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seeking advice regarding travel in south africa in the area

Replies: 3 - Last Post: 10-Sep-2007 08:08 Last Post By: catherine_coutu...

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Posted
10-Sep-2007 06:10
by: dan12345

Posts:  4
Registered:  10/09/07

seeking advice regarding travel in south africa in the area

hello fellow travellers!
i received a free ticket from the airline company, and on a whim i decided to fly for 2-3 weeks in the beginning of october to south africa, despite having no idea about anything. i have lots of questions, i'd be happy
for any advice ! so here goes

1) my main concern, travelling alone, is that i'll have hard time meeting people, since i don't feel like travelling by myself all the time. i've travelled quite a bit in the western world,
and also in asia - it seems to me that the countries divide into two - countries in which there is strong atmosphere of mingling between travellers, such as india, and countries like
those in europe where it's more difficult to really make friends while travelling, besides small chats at night in the hostel. which does south africa belong too? did anyone else
here travel in south africa by himself? i've read that the buz bus thing is pretty big , i'm counting on meeting people there - should i? are there at all any other young
backbacking travellers ( i'm 24... )
which leads to next question -

2) the buz bus - do i need to reserve my ticket more than a few days before? any general impressions of anyone who used it?

3) what places should i visit? it seems that most of the posts are related to kind of "upper class" travelling compared to what i used to - adventure attractions, jeep safaris and so on,
which are probably costly, while i'm used to more mellow travelling of hanging around nice places, and not really jumping around too much. is that kind of trip at all possible in south africa? any good treks i can do ? ( preferably by myself or with fellow travellers, not with a travel guide or something... )

4) costs of travelling - what should i expect to be my daily expense? and are there any reasonable priced attractions ( jeep safaris and such, which are catering to the backpacker
budget? diving courses which aren't TOO expensive? )

5) countries around south africa - my flight is to johannesburg, but if someone has a strong recommendation about a country which i can get quickly and not too expensively ( is there
a low cost african air company? is taking over night busses an option?) , i wouldn't mind going to another country instead....

6) i know this is kind of a recurrent subject - but safety - would you say that it's particularly irresponsible for me to go travelling alone in south africa, assuming i get
out of johanesburg as fast as possible?

all in all, my main frustration in searching the web about south africa is that it seems that most people putting posts on are couples who did a honey moon in south africa or something
of the sort, and not really backpackers. i don't know if that's just a result of the options in south africa, hopefully i'm wrong. ( not that there's anything wrong about honey moon
in south africa :) )

by the way if anyone plans to go travelling around then in south africa and wants to hook up, feel free to say....

will be grateful for any help!
thanks
dan

Posted
10-Sep-2007 07:09
by: daager

Posts:  33
Registered:  10/05/07

1

Baz Bus is still pretty popular. I was in Coffee Bay in Transkei a couple weeks ago and there were heaps of travellers on the bus, from all over.

The backpackers in SA are generally excellent. On top of that South Africans are pretty friendly people. I don't think you will have too many worries. The Baz bus is fairly expensive, but it does give a lot of flexibility to your travelling. Check out their site.

Neighbouring countries - Mozambique is great, you can catch a train from Jozi through Komatipoort, or the Panthera Azul bus from Durban to Maputo. Moz is cool. Look at that thread for info.

Safety. Hmm. SA has the potential to be dangerous, but if you use common sense, take reasonable precautions, and ask locals you should be cool.

As for what to see, get a guide book cause there is a lot.

For me the top 5 would be

1) Natal Game Reserves - Hluhluwe, Umfolozi, Mkuze
2) Drakensberg (Hlalanathi - hiking - anything from 1 - 7 days, also check out the Otter trail)
3) Cape Town (KoeelBaai, Clifton, Long Street, Crystal Pools)
4) Garden Route - Plett, Hermanus,
5) St Lucia, Sodwana, Transkei (Coffee Bay, Coffee Shack or Bomvu backpackers)

Budget travel is the way to see it well, I think high class safaris are a complete waste of time in getting an idea of how south african people live and seeing the culture and country.

As for cost, I don't know what currency you are on. If it is pounds or euros, then it is cheap.

Average restaurant price main meal: R40 - 100+ if seafood
Backpackers dorm - R50 - R100 per night
Camping - R20 - R80 per night

Hope that gives you an idea

Posted
10-Sep-2007 08:06
by: catherine_couturier

Posts:  1,613
Registered:  27/09/06

2

I don't know what can of search you did, but there is quite a few post about south africa buy independent backpakers that went to South Africa
SA is huge country, full of diversity, and there's something for everybody; you just choose the area in function of your interests. Garden route, wine area are maybe "honey-moon couple" options, although I did them (female, travelling alone, 26yo) and loved it too.
There is loads of good hiking area - Drakensberg, of course, the wild coast, nature's valley, ect, ect.
As for jeep safari, I think that in SA, as in Botswana, it's more like group safaris than private jeep - however, you can drive yourself in kruger, which might be a better (and cheapper) option for you.
In 2-3 weeks, there is plenty of stuff to do in SA, no need to go in another country. However, Swaziland and Lesotho are within south africa and you can also visit those places

Baz bus is an excellen option to meet travellers, especially if you are travelling alone. And if you are worried about safety, this is a good option too because they pick you and drop you in front of the hostel - so no wondering aournd in the city with your luggages. However, it is more expensive than taking public transport and although you will meet fellow travellers, you won't meet any local. Although as I understood in your post that you are more worried about not meeting travellers.

I don't know if october is a busy month, but I didn't reserve mine until the day before I left (i was travelling in April). When you buy your ticket, all you need to do after is booking your seat for each lenght of the trip

As for budget, you need about 50$ per day ; day trips can be expensive, around 300-500Rands per day.
Low cost flight - Mango, 1time and Kulula ;

Posted
10-Sep-2007 08:08
by: catherine_couturier

Posts:  1,613
Registered:  27/09/06

3

Last april cost of dorm were more around 80-100Rand per night (I found NOTHING under 75 Rand) ; and camping around 40-50Rand per person per night.
Good news - beer is cheap!

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