Malaria in Kosi Bay
What is Malaria?
Malaria is an infectious disease caused by a parasite, Plasmodium, which infects red blood cells. Malaria is characterized by cycles of chills, fever, pain, and sweating. Malaria has plagued mankind since the beginning of time.
Kosi Bay is classified as a low risk malaria area. Please consult the map for a better understanding of malaria travel risks in South Africa.
Map supplied by www.malaria.org.za.
So what does this mean for the traveler?
If you are staying in any of the high risk areas you are advised to take precautions.
If you are staying in any of the low risk areas adjacent to a high risk area it’s advisable to make 
sure that if you feel any symptoms you advise your doctor to test for malaria.
The symptoms are easily confused with flu and the common cold, but where flu and the common cold will get better malaria won’t necessarily and can be life threatening.
The best course of action is to do research on malaria and if visiting your doctor make sure you ask for an opinion especially if pregnant or traveling with children under the age of 5. Remember it’s very important to finish your prescription of malaria prophylaxis.
Malaria is very well documented on the web and information is easily found. Some searches on popular search engines will give you all the information you will need. Remember that most reported stats on deaths caused by malaria relate to impoverished areas of the World where good health care is limited or non-existent. Certainly many tropical destinations have malaria and this should not deter the tourist from visiting these areas but make them aware of the dangers and available treatments.
If in doubt ask your doctor and or do some research.
Kosi Bay warm to hot while the rest of SA freezes.
As the rest of South Africa freezes Kosi Bay is still warm if not hot by comparison. With the exception of cool nights and mornings our daytime temperatures are still above 25 C. If you don’t like the hot weather of our summers and don’t enjoy freezing, now is the time to visit Kosi Bay.
Kosi Bay mistakenly reported as a dangerous shark area.
Please don’t get the wrong idea, sharks live in the ocean and if you go into the ocean you are swimming in their backyard. Don’t be fooled about bogus reports you read on the internet about Kosi Bay being one of the most dangerous shark infested places in the World. This is simply not true.
The only report I can find on the internet is an attack in 1971 where a woman’s foot was bitten by a shark near Kosi Bay. That is 41 years ago, in that time countless hundreds of thousands of people have entered the waters around Kosi Bay without any reported incidents.
Firstly 99% of people either don't have the fitness or understanding to swim deep enough to ever encounter a shark.
Secondly you should never swim after dark when the sharks are inclined to be inshore in shallow water.
Simply put when you see articles on the web touting Kosi Bay to be dangerous look at the dates of the articles, they are years old. Have you read in any news paper or seen any reports on TV about any recent shark attacks in the area? No. If you have please point me to them I would like to know about this news too.
There are more people killed each year by coconuts falling on their heads than sharks. There are more people killed by toasters than sharks each year.
So please put sharks and dangers into perspective you would have to consider yourself lucky to be killed or maimed by one of these creatures. Certainly when you drive your car each day you are at more risk than taking the odd swim in the sea. When sharks are inshore and could pose a danger don’t swim hoping to tell your mates you had a near close encounter with a shark because if you do you will come off second best.
Common sense is the order of the day.
Kosi Moon posts a new website
We hope that you will enjoy our new more interactive website based on the WordPress CMS. After many years of our static rendition of our website that has been enjoyed by many we have decided to push ahead with a total revamp. Personally we think its been long overdue. New news and photos will soon adorn our new site with interesting articles an images to tantalize you. We will also be able more easily bring you our daily finds and keep you posted of our activities.