Articles > Taking Toddlers to the Tropics

Autumn is the cusp of the long-haul season, when those seeking true winter sun will be thinking in terms of the likes of Asia, Africa, Australasia and Central or South America. It wasn't so long ago that these destinations were considered too tough and too exotic for anyone but backpackers prepared to rough it, but lower air fares and the spread of international-standard resorts has turned them into regular holiday destinations for couples and even, occasionally, for families with teenage children. But would you take toddlers there too?

Well, dear reader, we did that thing - and we don't regret it in the least. By the time our two were six and four respectively they had already been to Bali, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Morocco and Mexico. Many a parent reading this will no doubt recoil with horror at such reckless irresponsibility, but our children are unharmed, appeared to enjoy themselves and in consequence have a very relaxed attitude to overseas travel which means that we, their parents, don't feel shackled to a lifetime of cottage holidays in Suffolk.

Of course you cannot travel with young children to these more exotic corners of the world without careful preparation and we have relied heavily on advice given by MASTA via their travellers health line (0891 224100), which has the approval of the London School of Tropical Medicine. The advice line has an automated system into which you input your holiday plans and by return get a tailored information pack stipulating both what is required and what advised.

We've then tended to get our vaccinations (both children have had hepatitis jabs to last 10 years and typhoid to last three), from our local GP, where they are free for children. Tetanus and polio are covered in their normal child-inoculation programme.

The jabs are not pleasant but at least they are over quickly. Taking anti-malaria tablets, however, has proved a daily struggle because of the difficulty in disguising their extreme bitterness; it is almost impossible to get a toddler to swallow anything whole without chewing it. In Sri Lanka we found the best solution was grinding the pills up and mixing them with Nutella, which we took with us.

We have also invested in a travel medical kit, mosquito nets for the children's beds (usually unnecessary because they were locally provided), MASTA anti-mosquito wrist and ankle bands, a roll-on repellent kind to children's skin, and those small mosquito-destroying tablets with their electric sockets that you plug into the wall overnight.

Biting insects aside, the other big hazard to prepare for is the effect of unaccustomed sun on young skin. Our two invariably wanted to throw off their clothes to dig or swim and we had to restrain them rigorously, especially in the early days, and insist on them wearing caps and deliberately over-large T-shirts for maximum coverage and to keep them cool. Despite all of this and despite steady application of mega-factor suncream Thomas still managed to get burned in both Sri Lanka and Mexico and had a couple of very uncomfortable nights.

We found tour operators generally unprepared for young children and pretty conservative. Those operating to Goa (we planned a trip but didn't go) actively discouraged us from taking the children; the hotels weren't equipped, they said, and the seas too rough. The latter is undoubtedly the case, but in general we've always found our children to be far more interested in the hotel pool when overseas, which in any case is safer for all concerned.

Diet is harder to prepare for, particularly as the children get older and become more set in their ways. We took our eldest, Thomas, to Bali when he was just eight months old and living on powdered milk and tinned food, all of which we carried with us although we found all major brands - and nappies - also available in Balinese shops. But even with this immunity to local input he still managed to get apocalyptic diarrhoea in a smart restaurant which meant we had to make our excuses and leave.

Sri Lanka was where the children learned the word "spicy", which they still use to refer to almost anything they don't like. To get them to overcome their suspicions we had to re-brand various local foods under familiar labels, presenting the dosai as pizza or pancakes and the buffalo curd as yoghurt. But even in Sri Lanka it was always possible to find a place that served chicken, chips and ketchup, and when all else failed there were plenty of bananas.

But however many precautions you take you should also be prepared for the occasional disaster, of which we have had our share.

In Sri Lanka we were travelling with another family with young children and it was actually their son, aged four, who appeared in the doorway in the gathering gloom with blood gushing out of a head wound. Nicholas had been bouncing on the bed, fell and hit his temple on the bedside table; it was something that could have happened anywhere in the world. As it happened, the local GP was visiting another holidaymaker in the same hotel and was on the scene within five minutes, where he proceeded to sew up the wound with the help of a powerful torch and a needle from the medical kit that we had brought with us.

Nicholas had an impressive head bandage for a couple of days and his parents were understandably anxious about infection, but the cut mended fast and the stitches were eventually removed without further incident. We did, though, move away from the sea into the upland, cooler central area of the island for a while; with Nicholas banned from swimming it wouldn't have been fair to remain at a beachside hotel with a pool.

It was actually a hotel pool that caused our other major problem while in a small beachside resort in Mexico called Playa del Carmen a couple of Easters ago. The new owners of the hotel we were staying in hadn't quite got to grips with the quantities of chlorine required to keep the water bacteria-free, and an ear infection for Thomas was the result.

It quickly became clear that regular applications of Calpol weren't coping with the problem and so the early hours of one morning found us knocking at the door of one of the town's 24 hour clinics. A bleary-eyed doctor, who spoke only Spanish, prescribed anti-biotic injections which Thomas had to have in his behind and subsequently the infection improved but it wasn't until we were back in the UK that it was finally sent packing. I should add that while Thomas himself seemed relatively relaxed about the whole business - except at injection time - his mother never really enjoyed the holiday after that.

Those two incidents aside, we have nothing but good memories. We were never hassled in Morocco as others were, it was easy to get seats on crowded Mexican buses, girls were queuing up to babysit in Bali, we got a ride on a toddy-tappers bullock cart in Sri Lanka and in Kenya we were invited to visit a tribal school. The contact we were making with the local communities was sometimes deeper and more genuine than if we'd been backpacking - and for that we have to thank the children. Let's hope they'll thank us for it, too.

- Take your little ones to Mexico with Airtours (0800 028 4936) between 15th November and 18th December and you'll get a 15 percent discount and free travel insurance. The four-star Crowne Paradise in Cancun has a baby club (18 months - three years) and a children's water park. Seven nights all inclusive for œ739 per adult and first child œ199.

- Toddler fun in the sun with JMC (0870 758 0194) gets cheaper if you can travel out to Orlando on or between 12-17 December. Adult prices for a week at the Holiday Inn Sunspree start at œ479, and toddlers travel for just œ49.

- Travel to Barbados with First Choice (0870 750 0001) and small children will be cared for in a dedicated nursery for 0-4 year olds. The Almond Beach Village is set in 30 acres of tropical gardens and has two children's pools. Adults from œ1,305, first child œ449 for seven nights all-inclusive.

- Tropical Places (0800 083 6662) is offering a week in the Sugar Beach Resort, Mauritius, for œ1,299 per person half-board during the month of October, and children under two years travel for just 10 percent of the price. The resort's kids' club is for two years and older.

- Escape those mid-winter tantrums in Cuba with British Airways Holidays (0870 24 24 245), at the 3-star Villa Cuba Resort, which has gardens leading down to Varadero Beach. The hotel's mini club caters for toddlers, and the first child stays free when sharing with two adults. Prices start at œ829 per adult for seven nights all inclusive, travelling between 5-31 January.

Children as young as three can go trekking in Nepal with Himalayan Kingdom (01453 844400) this winter. The 14-day Family Trek leaves on December 23rd, and includes some wildlife viewing and gentle rafting in a price of œ1,865 for adults and œ1,365 for children. Provision is made for children up to age 9 to be carried in sherpa's baskets.

A mixture of rainforest, cloud forest, beach resort and an active volcano are included in a 15-day family itinerary in Costa Rica from Reef & Rainforest Tours (01803 866965). The company suggests children should be at least one year old and best time to go is from November to April. Prices of œ1,397 for adults, œ487 for children do not include flights from London, which will amount to an extra œ500.

Abundant wildlife is at hand for families travelling to Kenya with Thomson (0990 502 555). The Turtle Bay Beach Club is all-inclusive and based in one of Kenya's coastal Marine Parks. Seven days start from œ725 for an adult with a 50 percent discount for the first child.

Medical box

MASTA advises against taking babies to tropical locations before they've had their major immunisations (diptheria, tetanus, whooping cough and polio), usually by the time they are four months. Ideally, they should also have had their measles, mumps and rubella immunisations (usually by 15 months).

The typhoid vaccine is not effective before a child reaches 18 months, and hepatitis A is shrugged off by very young children. Taking anti-malarial tablets, which are very bitter, can often be avoided if you research the destination thoroughly and choose malaria-free resorts. Malaria can affect small children very quickly, and parents should take every precaution to prevent them being bitten.

Essential supplies are clean water, familiar food and basic medicines (Calpol and something to prevent dehydration through diarrhoea); a suncream of at least factor 15 (children under six months shouldn't be exposed to direct sunlight at all) and a first aid kit preferably with sterilised needles.

For detailed advice contact Masta (0891 224100) or British Airways travel clinics (01276 685040) at least six weeks before you plan to go.

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