Visiting South Africa for the 2010 FIFA World Cup

Hello friendly Toytown crowd

I and a friend of mine are heading to South Africa next summer for the soccer (ahhh, football!) World Cup. Even though it's going to be the most touristy time it can ever be, I'm very keen on getting as close to the local existence as possible... I really want to make the best out of my experience there, so, at this point, I'd be mostly interested in getting in touch with people from/ or someone who's been to any of the following places:

Port Elizabeth
Cape Town
Durban
Nelspruit
Jozi
(that's where our games are...) +

Lesotho
Botswana
Swaziland

However, beware, my questions will range from very basic to very sophisticated...

Thanks a lot! Of course, feel free to drop any random but relevant (or just relevant) information on this thread!

Nika

I went on holiday in SA in January and visited Durban. I've been to SA many times for work but never on holiday. We drove from Joburg and it is a long drive although the highway is pretty good but a toll road in some places. In Durban we stayed at a hotel right on the beach in the center of the city. It was wild there because of the school vacations but still one of the most interesting places we've stayed at. It's sort of like Miami Beach but with lots of black and Indian folks. There is a promenade, a kind of kiddies amusement park, a casino, an aquarium and water park and lots of restaurants. There is a Pakistani restaurant right on the corner of Rutherford Street and Marine Parade. Great value and great food.

An alternative if you don't like city centers (and Durban is OK along the promenade but the streets behind it can be a bit scary) then there are lots of towns north and south of the city where you can rent holiday apartments near the sea. These areas reminded me of California a bit. One example is Umhlanga.

Hi Bremenika
I'm from Cape Town and have also lived in a little town close to Nelspruit for a year. I'll be happy to answer your questions..

Hi,

I have lived in Durban and Johannesburg since I was small. I will be in Wiesbaden as of October and can answer your questions too, if needed.

Once thing that springs to mind is hotels: I travel regularly within South Africa and for the past 5 years or so I havent stayed in a hotel. Instead I've stayed at a B&B (bed and breakfast) whereever I go. These are usualy run by people who have large houses and have a few rooms they convert into a hotel room of sorts.

Having travelled for many years I find the big name hotels very impersonal and much like a railway station. At a B&B you often get to chat and have dinner with the owners family. In almsot all cases they go out of their way to look after you.

And, of course, they much cheaper than the big name hotels. For example when in Cape Town you can stay at one of the hotels in town for ZAR1500 per night. The people I stay with charge ZAR350 per night with breakfast. In terms of room quality - no difference. FIFA have made a deal with the big hotel chains and they will be milking the foreigners of their money during the World Cup!

The best website to find good quality B&Bs is at www.wheretostay.co.za. They do have an online booking form but I'd reccomend you email the owner and follow it up with a phonecall.

Wayne

Oh, if you're going Nelspruit and cant find anything in Nelspruit itself, you might want to consider staying in a nearby town. I've stayed at a B&B in Hazyview called Ant and Elephant.

Ok, since there is already a thread about this I'll use it as well. Sorry for hijacking your thread bremenika.

I'm heading down to Johannesburg for the World Cup next year as well and know close to nothing about South Africa. I'll do my research in ole google as well, but wanted to get this started here as well.

The plan is to stay in SA for about three weeks time and not only do the worldcup but also travel a bit around. I would like to go down to Cape Town and maybe to the northwest/western part of the country.

There are a few things which I would like to set up from here, among them accommodation for the first two or three days in Johannesburg and later again for the games I'll be watching.

I was looking up B&Bs online and usually you can select which area of the city you want to stay in. No clue as of where is safe, where is not too expensive, where is central and stuff like that.

A few initial questions:

1. Which areas do you recommend in Johannesburg to stay?
2. Which parts of the country you would recommend to visit? (As I said I would like to do Cape Town, but other than that I'm open to suggestions)
3. How safe it is to go around on your own at day and night? (taking all precautions like in any other place which will be crowded and full of silly tourists)
4. What is the best way to move around the country? Train, bus, car, planes?

Ok, let's leave it at that for now.

Thanks in advance!

Ive got tickets for 1 game in Joburg on the 20th of june and hope to get tix for the game on the 21st as well.It took me nearly a week to find accommodation in Joburg.I eventually did find a b+b for the 2 nights.FIFA have an accommodation service but its doesnt appear to be very good.I sent them an application,this was the fantastic response i got
Your accommodation enquiry has been logged, and will be reviewed when
the next sale phase begins later this month. FIFA World Cup™
Accommodation Office 'FWCAO' will process requests in date order where
possible and sales will be subject to availability.
I managed to get into this place
http://www.lifeon3rd.co.za/
My advice is to anyone planning to go get your accommodation sorted out as soon as possible.

No problemo, Panama! We shall all benefit from the answers to your questions...
We found accommodation in Cape Town and are now onto Jozi-search... All I can tell is - don't stay in Soweto... That's what all the guidebooks say

Thanks a lot for advice, cwh050!!!

Panama, based on my research and conversations with a few South African friends (or people who've been there), the best way to travel around (if one's there for 3-4 weeks) is by car. I'd recommend to do the N2 route (from Cape town to Port Elizabeth or the other way around). I know it's probably one of the most touristy things to do there, but definitely for a reason... I'd also suggest (that's what we're doing) shark cage diving, winelands (close to Cape Town), Nelspruit (I doubt there's much to see there, but we have a match to go to) and Johannesburg. Oh, we also plan to drive to Lesotho and Swaziland (not too far from Jozi) - and to Mozamique, if time permits.

We'll be renting a car with Sixt most likely. They have quite a number of offices there. If you have long distances, check out small airlines here: http://www.southafrica.info/travel/advice/flights.htm. SAA are usually more expensive, but not much more.

Hamburger Jambo, we are also going to that game!! It better be good!

A dear friend of mine shared this with me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0UNfHn8xeY...feature=related

I had a laugh... A concerned laugh...
Although I think if you take all precautions, you'll be fine. Don't look too touristy and don't go to Soweto by yourself (I have a Soweto-phobia and Soweto-philia at the same time)

All,

I've summed up my answers to you all here. Forgive me if I've missed someone/something….

Wayne :-)

Q: Bremenika

I'd be mostly interested in getting in touch with people from/ or someone who's been to any of the following places:
Port Elizabeth
Cape Town
Durban
Nelspruit
Jozi
(that's where our games are...) +

Lesotho
Botswana
Swaziland

A: CWH050 (actualy my name is Wayne - I should really get a nicer username…)

I was in Port Elizabeth last in 1991 so I cant really help you there. Maybe one of my countrymen from that part of the wrold can help. By the way: there's a VW factory close to Port Elizabeth where they still make the Golf 1 (until the end of this year that is). My only impression of PE (as it's known) is that it's a sleepy town - of which there's a few in SA.
I go to Cape Town regularly (mostly for business). Cape Town is my favourite city in the whole country. There's a lot to do, even for us locals. Touristy stuff tends to be a bit pricy so I'd shop around before commiting to anything. The matches will be played at Greenpoint Stadium (which I think is probably the most beautiful stadium because of it's location). If you have specific questions about Cape Town, please let me know….
I was born in Durban and spent seven years there in total. Durban is nice if you like the beach though I'd recommend trying to get a place to stay either South or North of the city. If there's something specific you'd like to know about Durban, please let me know….
Nelspruit is a small town in the east part of the country. I've been there a few times. It's a good place to stay if you want to make a day visit to the Kruger National Park. Also there's a few nice places to visit in the area. The top hotel in the country is closeby - Coach House- and if you can afford it, I highly recommend stayiung there. Otherwise there's a wide variety of good B&Bs in the area.
I'm based in Johannesburg (until October) so I guess I know almost everything there is to know about "Jozi" or Jo'burg". The opening match and final are to be held here I think. Johannesburg is not really tourist orientated when one compares it to say Cape Town. There are touristy things to do but once you've done that, well, that's it.
I havent been to Lesotho yet. Their biggest export is water - which is sold to South Africa. They have a lot of mountains and in the winter they get some snow. Yes, it does snow in Africa. In Johannesburg it has snowed twice since 1979.
I've been to Botswana a few times. Gaberone is another one of those sleepy towns but if you're after wildlife I'd recommend you go up to the Okavango Delta (a sort of swampland) - that is if you're in to the wild animal sort of thing.
I've been to Swaziland a few times. There was not much to do when I was there so I'd recommend you Google their torism authorities website and see if that sort of thing tickes your fancy.

A: Transport

When compared to Germany, South Africa's public transport system is pathetic! (Dear Proudly SA preachers: I'm giving an honest opinoin here so buzz off)
To get between the major cities I recommend traveling by air. There are a number of good domestic airlines: South African Airways, British Airways, South African Airlink, Mango, Kulula.com and One Time. I've flown with all of them. Kulula.com and Mango are budget airlines so no free food.
For the most, I'd avoid the public rail system unless your name is Steven Segal; Chuch Norris; Bruce Lee. In Johannesburg we've been told that the local U-Bahn "the Gautrain" will be semi-operational for 2010 and if it is it might be worth a go if you're staying in the Sandton area. The Pretoria line wont be ready apparently.
The road system here, however is good. If you can drive on the other side of the road easily then I'd recommend renting a car and a GPS. Carjacking in Johannesburg is common and often violent. There are so-called "smash and grabbers" at a number of intersections so keep your windows down about 2-3cm and your eyes peeled. Keeping the window down slightly prevents the theif from smashing the window as the spark plug (or whatever projectile) bounces off. Also keep valuables locked up. Purses, mobile phones etc. should be hidden from view when driving.
Mini-bus taxi's are not reccomended as a means of transport but if you're in for that sort of thing, sure have a go at it. I mean this is Africa isnt it? Their driving style is something like from the Mad Max films. The routes are fixed so you need to ask the driver where he's going to and where you need to go… To hail a mini-bus taxi simply point up (like you're checking from which direction the wind is coming or giving someone the finger - point with your index finger though). Expect to be crammed in like sardines.
The goernment has promised a bus transport system but there's been so many fights over who controls it I doubt if anything signifcant will be available during 2010. During the Confed. Cup we had some mini-bus taxi's rebadged as "Gauride", these quite good and ferried people between the stadiums and park and ride facilitiees.

Q: Panama

1. Which areas do you recommend in Johannesburg to stay?
2. Which parts of the country you would recommend to visit? (As I said I would like to do Cape Town, but other than that I'm open to suggestions)
3. How safe it is to go around on your own at day and night? (taking all precautions like in any other place which will be crowded and full of silly tourists)
4. What is the best way to move around the country? Train, bus, car, planes?

A: cwh050

1. I stay in the South, just outside the Johannesburg municpal area in a place called Alberton. There are anumber of nice places to stay around Johannesburg. I'd avoid the city centre like the plague though. There are rich areas, nice suburbs, working class suburbs like mine and scummy areas you would want to stay away from.

2. Without a doubt: the Cape (the area surrounding Cape Town). Some of the best wines come from here! Then I'd do the route up to Port Elizabeth like someone (I forgot your name) suggested in this thread. Then I'd go to the Kruger National park for a few days -go to the northern part of the park. The south side tends to be croweded in holiday season.

3. I work for a large multi-national, here is the travel advisory for South Africa:

Excess copy-and-paste removed by admin, please post the link instead

Read it and make up your own mind.

I'm sorry to say this is one of the reasons why we're emmigrating to Germany (we were originaly going to Australia but when my employer heard about this they offerd me a transfer). I'm sorry if I've put anyone off from coming. I'll post the advisory for the big cities seperately as they're just as long.

4. What is the best way to move around the country? Train, bus, car, planes? To get between the cities go by air as it's quick and fairly cheap. You can go by road but Jo'burg to Cape Town is 14 hours - Jo'burg to Durban is 6 hours. Both roads have tollgates along the way. All the roads are in excellent condition by African standards. Forget the train. Inter city buses are okay I guess. See also "transport" above.

Q: Hamburger Jambo

I managed to get into this place http://www.lifeon3rd.co.za/ My advice is to anyone planning to go get your accommodation sorted out as soon as possible.

A: cwh050

I agree get your bookings done now! Hamburger Jambo, Melville is one of the nicest suburbs in Johannesburg. Lots of nightspots and restaurants and close to FNB Stadium and Ellis Park. A quick 40min drive to Loftes for the Pretoria matches. If I ever came back to Johannesburg I would live in Mellville.

I never watch tv, but last night I did. I watched a report on the world cup preparations in SA. They mainly concentrated on the actual stadium building and the crime issue. The crime issue was focussed on far more than the stadium building. What I found truly bizarre was how the government wanted to prove to the foreign journalists that they were fully prepared for dealing with the security risk. I would like to know who the mastermind was behind that idea. Here's what they did:

They staged a private jet, something like a Learjet, landing at Johannesburg airport. Inside the Learjet were terrorists, of course, as South Africa's nummer one crime problem is terrorism. So, next thing an old army helicopter came hovering over the runway close to the plane, special forces troops in camo clumsily climbed down ropes dangling from the helicopter next to the plane, their machine guns ready to fire. In the back, a group of police were crouching, machine guns ready to shoot, police looking dead serious. Two of them then "sneaked" towards the parked Learjet, carrying little mini platforms like step-ladders (those terrorists had better not look out of the window now) which they then put down outside the plane, one in front of the cockpit window, the other outside the door. The special forces guys then got onto the little step-ladders, then after managing to mount the damn things proceeded to point their machine guns amateurishly at the plane. Oh the embarrassment! Later, after this impressive and utterly practical every day display of South African police efficiency, the special forces guys took the two terrorists away (they were two middle-aged men dressed in normal business clothes). So, I hope that made all the potential visitors to my country feel a lot safer out on the streets. There is nothing to worry about! Our police and special forces are fully in control. If you however come to South Africa dressed in business clothes and arriving in your own private jet, chances are you are going to get quite a show. As we have absolutely no problem with crime on the streets or in private homes, the government didn't deem it necessary to focus on these minor points.

Make sure when you go, you are like to be wearing a jean pant!

I'm sorry to say, this is one of the reasons why we're emmigrating to Germany (we were originaly going to Australia but when my employer heard about this they offered me a transfer) . I'm sorry if I've put anyone off from coming!

The administrator removed some of my posts becuase they were too long. I would contact the Amt responsible for foreign affairs (dont know which one that is) for an updated travel advisory. If you're interested in a long, unbiased, assesment of the security situation from a security advisor, please send me a personal message and I'll email you what I have.

I just hope the people who are considering going down there and who are reading this thread take the security recommendations serious. I think this is the thing that worries most of us Saffers. We are worrying about the safety of our guests. The government is playing it down (of course - they have to). People, I can only say be careful. I love SA and would move back tomorrow if I could, but I grew up there and I know what not to do - you don't. Please take the advice given here serious. It really is dangerous. I am from Cape Town, considered to be the safest city in SA, my whole family and all my South African friends from back then still live there and I don't know of anybody, not one person, who hasn't been either robbed, robbed numerous times, hijacked, or was either raped or escaped being raped, physically attacked, broken into their homes, had their cars stolen, their mobiles stolen, got shot or stabbed. And these people all know which places to avoid, they are liberal, supportive of the poor, don't flash their wealth, helpful etc. etc. It doesn't protect you. So stick to the rules, avoid the areas you are recommended to avoid, follow the instructions given by the previous poster on driving etc and you'll be fine. Not only that, but I can almost guarantee you that you will fall in love with this beautiful country and its culturally diverse mixture of peoples. You will experience geniune friendliness, helpfulness, openness, spontaneity, a genuine interest expressed in the countries you come from and hospitableness like you have never known.