A DIY Budget Traveler's Guide to South Africa

South Africa is a wonderful country to explore for people resident in North America, Europe or anywhere really. However, you have to understand the South African culture and perhaps change your home travel ideas to meld in with the local social environment in order to come back safely in one piece!

My guidelines are for the first time budget traveler of any age group, be it for 20 to 30 year old backpackers or senior travelers of 50 to 70 years. DIY means "do-it-yourself", so you decide where to go and organize all the necessary travel and accommodation en route. Not a problem when you know how!

Johannesburg, or Joburg for short, is where you start and end up your tour. I am keeping it simple. Joburg is where the major airlines fly to (e.g., BA, Qantas, Malaysian, South African etc.) and then go on to some place else. It is an advantage to book a "Round-the-World" ticket and tell your travel agent that you want a month stop over in South Africa. Normally they will oblige with an additional two free flights within the country, although on one occasion I scored free flights from Joburg to Harare (Zimbabwe) and back which pleased me.

If you do get some free flights it is best to use them to fly from Joburg to Cape Town and back again up north from say Port Elizabeth. Flying is the way to travel long distances safely. If you have to pay then it's not all that expensive, just book it up on your credit card as it is money well spent; you will then have on-the-spot choice of when and where to fly to.

The basic plan is to go from Joburg to Cape Town, traverse the Garden Route to Port Elizabeth and then fly back to Joburg, or time permitting, fly to Durban and then you have several ways of getting back to Joburg, either exploring the Drakensberg region, or going through Swaziland and thence back to Joburg via Pretoria. How to do it?

What I am going to do is suggest two exceptional backpacker hostels to initially stay at, namely "The Backpackers Ritz" in Joburg and the "Ashanti Lodge" (Green Point) in Cape Town. First thing to do is book online with the Ritz saying you want to stay for a few days and let them know when your plane arrives so that they can send transport to pick you up and anyone else arriving on the same plane. So, no need for getting a taxi which can be a dodgy exercise.

South Africa is a great place for finding excellent backpacker hostels which are used by the young and older traveler alike. Many are converted from former luxurious mansions complete with swimming pool and beautiful gardens. You may find that some are surrounded by high walls topped by razor wire and sometimes have a security guard present at nighttime, but then you know that precautions have been taken to provide safe accommodation. Don't worry unduly!

Most hostels have a travel department and at the Ritz and Ashanti Lodge you will get exceptional service to plan all the day trips possible around Joburg and Cape Town. The tour minibus will pick you up at the hostel door and return you on conclusion of the trip. How convenient!

At Joburg you can visit the old Kromdraai gold mine and nearby trout farm, a diamond mine (Cullinan, aka Premier), Soweto City, craft markets and so on. After maybe a week in Joburg you then fly to Cape Town where you will be picked up at the airport to go to Ashanti Lodge if you have booked ahead.

Note that there are two Ashanti Lodges and the one recommended, at Green Point, has raving reviews. I also like the original Ashanti Lodge Gardens because it is only a short walk to the "Keg and Squirrel" which is an English-style pub that serves bangers and mash, fish and chips and has all the well-known British (and Guinness) beers on tap. The travel departments are excellent and you will be in good hands.

At Cape Town you must hike up Table Mountain (or go by cable car), do a Wineland tour, visit Cape Point, try shopping in the city center and craft markets, and explore the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront tourist area; here you can do a boat cruise to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was held captive.

In Joburg and Cape Town there are dozens of good backpacker hostels, details of which can be studied at leisure in any South African guide book, such as Lonely Planet. You will need such a guide book to plan your trip ahead, but remember guide books soon become outdated with regard to accommodation. The Internet provides the latest information on accommodation from travel web sites, such as BootsnAll and Hostels.com, the later providing reviews of hostels by travelers and online booking for over 30,000 hostels worldwide.

The next important thing is to become familiar with the Baz Bus and its route. Use it to travel along the famous Garden Route, from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth, stopping en route at places of interest. The Baz Bus is a hop-on and hop-off bus that caters for backpackers and other tourists, and goes from Cape Town to Joburg and vice versa, almost every day, using Mercedes buses. If you buy a ticket to Port Elizabeth, you can stop off at any backpacker hostel (or hotel) en route and get picked up at the door a few days later. This is by far the safest way to travel and it is very economical. You get to meet interesting fellow travelers too, from all over the world.

I have traveled along the Garden Route five times and have now stayed at all the places possible. Knysna is my favorite seaside tourist resort town and this should be an essential stop over. Try the local oysters at the Tapa Bar in the Yacht Club, for starters. You have now entered the pipeline of a safe and exciting way to explore South Africa. Away you go!

A final word of advice to ensure you that you come home safely. Forget peer pressure and make your own decisions about what to do. Avoid dodgy situations, like boozing at night clubs (no need, all hostels have their own bar), or go swimming with crocodiles and hippos, or surfing with white pointer sharks. There are enough unexpected hazardous situations hovering on the horizon when traveling without deliberately tempting fate.

Once you have enjoyed your first trip to South Africa then I am sure that you will be back again the following year with your mate or girl friend. Good luck!