South Africa
Self-driving is easy and safe on main routes. Do the Garden Route
Population
63m people
Currency
South African Rand
Main Language
11 official languages including English, Zulu and Afrikaans
best time to visit
May – September for safari, November – March for Cape Town
Climate
Temperate, Mediterranean in the Cape, subtropical east, dry interior
Visa
Visa free for up to 90 days for UK, EU, US and most Western visitors
Country overview
South Africa offers more variety per pound than almost any long-haul destination. Big five safari, world-class wine country, a coastline with penguins on it, mountains, and a city in Cape Town that is regularly voted among the most beautiful on earth. The exchange rate makes all of it unusually affordable for British visitors.
Cape Town is the obvious start: Table Mountain, the Cape Peninsula drive, Boulders Beach penguins, and the Stellenbosch and Franschhoek winelands an hour away. The Garden Route east along the coast is one of the great self-drive trips, and driving in South Africa is genuinely straightforward, on the left, with good main roads.
Kruger is the headline park and can be self-driven, which is far cheaper than a private reserve, though the private reserves at Sabi Sands give better sightings and off-road access. The country also has serious inequality and crime in specific areas, so standard urban precautions apply, and the history at the Apartheid Museum and Robben Island is essential rather than optional.
Annual events and festivals
- Cape Town Minstrel Carnival (2 Jan) — Kaapse Klopse. Thousands of musicians in bright satin parade through the city.
- National Arts Festival, Makhanda (Jun-Jul) — the largest arts festival in Africa.
- AfrikaBurn (Apr-May) — a Burning Man style gathering in the Tankwa Karoo desert.
- Cape Town Jazz Festival (Mar-Apr) — often called Africa grandest gathering, with a strong international line-up.
- Heritage Day (24 Sep) — widely observed as National Braai Day. The whole country barbecues.
- Freedom Day (27 Apr) — marks the first democratic elections in 1994.
- Reed Dance, Zululand (Sep) — a large traditional Zulu ceremony.
- Comrades Marathon (Jun) — an 89km ultramarathon between Durban and Pietermaritzburg, run since 1921.
- Oppikoppi and Rocking the Daisies (Aug and Oct) — the main music festivals.
- Whale season, Hermanus (Jun-Nov) — southern right whales visible from the cliff path, with a festival in September.
South Africa Travel Guides
South Africa guides are coming soon.