SCtime

Having lived in South Africa for a few periods over the last 10 years and having visited about 20 times otherwise, mostly in Joburg and Cape Town, though never to Krueger or to see big game, I concur that it’s worth a visit for most anglophones, but here are some obvious and not so obvious observations which can help guide a self-guided tourist to ZA:

1.) Being an anglophone makes this country very accessible, but their flavor of english is quite different vs what you hear in the US and some accents will be darn near unintelligible. Appreciate that there are 11 official languages in ZA and many others used on a daily basis by a significant percentage of the population.
2.) The country is huge. Don’t underestimate how long it will be to drive long distances though google maps times are fairly reliable. And if you’ll be self-guided, drive you will because there is no usable public transit for the places you’ll likely want to go. there is a fairly fascinating and still very functional minibus system, but it mostly takes people to/from townships (where people of lower socioeconomic group live; historically mostly black; there were 4 groups in apartheid: black, colored, indian, and white and in some contexts, including in some government censuses these still exist).
3.) I’ve found rental car companies to be less honest than in most places in US except Hawaii, wherein they’ll add spurious damages and fuel excesses quite often. So, make sure to photograph both the exterior and interior of the car along with photos of your fuel filling receipts unless you have appropriate credit card insurance or paid for insurance though the rental agency. Those global/US rental car brands you’ll see are just franchisees which seem to have lower standards. Take a look at tempest, woodford, bluucar too.
4.) self-appointed parking attendants are still a thing in most street parking and private parking lots. Many people parking their cars will tip those attendants a few Rand in cash. I won’t comment on whether you should or not, just that you should expect to see them. They’re nearly always harmless and sometimes mildly to very helpful.
5.) power cuts are very common all over the country and have only been getting worse over 15+ years. I won’t go much into it here but to say that almost all places you’ll go these days in cities will have backup power sources in case the power utility cuts power (hotels, b&bs, cafes, restaurants, etc) . If you’re staying outside a city or in the bush (like somewhere in Krueger), it may be worth emailing in advance to make sure they have backup power. Frequently they’ll call it an “inverter”. And they call power cuts “load shedding”. Having an inverter will of course also affect whether you have wifi if needed.
6.) if you need cash, expect to wait at many ATMs when you go to withdraw cash. There just aren’t enough cash points for the number of people who still use lots of cash. Having said that, again, in cities, you can almost always pay by digital wallet now (thanks covid) like apple pay or google pay. Though your server will almost never ask at restaurants or cafes, you can add a tip by just telling them the amount to charge including tip (10-15% is typical, though some go higher for outstanding service).
7.) Take a bit of time to learn the difference between the local usage of right now, now, just now, and now now or be forever frustrated by the timeliness in ZA.
8.) Fear of being a victim of crime in south africa seems to be correlated with socioeconomic class and skin color. eg if I meet a white person in Cape Town, they’ll warn me to not hike any of the routes around Table Mountain on my own. If I meet a colored or indian they may say the same whereas a black person, particularly a poor one will say it’s perfectly safe. I’m not saying it is or isn’t safe, but just that the perception of safety seems to not be driven nearly as much by stats as by self-identification of color. As it turns out, I’ve walked every single ravine on the front of Table Mountain on my own multiple times and never experienced anything more dangerous than muscle fatigue.

There certainly is violent crime that happens in south africa, though when I’ve researched published stats, apples to apples, its amazing how much of this violent crime happens in the townships, where you’re unlikely to go (though if you visit Joburg, I highly recommend a visit to Mandela’s house and the Soweto Towers, even if only to watch, in Soweto which are safe areas) and also how low gun crime is compared with the US. Again, the US isn’t homogenous and certain people in certain areas are more likely to be victims of gun violence in the US too. Property crime is a bit more common than violent crime from what I’ve seen and stats I’ve read for prior years (think cell phones stolen or smash and grabs on car windows). Common sense in this regard works well enough (eg don’t go flashing your money about or leave bags visible in cars when parking in area with out parking attendant like at Kloof Nek parking areas if going on a hike around Lions Head or Table Mountain in Cape Town.

9.) The birds sound amazing, everywhere, and unlike anything you’ll hear anywhere in North America or Europe. You should count on being awoken at least one day on your visit by hadedas.
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SCtime

Also, regarding flights, having used DL (ATL-JNB), UA (EWR-JNB), LH (FRA-CPT), KL (AMS-CPT), AF (CDG-JNB), VS (LHR-JNB) I’ve consistently enjoyed AF and VS the most in both J and Y and DL and UA the least. breaking up two 9-11 hour flights works better for me. The 14-17 hr non-stop from the US to JNB/CPT is just not so pleasant, and certainly not with DL or UA, either in J or Y.

TravellingChris

Very good points. For a distance like this, it would be preferable to break up the journey with a stop midway, in one of the major European airports like LHR, CDG or AMS.

It's little different than flying between North America and Southeast Asia--I always prefer to stop in Incheon or Narita en route. Stretch my legs, have a bite to eat at an actual table, and (most importantly) visit a proper washroom.

TravellingChris

The issue with South Africa is not just the negative publicity about crime (which, as other members have noted, is overblown compared with some other destinations) but also the fact that the distance from both Europe and North America in particular is so great. North Africa (Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco) is only a short-haul flight away from much of Europe, but South Africa is an entire continent further south. And journeying from North America involves not only a transatlantic crossing (e.g. to Europe first) but also across all of Africa as well. It's no wonder potential visitors consider not just the concerns about personal safety but also the grueling journey there and back.

We ourselves would dearly love to visit South Africa but the airfares are absolutely insane. And unlike North Africa, there are no budget options. It's easy to get a reasonable fare to Europe and then take a budget flight to, say, Morocco. But there's nothing value-priced from Europe that goes south of the Sahel.

iahphx

If you hande credit OK, consider getting a couple of credit cards and you can go to South Africa on miles. That's how I travel there most of the time. I have seen crazy good airfares, but not lately -- much like most int'l destinations right now.