Getting Around South Africa

A friend of mine is heading to South Africa for a holiday and he was asking me about getting around while he is here. The thing is, that while South Africa is becoming increasingly popular as a tourist destination with people from America and Europe, and our rail network has undergone some big improvements, for the most part out public transport is really quite unreliable and in certain areas it is down right dangerous. That's why I told him he needs to rent a car while he is here. It not only solves the transport issues, but it opens up a whole new category of attractions to visit which are not really accessible without a car.

South Africa actually covers a massive area of land mass and some of the major cities are thousands of kilometers apart! My buddy is going to be doing what a lot of American tourists do and doing a city tour. He will fly into Johannesburg to visit with us for a bit, and then take his rental car and drive to the East coast and hit Durban and Port Elizabeth before following the coast around to the Western Cape and visiting Cape Town. He is not sure whether he is going to just fly back from Cape Town or drive back to Johannesburg, but either way I think he is going to have a great time. It's going to give him the chance to see some of the gorgeous landscapes South Africa has to offer and see some of the country that he might not otherwise get to see. I love having the opportunity to do that when I visit some place new.. I shy away from the busy tourist spots and seek out hidden gems!