columns cover the visit and prescribing only. Your pharmacy bills the medication itself on either side.
Medications in the Okavango Delta & Chobe plan
Botswana safari medication FAQ
- Yes. CDC recommends malaria chemoprophylaxis for all travelers to Botswana's northern districts, including Chobe, the Okavango Delta, Ngamiland, and the surrounding game reserves. Chobe, Ngami, and Okavango districts together account for more than 85 percent of the country's malaria cases, and every strain of Plasmodium falciparum in sub-Saharan Africa is treated as chloroquine-resistant. Risk runs primarily November through May with a transmission peak February to mid-April, but Anopheles activity does not switch off in the shoulder seasons, and water-based camps in the Delta sit on permanent mosquito habitat. Malarone is one of CDC's first-line options because it has the shortest pre-trip and post-trip dosing window of any malaria pill, and it pairs cleanly with the morning, evening, and night-drive timing of a Botswana itinerary.
- One tablet by mouth, once daily, with food. Start 1 to 2 days before you enter a malaria area (so the day before or day of arrival in Maun or Kasane), continue every day throughout your trip, and keep taking it for 7 days after you leave the malaria area. Most safari travelers find it easiest to set a phone alarm for the evening meal at camp, since taking it with food helps absorption and reduces the chance of stomach upset. If you miss a dose, take it as soon as you remember unless it is close to the next scheduled dose, and never double up.
- Three prescriptions in one visit. Malarone (atovaquone-proguanil) for daily malaria prevention, taken with food from the day before you land through 7 days after you leave the malaria area. Prescription-strength ibuprofen for mokoro paddle aches across long Delta water days, sunrise game-drive starts on rough bush tracks, and the heat-headache and joint pain that build across a week in the bush. Clotrimazole-betamethasone (Lotrisone) for the swamp-humidity rashes, fungal foot and groin issues from wet boots, and bug-bite reaction sites that come with water-based safari, where the closest pharmacy can be a charter flight away. Three risks, three prescriptions, one visit.
- Orders are reviewed by a US-licensed provider and the Rx is sent electronically to your pharmacy within 24 hours. Most travelers can pick it up the same day.
- After your provider approves the Rx, it's sent electronically to whichever pharmacy you choose during your visit. Your pharmacy will tell you when the medication is ready for pickup. You can use your pharmacy insurance to cover the medication itself.
- If a provider can't safely prescribe (rare, usually due to a contraindication), the visit fee is refunded in full. You only pay if the Rx is sent.
Sort the malaria pill before the charter flight to Maun.
One visit, three prescriptions for the trip you have been planning for years. Reviewed by a US-licensed provider, ready at your pharmacy before you fly to Botswana.