Thorn Tree travel forum

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have you searched these threads at all as there are loads of threads asking whether is is safe to drive and you will get a fairly comprehensive answer from that search.

there are all types of accomodations if you want to visit the national parks sanparks will tell you what is available in your price range etc there is plenty mid range accommodation in the towns and cities.

i don't really understand question 3 as surely you would visit the country for what it as to offer, nature, culture etc not because it is slightly 'safer' in your opinion than the next one along. sorry if i sound rude but i don't get it. sure you canvisit botswana and namibia for animals but they are very different countries to south africa.

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Hi Johanne,

Firstly, I must point out that I am slightly biased in favour of South Africa as a result of being born, raised and then living much of my life there. I love the country, its people and biltong.

Secondly, regarding your queries:

Re driving:
There are lots of road deaths every year due largely to a lax attitude towards drunk driving over the holiday periods (Christmas and Easter being the worst) and the fact that much of the transport for the majority of the population is via minibus taxis that are often overloaded and in a state of disrepair. When a taxi is involved in a collision there are often a high number of fatalities. The bad driving in South Africa isn't like Cairo or Beirut, for example (where there seem to be no road rules at all). Rather, people speed and can drive agressively, but the roads are (depending on where you are) in a good condition, well sign posted and relatively easy to navigate. If you are driving when South African schools are not on holiday, your chances of encountering some idiot who likes to take the stress of a long distance drive by downing a few beers is greatly reduced.

In short, I have never been intimidated by the driving in South Africa and if you don't drive at night your chances of having an accident are even more reduced.

Re 'average accomodation':
There is a wide range of accomodation in most tourist places in South Africa. However, you want to be careful to pre-book as the whole just drive and take a chance philosophy is not such a great idea. "Bed and Breakfast" places are very popular, and are akin to guest houses. Some of them are very high end, but there are some very nice modest one's as well. There is a great guidebook that looks specifically at guesthouses called "Portfolio of Places" - each area has a specific book. I'm not sure if they have an online version, but if nopt Google "SA guest house" and you should be able to find some decent places that are fairly priced and in your price range.

Re other countires in the area:
It depends what you're going to SA for. If it is to view game and do the safari thing, Botswana is amazing. The Okavango Delta is incredible, but it can get pricy. Namibia also has some great game parks (in the North) and some stunning deserts scenery in the South. You can also go river rafting on the Orange, which is a highly recommended trip. Both Botswana and Namibia are, to my knowledge, considered safer.

However, while you obviously have to be extremely mindful of the crime in SA - make no mistake, it is dangerous, and you should listen very carefully to the advice you're given re where to go / not to go and plan your trip accordingly - it is an amazing country for so many reasons, the people are (mostly) friendly, and you should not deny yourself its treasures on account of the bad press.

I hope that helps.

TDog

This isn't to say that th and the fact that traffic rules are often not very

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Thank you very much TDog. You have answered my questions right on. I appreciate your feedback and I apologize missalaska if I sounded inappropriate; yes I had read the thread but I guess I needed to read specifics.
Johanne

family on the road

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YES! the Portfolio of Places is online
I will look into it
Thank you

family on the road

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I visited SA the last 2 weeks of Dec with my Wife and 16 year old. Despite being a little paranoid in Sea Point, I did not feel threatened anywhere. The only problems I had driving were getting used to driving on the "wrong" side of th road. Everything is very well marked and with a street map you will have no trouble finding your way around. here is a link to my trip report with links to some of the places I stayed at.
Trip report CT
Garden route trip report

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Have done this with the family twice.

Yes,there is definately a sense of urgency in SA, mostly (for me) in Gauteng.

However, go for it. Just make sure you have a reliable vehicle.

Southern Africa is magic. Just get an AA directory, and a cell phone, and you are away..

We (4 of us) lived on no more than $CAN100 per day (except game parks - we had our own vehicle which helped a lot) in 2003. May be more now??

Yes, just be sensible and aware (got any time shares - they are great in SA), and you will love it.

Try our journals.

Jim

Africa's a blast:
For a trip to remember,
Try our family web site

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I have travelled twice within SA and around the other surrounding countries twice in the last three years, once with my wife and 13 year old daughter and second time with my 76 year old father. Both times in a rental car hired from Johannesburg. Diodn't drive at night and got some advice from locals occasionally. Had no problems. I guess you have to be very unlucky or stupid to get mugged or carjacked. One of the locals advised me two things: a) If someone tries to hold you up at any of the red lights, then you don't worry about the lights just drive straight through b) The car-jacking is mostly on certain highways and they usually target 4WD because these cars are the ones that can be driven on non surfaced roads in the rest of Africa, which is where these cars are taken to normally. I didn't have to go through either of these although we drove all around for 6 weeks each times.

Regarding accommodation, there are plenty of B&B places in SA in any of the towns. We usually used LP guide to give us some info and then looked around when we reached the towns where we wanted to stay. The costs were between 300-500 ZAR including breakfast, which would be around $80-100 Canadian. The cost of accommodation in the national parks can be found in the SAN parks web site.

Regarding your third point, I suppose any country can be dangerous if you do stupid things, but we were told that generally Botswana and Namibia are considered safer than SA. We didn't have any problems anywhere at all. Namibia is cheaper than SA and much cheaper than Botswana. Namibian National Parks entry fees is almost a quarter of SA for foreigners and much lower than Botswana. Botswana is prbably geared towards high end travellers.

Raj

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I just came back from 3 months in SA. I had no problems. I listened to all advice given to me, which was often contradictary, and then made what I felt were reasonable decisions. I enjoyed and am heading back for a longer stay.

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Hi there,

We visited South Africa 1,5 years back and last summer went to Namibia. In South Africa we did not feel unsafe, just behaved a little cautious. We had to get used to driving at the "wrong" side of the road and the traffic around JHB was rather busy (although we are used to that around Amsterdam).
We were there with our 3 kids (around the same age) and had a fabulous time! See our report at the kids to go branch under my nickname and my question to go to Namibia or Botswana. (I still don't know how to make a link to that...)
The national parks are already mentioned, and we liked them very much, but you could also take a look at the parks from KwaZulu Natal: search for kznwildlife.com at the internet.

Be careful not to get addicted ; ) We did make plans to go to South-East Asia coming summer, but eventually decided to visit South-Africa and Botswana instead... and started saving immediately.

Christianne

You can PM me if you have more specific questions

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have to be very unlucky or stupid to get mugged or carjacked.

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if you believe everything you read......stay away from Florida as well!

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I've been there a number of times traveling my children - I would have to agree with what's been said above - we did not feel unsafe, but used common sense and listened to advice from South Africans.

We have used the LP guide to find places to stay, and that's been pretty reliable. The Coast to Coast guide lists lots of backpackers/hostels, and many of them have private rooms (as opposed to dormitories), and we've found several good places to stay using their guide. If you search Google for 'backpacking' South Africa or self-catering South Africa you'll find things within your price range.

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I have rented a car twice through Cape Spirit/National Alamo and the their online responses are always spontaneous and their website is user friendly. Both the Sandton and Pretoria branches have superb staff member...patient with customers and you get a first, top-class treatment. I was offered coffee at the Pretoria branch recently while awaiting my car. Your cars are very clean, reliable and still new. Both my journeys to Mpumalanga & Queenstown were pleasant, hassle-free and I am looking forward to renting your unlimited mileage cars again in the near future.

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