After planning this for a few years, in a few weeks, I’m heading over to South Africa to watch a few soccer matches. I’m going to be in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg. I got lots of general facts for those cities (and the country) but I have no idea what to expect. I have lots of questions but these are the main ones:
Should I prepare for “District 9” type of environment here, or something else? Has anyone been there? Is there any South African resident in the house?
Can I get any pointer on what to expect, where to go, what to see etc…?
Despite the fact that they drive on the left over there, I also am planning to drive ourselves around there, so is my US driver’s license enough or I should get special permit? Is there any places, street corners I should avoid, à la “Jerusalema” ? (with “carjacking point” sign post. And BTW, is that for real?)
Any emergency numbers that I should know about? Like police, ambulance (with number 3 above in mind)?
What about the economy (as far as everyday price is concern), what should I expect? Should I carry a few big bills, or a stack of small bills?
The person in Cape Town, with whom I booked the cottage via E-mail (in November last year), seemed to be very generous and polite. They did not even need my credit cards to secure the booking when I asked. Out of 3 establishments that I booked rooms with, only one asks for a credit card for deposit. Is this normal, or should it raise red flags? It is too late for me to start looking for hotels, so let says it’s a scam, is there any motel-type that do walk-ins like Hotel-6 here in the US?
Cape Town, Port Elisabeth are not bloody lion country.
Yeah mate, lots of aliens rummaging about in bins and the like.
Not evident to me what this means.
However, if it’s poverty and crime you’re worried about, RSA is generally well-developed and the football venues are set up to be well-served.
However, late night crime (after dark) is a real and serious issue. While all signs are that the Gov is laying on police and security to handle, your question leads me to think you’d be well-served by being careful.
If you’re not that familiar with non-US driving and particularly haven’t driven in developing countries, I would suggest reliance on mass transit and hired cars for the matches. You’ll need an int’l drivers permit to be entirely kosher.
International goods are at international prices, food is generally cheaper than say the USA, and the payment system is fine, so credit card. (Your bills question is obscure, you’re not planning on carrying around lots of cash I hope. Not a good idea).
Your problem would be with the games, booking in areas safe for tourists is likely to be a real pain.
This seems to be common advice, but is it really so? I’ve been to S. Africa twice, each time for about 4 weeks. I rented cars and did lots of driving, never having any problems holding just a standard US drivers license.
None of this came up during your “planning” the last few years??? SA is second in the world in murders per capita, just behind Columbia! The country is dangerous and a shambles, it is astounding that the World Cup is being hosted there.
p.s. the shanties in District 9 are the real shanties people live in there.
Because you can be right buggered if you have an issue like an accident, and are required to interact with authorities, paying the small fee to be proper with your documentation is a smart thing. Above all if you give, as the OP did, all signs of having no bloody clue. Absolutely necessary, no. Useful for someone like the OP, yes.
The country is not in a bloody shambles, get a bloody grip. RSA is damned impressive with excellent infrastructure, but yeah, also slums.
Yes, some people live in such districts, millions don’t. Of course the hard scrabble slums in places like Joberg have lots of Zim refugees and the like.
At the same time, I have been to business centres where one is asked to check one’s arms. Something oddly charming about the little decal in no smoking style of a military side arm.
The Garden Route is lovely. Hike or take the tram up Table Mountain. It’s gorgeous. Try to squeeze in a safari. I haven’t been on one in South Africa, but the ones in Tasmania, Namibia, Botswana, and Kenya were fantasitc.
Well, it depends what you mean by “District 9 type of environment”. I mean, the squatter camps and townships are real, yes, but unless you make an effort otherwise, the most you’ll see of them is a glimpse while you zoom past on the freeway. As far as crime goes, yes, it’d probably be wise to take more precautions than you would back at home.
Well, as a Capetonian, I am statutorily obliged to recommend the trip up Table Mountain on the cable car. But seriously, it is really excellent. Try to go on a day which isn’t too cloudy - though that may be difficult in June, and every other tourist in the city will be trying to do the same thing. I would also recommend the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden if you want to get away from the crowds for a while.
The District Six Museum is quite a moving experience - it gives a very human face to the evils of apartheid. I think it’s more interesting than the Robben Island tour, which has been quite mediocre both times I did it; also, the ferry ride could be quite unpleasant in the winter. (Don’t get me wrong - Robben Island is very important; it just wasn’t terribly interesting, at least the way the tour was given when I visited. That was a few years ago, so it may have improved.)
If you do have a car, there are lots of scenic drives in the countryside around Cape Town. Particularly spectacular, to my mind, is route 44 along the coast southeast of Cape Town; but, really, it’s difficult to drive far from Cape Town without encountering impressive scenery. Do go to Cape Point, but do also realise that it is not where the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans meet!
Moving away from Cape Town, definitely do visit a game park at some point; it doesn’t necessarily have to be the default Kruger National Park. If you’re going to be in Port Elizabeth, you could visit the Addo Elephant National Park; you’re almost guaranteed to see lots of elephant there, but on the other hand it doesn’t have the big predators.
Officially, any foreign driver’s license is accepted if it’s printed in English. In practice, having an International Driving Permit may make your life easier when dealing with car rental firms, the traffic police, and insurance companies. To get an IDP you have to go to the AAA before you leave; remember that you still have to have your original license with you to make the IDP valid.
I’ve never seen a “highjacking hotspot” sign in Cape Town, but I believe they do exist (or have existed in the past) in Johannesburg. Ask the people at the place you’re staying whether there are areas to avoid.
From a land line, dial 10111 for police and fire, and 10177 for ambulance. From a cell phone, dial 112 for all emergencies. Speaking of which, it would be a very good idea to pick up a cheap cellphone with prepaid service. Seriously, I saw one in the supermarket last week that was going for about R200. The shops at the airport would probably try to sell you something more expensive.
As a rule of thumb, the exchange rate is US$1 = R7.5. For comparison purposes, a can of Coke costs about R7; a (takeaway) cheeseburger with chips (i.e. fries) and Coke would cost around R40 or R45 all told. I’d generally suggest carrying smaller bills, since for most larger purchases you’ll probably use a credit card. Visa and MC are accepted almost everywhere, in the cities and towns at least. (Many places don’t take AmEx, though.) Of course street vendors (and stadium vendors, I would assume) are cash-only.
By way of example, if you like, I usually carry about R300 cash - maybe one 100, a couple of 50s, a stack of 20s and 10s, and a random assortment of coins. Try to avoid R200 notes; there’s a bit of a fuss about them at the moment and many shops simply won’t take them.
If you are driving, then you need to be aware that, for stupid historical reasons, petrol (uh, gas) stations don’t usually accept credit cards. Happily, though, most of them have an ATM on-premises where you can draw cash. It pays to check first before pumping, though. Oh yes, also, all petrol stations are full-service; you’re not allowed to pump your own. It’s conventional to tip the petrol attendant about R5 or so. Speaking of tipping, in restaurants the conventional tip for “average” service is 10%.
That doesn’t raise huge flags for me; I can’t see how they could be scamming you if they haven’t actually taken any money from you yet. I suspect they’re thinking that if you don’t turn up there’ll be plenty of other people looking for somewhere to stay.
Sorry for not getting back earlier; we were visiting the in-laws (in San Diego).
Sorry for the thread title, wmfellows, I was just trying to think of something catchy. If any mod can change it to “South Africa” that would be nice.
Let me clear up my questions a bit:
I was thinking about the crowds, and the contrast between the city and the “suburbs”, not “aliens” or poverty. Of course I only got a glimpse of Johannesburg through the movies, but it looks like another smaller version of NY city. Personally, having been to NY a few times, I discover that NY city is not all that friendly, but it’s just me. I’m also aware of the crime issue mentioned by boilercake, but I figure with the World Cup and all, the police and security would be out in force so crimes should be, at least, reduced or kept down during the period. Most matches that I will attend start at 8:30 PM so I will definitely keep your advice in mind though; I’m always careful but you never know.
boilercake Our “planning” for this trip was mostly on the financial side, and then we couldn’t really finalize it until teams qualified, FIFA selected groups and started selling tickets. We (meaning me) tried to read as much as we could about RSA, but only so much. I mean looking at a map, even Google map, can’t really tell what the street is like. I want to know things on a local level that can only be explained by someone who lives there or has already been there. To give an example: you can read what you want about the Golden Gate bridge, but I can tell you interesting things about it, and the surrounding areas, that might not appear in any guide books.
I drove in England before, also Malaysia, and Singapore, countries that drive on the left (Thailand was an exciting time!) so I’m more or less familiar with it. It just that those trips were few and far in between, and I didn’t do it often enough for it to become habits. I decided on hiring a car because the hotel people mentioned that some places do not have public transportation, and that taxis might not be a good idea. I think that having a car offers more choices and freedom than not to have one, but if you guys recommend otherwise, then I can always cancel.
wmfellows By economy, I meant what ctnguy explained.
Luckily, since I booked early, I received great rates but now I’m worried about their honoring the bookings since 2 places didn’t even ask for deposits. According to most of the hotel/B&B sites, it is supposed to be the annual slow period (winter) if it is not for the World Cup.
Hey ctnguy
Those places in Cape Town that you mentioned are those that we plan to visit but as it is winter over there, would the Garden be a good choice? What about government buildings? Cape Town is the legislative capital of SA so is there any particular offices that I should visit? Speaking of Cape Point, is it easy to get to Cape Agulhas from there? And in your opinion, what are the good places to eat in Cape Town?
I want to thank you for the tip on cell phones: the hotel staff I contacted mentioned the same thing. I’m bringing my unlocked cell phone with me, and FIFA includes a cell sim card with their ticket packages. I’m not a cell phone person, so I’m not so sure how that’s going to work. Do I just buy air times for the FIFA sim card once I’m there? Any suggestion?
Thanks again for the pocket money advice, that is what I really want to know. I’m going to get the bills from my bank here and bring them with me. BTW, this is a silly question but is there any US banks branch in those cities? Or AmEx offices? Since the hotel at Cape Town is a cash only deal, do you think they would accept US dollars or Euro instead of Rands? (I still have some Euros from the last trip)
The State site specifically warns about “muggings along many routes on Table Mountain” so what your take on that?
And where do you live in Cape Town? We’ll be at Caxton Manor, 27 Caxton Way, Oakridge.
A big, huge thank to everyone for your sensible and helpful advices. You guys are great! With your help, this is going to be one to remember!
Having a car is a good idea because it will be a lot cheaper and easier to get around than using public transport. If you are familiar with driving on the left then you shouldn’t have a problem, just be aware that drivers in Joburg tend to go a lot faster than others in the country. They treat the 120kph speed limit on the freeways as a minimum speed, but luckily they have just widened most of their freeways so the real lunatics should be about four lanes away.
Most places would probably accept Dollars or Euros but make sure you have a rough idea of the exchange rate and only offer to pay in Dollars/Euros *after *they tell you the price. There is a tendency to assume that someone carrying foreign currency has buckets of money so they may massage their prices accordingly.
If you’ve driven in Malaysia and Thailand I imagine you’ll be able to cope with driving in South Africa. Just be alert, particularly around minibus taxis, which tend to drive quite wildly and stop very suddenly.
I wouldn’t recommend going to Kirstenbosch or up Table Mountain in the rain; but Cape Town in winter can have plenty of nice days, where the sky is clear and the temperatures moderate.
Government buildings - you can take a tour of the Houses of Parliament; never done it myself, but I imagine it’s interesting if you’re into that sort of thing. Most of the government buildings, museums, art galleries and so on are in the area around the Company’s Gardens in the centre of town - that area is very walkable.
Cape Agulhas is nowhere near Cape Point. To visit Cape Agulhas, you need to make full day trip from Cape Town - it’s about three hours drive to get there. To be honest, it’s probably not worth the trip - it’s not particularly scenic, just a blip on the coastline. There’s a moderately interesting lighthouse, and a lot of businesses advertising themselves as “The Southernmost [whatever] in Africa”. (If you’re driving from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth (or vice versa) it wouldn’t be so far out of your way to visit Agulhas.)
There are a lot of good restaurants in Cape Town; unfortunately, as a starving grad student I don’t get to eat out very often. But, off the top of my head, some good places:
[ul]
[li]Daawat, 31 Mechau Street, City Centre - very good Pakistani curry etc. (doesn’t serve alcohol, but there’s a pub next door!)[/li][li]Toni’s, 88 Kloof Street, Tamboerskloof - Portuguese/Mozambican[/li][li]Yindee’s, 22 Camp Street, Gardens - Thai[/li][li]Borruso’s, corner of Main Rd. & Mains Ave., Kenilworth - very good pizza[/li][li]Barristers Grill & Cafe, corner of Kildare Rd. & Main St., Newlands - possibly the best steak I have ever eaten[/li][/ul]
If, as I would assume, the FIFA SIM card is a prepaid card from one of the South African networks, then yes, you can just buy airtime at any supermarket, convenience store, etc. (Does it have one of the following names on it: MTN, Vodacom, Cell C, Virgin Mobile?) For your phone to work, it needs to be GSM (which I presume it is, if it takes a SIM card) and it needs to support the 900/1800 frequency bands, which are not the same bands used in North America. But, if it doesn’t work, you can always buy a cheap phone here. What make & model is your phone? I can probably check for you if it’ll work here.
A couple of the big US banks have “representative offices”, but they’re only in Johannesburg and I don’t think they’re the sort of branches where you could make ordinary transactions. However, your US bank may have some kind of correspondent relationship with a South African bank. There are some AmEx offices in South Africa.
The hotel may or may not accept foreign currency, but if it does it’ll probably be a worse rate than you’d get at a bureau de change.
Yeah, I probably wouldn’t go walking alone on the slopes of the mountain. If you go up to the top on the cablecar it’s perfectly safe. The muggings occurred in two waves and AFAIK both times the police caught the culprits pretty quickly.
Ah, that’s a nice area. (Though I don’t know why they’re calling it Oakridge when the City calls it Meadowridge. :dubious:)
Capetown is one of the nicest places in South Africa- certainly one of the safest.
I can’t tell you first-hand about all the wonderful things to do there, as I was in the hospital at the time, but my family went to see the penguins and hiked on Table Mountain.
And should you need medical assistance (if, say, while in Lion Country you get too close to a real lion), the Christian Barnard Hospital is one of the best.
Thanks for the all the great driving tips, I’ll follow them. I’ll probably give it a try in Cape Town, and if it won’t feel comfortable I’ll stick with public transportation in Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg. BTW, I just stopped by at the local AAA office after work and got my IDP! Gotta love that office.
This must be a universal thing: I’ve heard it in every country I’ve been to. That, and avoiding sale taxes.
And we already agreed on the cost for the apartment, so hopefully there will not be any price “massage”. As I said earlier, they seem very nice and generous so I’m hoping they will not do that.
I’m into building structures and designs, that sort of thing. Since government buildings/offices tend to be specially constructed and decorated, I’m interested in visiting them just to see how they were built.
I only asked because you brought up the fact that Cape Point is not where the 2 oceans meet. From what I read, there seems to be a dispute for that honor: People of Cape Agulhas claim that that distinction belongs to their city, according to the International Hydrographic Organisation, and that Cape Point is misleading visitors by claiming the title. IMHO, that makes it worthy enough for a visit, no? (Then again, there’s a World Cup going on! Go Holland!)
My phone is the old Motorola Razr V3 which is supposed to support GSM 850/900/1800/1900. I would really appreciate it if you could do a quick check for me. The FIFA sim is from MTN and is, I think, pre-paid.
Wow, thanks for the tips on the restaurants. We will certainly pay them a visit or three.
LOL, not to be disrespectful or anything, but the GF and I had a good laugh over the sentence. I can’t wait to hear the story behind this statement. And you bet that Christian Barnard Hospital address and phone number are on all my contact books. (The only lions I’m planning to get close are these.)
Ok, you’ve covered Cape Town and Johannesburg; what about Port Elizabeth? Have you guys been there? Is it as nice as Cape Town?
In Joburg, you should stick with licensed taxis at designated points, such as malls.
Just convert your foreign money, asking the innkeeper to take it is lazy and silly (and gets you a worse rate). At the airport you simply go to the bureau de change and convert. You’ll get a better rate and be done with it.
There is also no point looking for American banks, overseas ATM cards work fine, and no advantage over going to another bank’s ATM (in any case no Americans are in retail banking). Nedbank, ABSA, any of those will do.
You need to check that the phone is unlocked and you can put a sim card in. If not, there is an MTN booth in the airport, you simply buy a cheap phone there. Perhaps US$40 as memory serves.
Well, in that case you’ll enjoy Cape Town - there’s a lot of interesting architecture from various different periods.
In reality, of course, there’s no clear line to draw between the oceans, and the boundary between the relevant currents fluctuates back and forth along the coastline. Sometimes at Cape Point there seems to be a line in the water dividing water of two different colours, which people will point to as proof that the oceans meet there. On the other hand, Agulhas has a sign saying “<— Indian Ocean | Atlantic Ocean —>”.
From everything I can see, that should work fine - certainly that model of phone has been sold here in the past. The other thing to check is the charger, because our electricity is 220V; many chargers can take 110V or 220V, but not all. Also, you’ll need an adapter to plug it in to the sockets here. If the card is MTN prepaid then it’ll be very easy to find places that sell airtime.
Never been there myself, but as a Capetonian I have to categorically deny that any other city could possibly be as nice.
An important item, the adapter. In a fit of obtuseness, South Africa adopted a strange and peculiar modification of the UK plug model, such that you probably shall need to buy an adapter at the airport, as the standard ones sold for UK don’t fit. (At least not in my experience)
The South African standard is actually the previous standard (BS 546) that was used in the UK before the adoption of the current BS 1363. As I understand it, when the UK adopted the “ring main” wiring system after WWII (due to a shortage of copper), they changed the plug model as well. South Africa never changed to ring main wiring, so we never changed the plug either. Admittedly, this does mean that we’re left using a plug that no-one else (except our neighbouring countries and, apparently, India) uses.
The lion country in question was actually Zimbabwe, but the bite got infected in Capetown and…
Okay, let me start from the beginning.
Tourist trap thingamabobber in Zimbabwe: “Lion Walk”. This was explained as a walk with lion cubs. A fun way to raise money for lion conservation. What they didn’t say in the brochure was that their definition of “cub” was a bit generous- between six and eighteen months. For reference, here is an eighteen month-old lioness.
They say I was the first person ever to get bitten. My mom had a stern talk with them about safety procedures. They were really sorry about it, and even gave me a free T-shirt (which I further decorated at home). My best pair of pants, unfortunately, were beyond repair.
I flatly stated I wasn’t going home until I saw some cheetahs, so I continued the safari on crutches. (Fortunately, all the safari-ing was done on wheels). Thing is, cat bites are notoriously dirty, and Zimbabwe is not known for its state-of-the-art medical clinics. They did their best, but by the time we got to Capetown (two days before we were supposed to leave, too) my foot had cellulitis and I had to get skin-graft surgery.
On the bright side, I became something of a local celebrity (“You got bitten by a what?”), and the cheetah place felt sorry for me and gave us a free tour. They even let us in with thecubs! And the local Jewish community was very helpful, and came over to visit, and opened their homes to our family. Also, someone bought me a beading kit to pass the time in the hospital bed, and it became my awesome new hobby.
So, in conclusion, Capetown is nice, if you’re Jewish you’ll always have help, and “Don’t worry, he doesn’t bite” is one of the classic famous last words for a reason.
ETA: To clarify, I visited the cheetahs on an outpatient day. The day before one of my surgeries, in fact.
We’ll be at Caxton Manor, 27 Caxton Way, Oakridge.
But, off the top of my head, some good places:
That, and avoiding sale taxes.
