Practical Information for visiting South Africa

The currency is the South African rand (R), which has been weak against major currencies for years and is a large part of why the country is good value.

Card payment is near-universal, including at petrol stations, small shops and many market stalls. South Africa adopted contactless early and uses it widely.

ATMs are everywhere. Use machines inside banks or shopping centres rather than street-facing ones, and decline any offer of help at a machine — card-swapping at ATMs is a common scam.

Tipping is expected: 10-15% in restaurants, and a few rand for the car guards who watch parked cars in most public places, which is an informal but universal job.

Coverage is good in cities, towns and along major routes, and patchy in game reserves and rural areas.

Prepaid SIM cards are cheap and sold everywhere; registration with a passport is legally required.

Load shedding — scheduled rolling power cuts — has affected the country for years and is worth planning around. Schedules are published by app, most hotels and restaurants have generators or batteries, and it affects traffic lights, which is a real driving hazard.

Crime is a real and specific risk here, and the honest advice is practical rather than reassuring. South Africa has high rates of violent crime, though it is heavily concentrated in areas visitors do not go, and most trips pass without incident.

What residents actually do: do not walk after dark in city centres, use ride-hailing instead; keep phones out of sight in traffic and on the street; keep car doors locked and windows up at junctions, where smash-and-grab occurs; and do not resist a robbery — hand things over.

Do not hike Table Mountain alone or on quiet trails; muggings happen on the less-used paths. Go in a group and on the main routes.

At ATMs, refuse all offers of assistance and use machines inside buildings.

On safari, stay in the vehicle unless your guide says otherwise, and never walk in a reserve unaccompanied. Rip currents affect both coasts, and shark activity is monitored on the KwaZulu-Natal beaches, which are netted.

No vaccinations are required for most arrivals; yellow fever certification is needed if arriving from an endemic country.

Malaria is present in the northeast, including Kruger and the lowveld, mainly in the wet summer months. Prophylaxis is generally advised for that region; the Cape and most of the country are malaria-free.

Tap water is safe in cities and most towns. In rural areas, use bottled.

The sun is severe at altitude and on the coast, and burns come fast.

Private healthcare is excellent and used by most visitors; public hospitals are stretched. Travel insurance with evacuation cover matters for anywhere remote. HIV prevalence is high, which is relevant only to the obvious precautions.

Tipping is expected and forms part of many workers' income: 10-15% in restaurants, small change for car guards and petrol attendants, who fill the tank for you since self-service is not the norm.

Photography of people requires permission, particularly in townships. Pointing a camera from a moving vehicle is the behaviour residents object to most.

Drink-driving limits are low and enforced with roadblocks. Driving is on the left.

It is illegal to buy or sell products made from protected species, including ivory and rhino horn, and penalties are severe.

South Africa was the first country to constitutionally prohibit discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation, and same-sex marriage is legal — though attitudes vary considerably outside the cities.

10111 reaches police, 10177 ambulance, and 112 works from mobiles.

Private ambulance services — Netcare 911 and ER24 — respond faster than public services in most areas and are what insurers use. Their numbers are worth saving on arrival.

Private hospitals in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban are excellent. Payment or insurance confirmation is required up front.

In game reserves, the lodge or park authority is the first point of contact; evacuation from remote camps is by air and expensive without cover.