Tips for Visiting South Africa

Ronerrlaw on 11/01/2020 - 11:59

Hey All,

Planning on visiting South Africa in 2021 and was wondering if anyone would care to share their experience?

Will be traveling with 7 other seasoned travels, but none have ever been to South Africa.

Main objective is to try and see the Big 5, Victoria falls, Cape Town, and experience the local culture, cuisine and sample wines.

Trying to decide between planning a self planned trip where we will drive from Johannesburg to Cape Town, or to join a tour group?

Any and all tips, reccomendstions ,or help would be really appreciated

Travel Africa South Africa

Comments

  • elgrande on 11/01/2020 - 12:13
    +3
    1. Carry a gun
  • StonedWizard on 11/01/2020 - 12:17
    -2

    Carry water with you.

  • CecilTheChair on 11/01/2020 - 12:24
    +2

    Just drive it, get out of Joburg as soon as possible (only really Mandelas township to see), do a tour to a safari park and/or Victoria falls (which isn’t in South Africa) from there too.

    But the drive from joburg down to Durban (take a trip into Lesotho on the way) then along the garden route to Cape Town is an easy and great drive. Loads of places to stop on the way.

  • payless69 on 11/01/2020 - 12:39
    -4

    With an AIDS rate of around 86% I would say a box of 100 condoms, better safe than sorry.

  • profar on 11/01/2020 - 12:45

    Don't , same as visiting Mexico too much random violence !

  • Muzeeb on 11/01/2020 - 12:46
    +2

    Watch SA car jacking videos on YouTube so you are prepared and can preplan your escape technique.

  • mbck on 11/01/2020 - 14:15

    Get nick fury's car

  • SuperMick on 11/01/2020 - 14:26

    Don't drive at night, Don't stop for single people, they could have 20 others with them.

  • websterp on 11/01/2020 - 15:42
    +1

    I've spent 3 weeks travelling in SA last October and just had a laugh reading some of the comments from keyboard warriors and youtube addicts who most likely have never
    set foot in South Africa. The one about taking condoms is a special one as that must be the motive of that poster when he/she travels.

    Yes there is plenty of crime, carjackings and burglaries in South Africa and so is the case with Melbourne or Sydney. If you travel like an absolute idiot, flashing expensive jewelry and gadgets and hang out in seedy parts of town and alleyways and try find your way back to the hotel at 1:00am after a long night of drinking then of course it is quite likely you end up getting robbed, bashed or both.

    South Africa is a vibrant, multicultural and a land with amazing scenery and plenty of places to visit. We drove practically everywhere (driving is easy being a RHD country) and both myself and my wife thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it. We are going back to Africa in 2 weeks as we committed for a real hardcore African safari in Botswana during our SA trip last year.

    Here are some travel tips for you:

    Setup base in Cape Town, not in JoBurg. Cape Town is an amazing place and plenty of places to visit. Table Mountain, Robben Island, Stellenbosch (This is where you should go for the Wine and the scenery along the way is absolutely breathtaking), Shopping and dining at V&A, Camps Bay and Boulders Beach, Para Gliding if you are into that sort of thing, The beachfront, another absolutely beautiful day trip to Cape of Good Hope, are some of the things that should be in your travel itinerary. If you need to know anything particular just PM me.

    In JoBurg there is nothing much to see in my opinion, cover it in a day or two and get out. That is the place where you need to be extremely street smart. The drive to Cape Town via Durban is safe and plenty of stopovers and things to do/see along the way.

    Do not wear or take expensive jewelry. This is actually advise from locals we talked/met. Plan to finish your daily activities by 6-7pm and go to your hotel and relax afterwards. If you must go out after dark first know your way there and back and try not to take short cuts via narrow and dark lanes and alleyways and stick to well lit main roads. Since you have a car always drive if you have to go for dinner or so. BTW food is amazing, plenty of cheap to extremely expensive eateries and restaurants. Visit Gold Restaurant in Cape Town for dinner over some African dancing and drums. When you try to park your car in the City you will see these guys wearing hi-vis jackets walking towards you and trying to help. They are not council staff, just self appointed parking minders. Do not engage with them, give them same change and you and your car would be fine. At every traffic light you would see someone trying to sell something or beg. Have your car doors locked at all times.

    The place I would not go alone or drive would be Victoria Falls. Zimbabwe is in a dire socio-economic state after decades of Mugabe rule. I'd go with a travel group or a tour organiser as they know where not to let you go and the shortest and the fastest way of getting to Victoria Falls and back. For obvious reasons we personally didn't go but met some old ladies from Singapore who have gone there with a travel agency and they told us it had been a safe and enjoyable experience for them.

    If you must see big-5 do it at Kruger. South Africa is not the best place to experience a "real" safari but for a starter would certainly be OK. Do not do your safari at Aquila (Cape Town) as it is an absolutely waste of money. The drive was amazing but that was it. I was totally dismayed to see only two elephants and a couple of lions too fat even to walk (They were born and bred in captivity). You can do much better at Werribee Zoo.

    • askme69 on 11/01/2020 - 16:01

      Sounds like the PAID advert for that travel show last year when they went.

    • Vampyr on 11/01/2020 - 17:41
      +2

      One travelers experience is not to be used as a safety guide… and I wasn't aware that car jacking was as big an issue in Melbourne and Sydney as it was in South Africa.

      South Africa (in particular Joburg) is relatively dangerous.

      • lainey13 on 13/01/2020 - 22:25
        +1

        Yep, pretty sure the worse thing a tourist will encounter driving in the dark alleys of SE Australia is going to be bodily fluids.

  • trilby on 11/01/2020 - 15:57
    +3

    I'll second websterps comments.
    Cape Town is a great place. I would add a trip to boulders beach to see the jack ass penguins. V & A waterfront is good and has an interesting modern art gallery.
    Stellenbosch and franschhoek are great - one winery had an art gallery.
    Garden route seemed safe and was scenic - Knysna was a highlight.
    Easy to self drive around Kruger - just look out for where other cars have parked, as that's where the wildlife will be.
    Food and drink is about half price to Sydney - good and you get big serves. Wines especially are at a good price.
    Victoria falls has just about dried up at the moment, and as previously mentioned Zimbabwe and Zambia are in dire straights.

  • Well Wasted on 12/01/2020 - 08:03
    -1

    have the locals managed to start growing their own food…? or do they still continue to burn it/steal it… out of spite?

  • Sunshines bright on 12/01/2020 - 19:02
    +2

    We were there in 2016. We flew to Jberg, rented a car and stayed in a safari resort called Monateng Safari Lodge just north at Pretoria for a few days (Jberg was not much to write home about) just a dirty city that might be dangerous if your not careful. We then drove west to Rustenburg staying at a Bed and breakfast called Boubou Bed and Breakfast, then we went North to Sun City (a local holiday park like most others https://www.sun-city-south-africa.com/) and then we visited Pilanesberg National Park where we drove on our own through the park doing a self safari tour/drive, it was fabulous.

    Then we drove East over to Pilgrims Rest staying at another safari resort called Crystal Springs Mountain Lodge for a few days, while there we drove for about 1.5 hours to Kruger and this time did a guided tour looking for the big 5. Then we drove back to J'berg, flying south to Cape Town, renting another car driving around the peninsula staying bay side for a few days and sea side a few more.

    It was delightful seeing S.Africa as if we belonged there instead as a tourist. But I have to say that Cape Town is very British and very touristy, we did not feel we were in Africa at all while there. Just like a holiday on any coastal town.

    As far as safety, do not wear any wealth or hint of wealth, be prepared to give a coin to unofficial parking lot attendants who are just scammers but will keep your car safe if you drop a coin - if you don't, your on your own, that same guy might slash your tires???? We mostly purchased foods from the shops and cooked in our suites. Do keep doors locked especially at traffic lights and in the cities. You will see lots of businesses and properties with high fencing and barbed wires. Not sure if it was for people security or animal? When you fly local do not put anything of value in your luggage!!!! We purchased some very expensive perfumes and colognes at a J'berg shopping Mall and when we got to cape town it was all gone and a brand new small handbag with tags had found its way into my luggage. Just saying, they (airline employees) were going through many luggages looking for things they can use or resell.

    The trip across S.Africa was the best experience. Maybe going South will be just as great an experience, but we wanted to see Kruger so West/East travel was necessary for us.

    At Cape Town we drove into town to go shopping and after parking the car we went exploring the shops… so so many and so so many buildings and streets. When we were done we had lost the car, hehe could not recall where we parked or how to get back to it. Had to get the parking agents to use their walkies to talk to each other to help us find it. They closely monitor parking fees if you do not pay or stay to long you will get fined!!! I think we roamed the streets for an hour trying to locate the rental car.

    Also, many many organizations or people keep Animals (Lions, Elephants, Cheetahs ect) on Medium sized private properties, they look like they are in a natural environment but they are actually being kept for other purposes like tourists, hunters or research ect… They are not free roaming like in the National Parks. We visited a few so we could get closer to the wildlife but were disappointed a little knowing that they were not ever going to be free.

    I extensively googled and used Trip advisor to find lodging and places to visit. I am a planner so most research and planning was done prior to arriving.

    ps
    We visited-

    Robben Island, Nelson Mandela's prison at the cape

    Cape of Good Hope, Furtherest South-Western part of the Continent of Africa while at the Cape

    Akwaaba Preditor Park. Pilanesburg South Africa

    Gods Window & Lisbon Falls (East)

    Mahala Lion Sanctuary - on August 21, 2019 Leon van Biljon 70 years old was killed by lions at the Mahala View Lion Lodge.Mauled to death by his own captive lions, van Biljon was widely known as "The Lion Man." Cullinan is a small town east of Pretoria, the capital of South Africa. The lodge website said three lions — named Rambo, Katryn and Nakita — were kept on the property, which functions as a safari lodge and offers accommodation, game drives and conference facilities. (closed now I am sure)

    Cullin Diamond Mine https://www.petradiamonds.com/our-operations/our-mines/culli… . https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Attraction_Review-g1060377-d2… . East of Pretoria

    SunCity https://www.suninternational.com/sun-city/

    Pilanesberg Nat Park https://www.pilanesbergnationalpark.org/

    Krugar Nat Park http://www.krugerpark.co.za/

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