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South Africa 2008

Route 2008

• Period: December 2007 - January 2008
• Weather: The temperature varies a lot. In the North East, around Pretoria and in Kruger it was quite hot. In the mountains it was cool and along the coastline (all the way from Durban to Cape Town) it was nice during the day (about 25 degrees), but rather cool in the evening. In the whole country we had some rain. Around Cape Town it rained the least but around Durban and in the mountains it was raining quite a lot.

South Africa 2002

General information:

• Currency:  South African Rand

• Internet: Widely available and often quite quick. In Kruger, Skukuza camp has internet.

• ATM's: Everywhere, even at fuel stations and in shops. Also ATM's in most of the camps in Kruger.

• Creditcards: Widely used and accepted.

• Safety: We did not experience anything bad, but we took our precautions. South Africa has a high crime rate, so we were very careful here. We always stayed in safe places, looked for secured parking of our car and never went into the cities after dark.  

Prices (per January 2008)

• Value Money: €1 = 9,8 Rand

• Fuel:  Around 7,8 Rand per liter diesel.

• Camping: South Africans are real campers so except for the big cities, campsites are everywhere. The price varies between 40 Rand per person per night to about 80 Rand per person per night. Kruger was 60 Rand per person per night. All campsites have hot water, most of the time there is power and sometimes they even have washing machines and dryers that you can use (just put in coins). Mostly 4 coins of 2 Rand for the washing machine and 5 coins for the dryer.

Visa

• For most nationalities a visa is not needed. You just get an immigration stamp on the border, free of cost .

• Visa is multiple entry and valid for three months. 

Border crossing

• ENTRY: We've entered from Botswana at Lobatse.

• EXIT: We left to Mozambique at Lebombo.

• ENTRY: We've entered from Mozambique at Giriyondo (Kruger NP).

• EXIT: We left to Swaziland at Jeppes Reef.

• ENTRY: We've entered from Swaziland at Lavumisa.

• EXIT: We left South Africa in Cape Town

Everytime getting out of or entering the country was quick and easy and without any costs.

Highlights or not

• Kruger NP: Nice park, but too developed to experience the real bush experience. All the main roads are good tarmac and the camps have shops, ATM's, restaurants etc. Spotting animals in Kruger can be hard as there is much thick bush. 

• Sun City:  Too chique for us, but it might be fun if you want some entertainment, good restaurants and gambling. There is also a nice but extremely crowded swimming pool here. Although the entrance fee is not too expensive, the restaurants and shops are.

• Hluhluwe: Nice reserve with many rhino. We visited this place only in 2002.

• St Lucia wetlands: Nice place with many activities. In 2002 we did a boat trip here and saw many hippos and crocs. In the season (January) you can also book a tour to watch the turtles laying their eggs.

• Zulu village: Around Kwazulu Natal Region. Not the real life anymore, but a show specially for the tourists. Nevertheless is was fun. We did this only in 2002.

• Oudtshoorn: Visit an ostrich farm. Nice experience and you can even ride them. We did this only in 2002.

• De Hoop nature reserve: We visited this place only in 2002, but it was one of the nicest places of South Africa.

• Drakensbergen: (only visited in 2002). Beautiful mountains great for hiking.

• Table Mountain: A must for everybody visiting cape town.

• Cape of Good hope: A legendary place

• Gansbaai: In 2008 we were in the wrong season, but in 2002 in July/August we did a boat trip to see the Southern Right Whales. This was really great and we would have done it again if they would have been there.

• Robben Island: Prison Island where Nelson Mandela lived for many year. This is really impressive to visit and was for us the best thing we did around Cape Town.

• Blyde River Canyon: (only visited in 2002). Beautiful surroundings. When you do this part do not miss Bourke Luck Potholes.

• Pilgrims Rest: (only visited in 2002). Old mining village, interesting to see.

• Stellenbosch: Wine area. The village has a nice, old Dutch atmosphere. On the wine farm it is possible to do a wine tasting tour.

Tips

• If you want to visit many sites and National Parks you better buy a wild card. In 2008 the price was 1475 Rand for two persons for a whole year. This is not very expensive as for example 6 days of entrance fees to Kruger for two people is already more than the price of the wildcard. With this card you have free access to 88 sites and parks. If you want to sleep inside the parks the only thing you have to pay is your camping fee. We got this wildcard at the Giriyondo border between Kruger and Limpopo and here we could pay with Visa.

• If we would have had enough time we would definitely have visited Lesotho again. This small country is totally different from South Africa, but beautiful and the people extremely friendly. Some road can however can be rough. In 2002, we went to Malealea Lodge where we did a great horse ride. This is really worth doing.

• In Muizenberg near Cape Town is a very good Land Rover mechanic. His name is Jim Newbigging. 3, Geneva Road , Muizenberg, Cape Town. For GPS data see list below.

• LR Service center in Cape Town is also a Land Rover specialist. This garage however is expensive and has a long waiting list. For spare parts this place might be interesting, because they can supply everything you possibly need. Even small things like plugs, pins, plastic lids etc. The address is: 201 Victoria Road, Southfield Cape Town, 0027-217050474. For GPS coordinates see list below.

• MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company is a good shipping company that offers very good prices. They sail all around the world. Their phone number in Durban is: 031-3607187. The address is: MSC House, 54 Winder Street, Durban. For GPS coordinates see list below.

Roads (January 2008)

• Almost all roads are tarmac and in good condition.

Important addresses

Links

http://www.southafrica.net/voordeligzuidafrika/ - Cheap flight to South Africa

Shipping

At the end of our Africa trip we shipped our car from Cape Town (South Africa) to Nhava Sheva (Mumbai, India). In Cape Town we worked with a very good agent who organised this shipment. All bookings and documents everything was organised by the agent.

In short this is how it worked:

• Day one, on Monday, at the office of our agent we signed the papers to confirm the shipment. At that same moment the agent immediately made the bookings and within half an hour everything was arranged.

• The next day, on Tuesday, we want back to pay the shipment (cash in local currency) and to bring the Carnet.

• During the next couple of days the agent kept in contact in case there would be any delay.

• Luckily there was no delay, so three days later, on Friday, we went to the terminal (SACD, see list below for GPS data) were everything was well organised. When we arrived everybody was informed and waiting for us. First we did the customs clearing. A custom officer, who was picked up by our agent checked our car, the chassis and engine number and asked us some questions. Then the loading started. We drove the car into the container where two people professionally packed and tighted the car. After everything was done the container was sealed and we were given a document with the seal number and the container number. Then everything was finished and after our agent had dropped the customs official back at his office he returned to bring us the fully signed carnet and gave us a ride to town.

• After everything was done Dewald, the person at the office who arranged our shipment, called to check if everything was OK.

• During the next days Dewald kept us posted about the date the ship would sail and we received all the information to track our container on the internet.

• A couple of days later, again without any delay, the original bill of loading was send to us in Holland by courier.

All in all our agent did it all and everything went very smooth. The name of this agent is:

Federal Clearing Forwarding

42 Colestreet

Cape Town

Responsible for import matters is: Dewald Bester

email: dewald@fedclear.co.za

internet: www.fedclear.co.za

phone: 0027-21-4485043

The shipping company that shipped our container is Safmarine.

The costs of this shipment was:

Oceanfreight (Container) = 6900 ZAR

BAF (transport costs related to oil price) = 1656 ZAR

Line release charges: 450 ZAR

THC (Terminal Handling Charges): 795 ZAR

Transport of container from depot to port: 650 ZAR

Documentation: 200 ZAR

Agency costs: 95 ZAR

Communications: 35 ZAR

Cargo dues: 835,68 ZAR

Packing container: 1000 ZAR

Exam attendance (bringing the customs to the terminal, bringing the customs back to the office in town, bringing the signed carnet back to the terminal): 100 ZAR

ISPS (no idea what this is): 41,40 ZAR

Couriers costs (Bill of Loading to Netherlands): 250 ZAR

The total of all these costs is: 13008 ZAR (1 South Africa Rand - 1 Euro)

On the South African side we had no other costs. All the costs where paid to our agent. If you choose to deal with the shipping company yourself you should pay the first three costs (container, BAF, Line release charges) to the shipping company and the other costs to the agent.

GPS-waypoints

Grid: Lat/Lon hddd°mm.mmm"