Visiting Southern Africa

Where to go

South Africa is an extremely beautiful country with a great climate.  Cape Town is the most popular destination followed by Kruger Park.  Cape Town is certainly the best city to visit but one can see most of it and the Cape Peninsula in just a few days.  There are so many other places to visit such as the Drakensberg Mountains, Mpumalanga, Namaqualand, or the Kalahari that one must be careful not to limit oneself on a visit to South Africa. 

Kruger Park is South Africa's largest game park and it is huge.  It is a great place for game viewing but driving on long stretches of tarred road does not make one feel that you are on a safari.  Our favorite game park in South Africa was Madikwe Game Reserve.  It is big enough to see in three days which is the most one usually wants to see in any one stretch anyway.   It has all the same animals and more.  It has a wide variety of lodges and a bush camp.  If you can you should avoid going to any game park in the rainy season.   You will see very little game as compared to the dry season when the animals are forced to go to the waterholes.

Etosha in Namibia and Chobe or Okavango Delta in Botswana, however, were our favorite places to visit game.  The landscapes and scenery were quite different that anything that we experienced elsewhere.

Victoria Falls (on the border of Zimbabwe and Zambia) is also a great place to visit.  The falls are a better sight than we ever thought were possible.  There are many great game parks in the area and day visits to Chobe in Botswana are also possible.  This is a fairly safe place even with the recent disturbances in Zimbabwe and in fact, prices are low now because tourists have been avoiding the area due to the disturbances in other parts of the country.  This is a huge tourist area bringing in tons of cash to the country and the government will not let the crises spill over to this area.  However, I would recommend that if you go to Victoria Falls, that you stay in Zambia.  The people of Zambia are the friendliest around.  Zambia is very fond of tourists and the prices tend to be cheaper.  Lodges along the Zambesi River close to the falls are prevalent.

Arranging your trip

Most of southern Africa is relatively cheap to visit if you are an American or European, however there are many expensive lodges and hotels, and arranging anything through a tour operator can be very expensive.  The roads in South Africa and Namibia are very well marked and traveling on your own is a great option.  Cars are cheap to rent but the extra insurance needed makes them almost double the cost of renting a car in the US.  You can really save money, however, by staying at Bed and Breakfast lodges that are virtually everywhere.  You can find great places to stay at less than $15 per night.  Do your research and search the web for places to stay and see.   Southern Africa is extremely web-aware and most lodges are posted on the web someplace.

Also arranging for a tour with a South African tourist company may offer significant savings.  Many travel or tourist companies offer the same trips.  Search the internet for the tour name will usually yield lots of different travel companies with different prices.  Booking through a local company may provide 50% discounts to travelers.  Having a South African fiend book the tours for you would even be better.   South Africans are good a picking up American and British accents and may charge accordingly.  Never admit that you are not South African (if you can help it) when making arrangements with a South African company.

Safety

If you are taking an organized tour in Southern Africa then you should not really be too concerned about safety, although we would ask the tour operator about it and we would also recommend carrying your money in a travel pouch strapped on the inside of your shirt or blouse.  Tours are generally pretty safe even if you are going on a tour of a township.

If you are going it alone, then do plenty of research.  Avoid the townships.   Ask the car rental operator which places you should avoid.

Driving

Driving in all of Southern Africa is on the left.  Roads in South Africa are great.  Highways are everywhere especially near the big cities. Road maps and signs are very good.  There is little need to travel on gravel roads in South Africa but even they are good and well marked.

Namibia has many more gravel roads than South Africa and you will need to drive on them to get anyplace.  However, they are in great condition and 4 wheel driving is not required unless a trip to the far northern areas are planned.

Botswana, like Namibia has a mixture of tarred and gravel roads.  However, the roads in the northern parks definitely need 4x4s, preferably two.  Here you will find deep sand and water filled clay mud bathes that must be driven through.  4x4s can be rented, however, at a pretty good price in Namibia or Botswana.

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This page was last updated on 04/15/02.