by Allan Taylor

Created on: February 19, 2010

South Africa is a tourist and backpackers’ paradise, no matter whether you are in your 20’s or 60’s. At what ever age you can join in the fun of exploring this fascinating country quite safely, provided you are sensible and obey the "road rules" which I shall explain later.

The entry point is nearly always Johannesburg, or "Joburg" for short. The major airlines such as South African, Qantas, BA and Malaysian fly into Joburg, refuel and go on to someplace else. This is where you get off for an adventurous month or so of exploration. Although I have roamed around South Africa at least six times, it has always been either on the way to , or on the way back from Latin America. This is one advantage of living in the Southern Hemisphere (Australia), in that you can conveniently bypass the hassle of European and North American airports.

You need at least a month in South Africa to see the major tourist sights and absorb the culture and cuisine. As a bare minimum you must visit Cape Town, then traverse the southern Garden Route to Port Elizabeth, thence head north again, by devious means, to Durban, the major sea port on the Indian Ocean. Time permitting you can venture into the Drakensberg Mountains and perhaps visit Lesotho, or head north to traverse Swaziland and visit various game parks, such as Kruger National Park. Invariably you end up back at Joburg where you catch your plane back home, or elsewhere. It is all very straight forward.

How to do it? I have always gone the "backpacker route" which provides a pretty safe and inexpensive means of travel and accommodation. Every city or town has a plethora of backpacker hostels which have tourist travel down to a fine art. They are listed in the many South African travel guide books published today. Check them out and decide where you want to stay in Joburg on arrival.

Many hostels in Joburg are (or were) luxury mansions complete with beautiful gardens and a swimming pool, now converted to hostels safely protected by high walls and razor-wire, with instant communication to the local security company in case of armed holdup... you get used to this security after awhile. Feel lucky if you are not there if an incident happens.

OK, you have decided, for example, that you would like to stay at the "Backpackers Ritz" in Joburg. Over the Internet book your accommodation for a couple of days and provide information of your plane arrival time. They will be at the airport to meet you, and possibly other travelers

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