Driving in South Africa
Discussion
Hello chaps,
So me and another 6 people have booked a trip to South Africa over Xmas and New Year.
I wasn't too involved in the itinerary and was surprised to find that we have a hell of a lot of driving to do.
Essentially over 14 days, starting in Cape Town we will make our way up to PE, stopping at various places along the way - Game tours, wine farms - usual stuff.
Out of the 7, 3 of us have UK drivers licences - I'm probably the only one who is experienced (UK driving not overseas) the others having only recently passed test or haven't driven a great deal since passing.
We will be in 2 cars - small cars, not big 4x4 due to budget constraints.
Now I'm slightly concerned by this, I've only ever visited SA years ago and only a few days at that but struck by it not appearing to be the safest of places, road wise.
Am I just being overly cautious? Would be interested to hear what peoples experiences are. Cautiously looking forward to the trip at the moment...
So me and another 6 people have booked a trip to South Africa over Xmas and New Year.
I wasn't too involved in the itinerary and was surprised to find that we have a hell of a lot of driving to do.
Essentially over 14 days, starting in Cape Town we will make our way up to PE, stopping at various places along the way - Game tours, wine farms - usual stuff.
Out of the 7, 3 of us have UK drivers licences - I'm probably the only one who is experienced (UK driving not overseas) the others having only recently passed test or haven't driven a great deal since passing.
We will be in 2 cars - small cars, not big 4x4 due to budget constraints.
Now I'm slightly concerned by this, I've only ever visited SA years ago and only a few days at that but struck by it not appearing to be the safest of places, road wise.
Am I just being overly cautious? Would be interested to hear what peoples experiences are. Cautiously looking forward to the trip at the moment...
JQ said:
Yes, you are being overcautious. Myself and 3 mates did exactly the same trip 10 years ago and it was absolutely fine. The roads aren't busy and once out of Cape Town you're in the countryside.
Swimming with Great White Sharks at Gansbaai is in my top 5 of lifetime experiences.
Yep. Just don't get lost in the wrong places Swimming with Great White Sharks at Gansbaai is in my top 5 of lifetime experiences.
But just how small are the cars? It's a big country...Great experience. Superb lane discipline and slower stuff proactively moves out of your way. You're then pleased to do likewise for anyone faster than you.
I LOVED driving in SA, and i was in a 1.6 auto Nissan Misery.
(probably theres also some good safety advice you should seek out about the big towns)
I LOVED driving in SA, and i was in a 1.6 auto Nissan Misery.
(probably theres also some good safety advice you should seek out about the big towns)
My brother used to live in that part of the world. We did a road trip in his Mini Cooper S from Jo'borug down to his in-laws in Grahamstown (not far from PE) and then back through the Drakensburgs to his place in Swaziland.
[Shameless excuse to show holiday snaps...]
[Note number plate in homage to our UK registered Rover Mini]
As "Barnato's Ghost" suggests above, on their A-road equivalents there is normally a wide hard shoulder that trucks will pull into to allow you past.
The only craziness out on the open road seemed to be at roadworks. Perhaps due to the long 'red lights'. People would overtake through the gaps in the cones, once we did the same to overtake a slow truck and the Hilux following us did the same but up the unpaved inside lane at the same time.
There seemed to be plenty of cops around (as labour is cheap) so there are checkpoints and speed traps. We got stopped by one cop on a dual carriageway section where the limit dropped to 90kmh for no reason and he wanted us to follow him to a copshop to check paperwork etc. The matter was solved by the phrase "if we pay the fine in cash will that settle the matter now?", matey puts the 'fine' in his pockets, promises to "put the receipt in the post" and waves us on...
Other tips: At petrol stations there will be someone to serve you fuel and clean windows etc., the normal tip is R5. In towns there's often blokes minding parking spaces, they'll wave at you from down the street to indicate vacant spaces. The parking meters are often mysteriously broken
and again its customary to tip them R5 to watch your car.
The other thing to check out are 'Farm Stalls' which are a cross between a rest stop and farm shop. You can get some excellent home made pies/cakes/ice creams with a cup of coffee and a toilet break.
Some of the roads were in terrible condition with huge potholes which brought the average speed down to 30/40mph so bear that in mind when calculating driving distances.
But otherwise there's some excellent driving roads down there.
[Shameless excuse to show holiday snaps...]
[Note number plate in homage to our UK registered Rover Mini]
As "Barnato's Ghost" suggests above, on their A-road equivalents there is normally a wide hard shoulder that trucks will pull into to allow you past.
The only craziness out on the open road seemed to be at roadworks. Perhaps due to the long 'red lights'. People would overtake through the gaps in the cones, once we did the same to overtake a slow truck and the Hilux following us did the same but up the unpaved inside lane at the same time.
There seemed to be plenty of cops around (as labour is cheap) so there are checkpoints and speed traps. We got stopped by one cop on a dual carriageway section where the limit dropped to 90kmh for no reason and he wanted us to follow him to a copshop to check paperwork etc. The matter was solved by the phrase "if we pay the fine in cash will that settle the matter now?", matey puts the 'fine' in his pockets, promises to "put the receipt in the post" and waves us on...
Other tips: At petrol stations there will be someone to serve you fuel and clean windows etc., the normal tip is R5. In towns there's often blokes minding parking spaces, they'll wave at you from down the street to indicate vacant spaces. The parking meters are often mysteriously broken
and again its customary to tip them R5 to watch your car.The other thing to check out are 'Farm Stalls' which are a cross between a rest stop and farm shop. You can get some excellent home made pies/cakes/ice creams with a cup of coffee and a toilet break.
Some of the roads were in terrible condition with huge potholes which brought the average speed down to 30/40mph so bear that in mind when calculating driving distances.
But otherwise there's some excellent driving roads down there.
Let me know how you get on OP. For our honeymoon we’ll be spending 3 week driving around SA, Garden route, then a flight up to Kruger etc. I was going to go for a Focus or similar rental wise as I don’t fancy having a bag o display on the back seat.
Does anyone know how straight forward it is getting form the airport into Cape Town? Weighing up whether to get the car from the airport and just drive to our accommodation or avoid the stress after a long flight and just pick it up in Cape Town itself the next day.
Does anyone know how straight forward it is getting form the airport into Cape Town? Weighing up whether to get the car from the airport and just drive to our accommodation or avoid the stress after a long flight and just pick it up in Cape Town itself the next day.
andrew311 said:
Let me know how you get on OP. For our honeymoon we’ll be spending 3 week driving around SA, Garden route, then a flight up to Kruger etc. I was going to go for a Focus or similar rental wise as I don’t fancy having a bag o display on the back seat.
Does anyone know how straight forward it is getting form the airport into Cape Town? Weighing up whether to get the car from the airport and just drive to our accommodation or avoid the stress after a long flight and just pick it up in Cape Town itself the next day.
Very easy indeed, just avoid the morning rush hour!Does anyone know how straight forward it is getting form the airport into Cape Town? Weighing up whether to get the car from the airport and just drive to our accommodation or avoid the stress after a long flight and just pick it up in Cape Town itself the next day.
The hotel can put on a car for you, generally it's best not to pick up a taxi at the airport.
Puggit said:
andrew311 said:
Let me know how you get on OP. For our honeymoon we’ll be spending 3 week driving around SA, Garden route, then a flight up to Kruger etc. I was going to go for a Focus or similar rental wise as I don’t fancy having a bag o display on the back seat.
Does anyone know how straight forward it is getting form the airport into Cape Town? Weighing up whether to get the car from the airport and just drive to our accommodation or avoid the stress after a long flight and just pick it up in Cape Town itself the next day.
Very easy indeed, just avoid the morning rush hour!Does anyone know how straight forward it is getting form the airport into Cape Town? Weighing up whether to get the car from the airport and just drive to our accommodation or avoid the stress after a long flight and just pick it up in Cape Town itself the next day.
The hotel can put on a car for you, generally it's best not to pick up a taxi at the airport.
andrew311 said:
Puggit said:
andrew311 said:
Let me know how you get on OP. For our honeymoon we’ll be spending 3 week driving around SA, Garden route, then a flight up to Kruger etc. I was going to go for a Focus or similar rental wise as I don’t fancy having a bag o display on the back seat.
Does anyone know how straight forward it is getting form the airport into Cape Town? Weighing up whether to get the car from the airport and just drive to our accommodation or avoid the stress after a long flight and just pick it up in Cape Town itself the next day.
Very easy indeed, just avoid the morning rush hour!Does anyone know how straight forward it is getting form the airport into Cape Town? Weighing up whether to get the car from the airport and just drive to our accommodation or avoid the stress after a long flight and just pick it up in Cape Town itself the next day.
The hotel can put on a car for you, generally it's best not to pick up a taxi at the airport.
Awful roads,questionable driving standards, and lethal taxibus things which you need to watch out for. Apart from that its fine.
Seriously though, lock your doors, look carefully at crossings (lots of light jumpers), don't stop/get out for anyone, and always leave a gap at lights/junctions.
My favorite memory driving there this yr was driving back into jo'burg late at nite, and finding one of the taxibus things on an unlit road, with no lights front or back, driving really slowly so someone would tailgate him and he could see from their headlamps. Stuff like that is commonplace
Have fun
Seriously though, lock your doors, look carefully at crossings (lots of light jumpers), don't stop/get out for anyone, and always leave a gap at lights/junctions.
My favorite memory driving there this yr was driving back into jo'burg late at nite, and finding one of the taxibus things on an unlit road, with no lights front or back, driving really slowly so someone would tailgate him and he could see from their headlamps. Stuff like that is commonplace
Have fun GCH said:
Awful roads,questionable driving standards, and lethal taxibus things which you need to watch out for. Apart from that its fine.
Seriously though, lock your doors, look carefully at crossings (lots of light jumpers), don't stop/get out for anyone, and always leave a gap at lights/junctions.
My favorite memory driving there this yr was driving back into jo'burg late at nite, and finding one of the taxibus things on an unlit road, with no lights front or back, driving really slowly so someone would tailgate him and he could see from their headlamps. Stuff like that is commonplace Have fun
Remember, you're still in Africa Seriously though, lock your doors, look carefully at crossings (lots of light jumpers), don't stop/get out for anyone, and always leave a gap at lights/junctions.
My favorite memory driving there this yr was driving back into jo'burg late at nite, and finding one of the taxibus things on an unlit road, with no lights front or back, driving really slowly so someone would tailgate him and he could see from their headlamps. Stuff like that is commonplace
Have fun Best description I ever heard for SA was 'a third world country with a first world veneer'
Puggit said:
Best description I ever heard for SA was 'a third world country with a first world veneer'
That is very good....the wealth gap is mroe pronoinced than almost anywhere in the world.We went to Cape Town a couple of years ago and rented a house for a couple of weeks....local lady came in every day to do cleaning. We came back early one day to find her eating meat off the bones we'd thrown in the bin after we'd had a bbq the night before....
Hey there
Well the region where you guys will be driving isn't as dangerous as Gauteng, but you can never be too cautious. For starters, if you get lost, do not pull over to the side of the road to study your map or directions. Instead, drive to the nearest, well-lit and populated public place. In fact, always be wary of pulling over.
Do not draw attention to the fact that you are a visitor!
Keep your lights on; this might reduce the chance of being in an accident.
Be alert to pedestrians next to the road - 40% of road fatalities on South African roads are pedestrian fatalities.
Never pick up hitch hikers!
Hope this helps...
Keep well and drive safely!
Cheréne Pienaar
Well the region where you guys will be driving isn't as dangerous as Gauteng, but you can never be too cautious. For starters, if you get lost, do not pull over to the side of the road to study your map or directions. Instead, drive to the nearest, well-lit and populated public place. In fact, always be wary of pulling over.
Do not draw attention to the fact that you are a visitor!
Keep your lights on; this might reduce the chance of being in an accident.
Be alert to pedestrians next to the road - 40% of road fatalities on South African roads are pedestrian fatalities.
Never pick up hitch hikers!
Hope this helps...
Keep well and drive safely!
Cheréne Pienaar
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