The time of year has come when many people plan to travel to Africa especially to spend the holiday at the Southern regions of the African continent which is South Africa. A while ago I too made my way to the beautiful country so I have compiled some tips which you may find useful should you too decide to travel South Africa.
South Africa’s hottest and busiest period is during the UK winter months of November to March. This is also the festive period for tourists and locals. For a cooler temperature and less busy period, the UK summer months of July and August are a good time to go. When I toured South Africa in July and August the weather was mainly sunny and warm but not too hot so this was the best time for me to travel. It was ideal for all activities. It was not as busy as usual at this time too, and this is the most cost effective time to visit. I ensured that I read a variety of South Africa Travel Tips before I departed from home to ensure I travelled at the ideal time for me, which was July and August as I prefer the milder temperatures.
The main airports are Johannesburg International Airport and Cape Town International. Flights normally take 12 hours. I flew from Manchester to Amsterdam to Johannesburg on the way there, and on the way back from Cape Town (extra £50 and extra 2 hours) to Johannesburg, to Amsterdam back to Manchester. The flight toward South Africa lasted about 12 hours and was all during the day so left first thing in the morning and got there in the evening, but making my way back home I spent about 36 hours getting home as I had time consuming delays between my different connections. I found Johannesburg very busy and had in fact managed to collect a lot more luggage than I started out with, but there is a place to store your luggage in the basement so you can wait for your flight without carrying all your bags around with you.
As a general guide, public transport in South Africa isn’t very reliable but the roads are good so it’s easy to hire a car, or the Baz Bus is a very affordable hop-on-hop-off bus service for backpackers which is an excellent way to meet others who share your way of thinking. You can also book an organised tour which can also be very economical. I used all three methods of transport during my travels. I started off with an organised tour which was a great way to ease me into travelling alone as you get to know new people really well, then I used the Baz Bus and met hundreds of people all travelling the same route as me, then I hired a car with 2 of the people I had become friends with on the trip. This was a great way to see South Africa by splitting the cost and having more freedom to go where we wanted to. The most important South Africa Travel Tip I can give you is to make sure you trust people before putting yourself in vulnerable positions.
