Drive in South Africa.

Hi,
in Febrary I go in South Africa for 30 days.It's danger to drive a car in
the roads?Are goods the road in the country and in the principal parks?I
have a problem for the guide at left.
Thank you
pablito

I have rented cars on a couple of trips to South Africa and not had any
problems. The cars come with disablers that make them difficult to steal.
The rental people advise you to keep the doors locked and windows rolled up
while driving in cities. We were advised to carry a cell phone in the event
of a breakdown in the wrong area. We took all those precautions, but never
felt threatened while driving.

For the most part, the roads in the country and parks are very good, as good
or better than I have found in similar road systems in Canada and the USA.
Signs take a little while to get used to, but once you do they make most
driving easy. We did find some poor roads in Kgalaghadi Transfrontier Park
where roads are not paved but just seem to be graded out of the Kalahari
Desert. We had a small 2wd car. I would recommend a bigger vehicle with
higher clearance and preferably 4wd for that particular park.

Driving on the left takes some concentration, but as long as you pay
attention you should be able to cope. South African drivers certainly don't
hesitate to let you know when you do something wrong. The trickiest part I
found was the traffic circles in cities like Cape Town. Everything is
circulating the wrong way and happening very fast. The closest I came to an
accident was in Motobos park in Zimbabwe. We were coming around a curve on
a gravel road and met a German driver coming the other way. I pulled to the
left, but he pulled to his right and we almost had a head on collision in
the ditch. I could have been dead right.

Have a good time in South Africa. We certainly enjoyed our trips.

Scott Elliot
http://www3.telus.net/selliot/

"pablito" wrote in message
...
Hi,
in Febrary I go in South Africa for 30 days.It's danger to drive a car in
the roads?Are goods the road in the country and in the principal parks?I
have a problem for the guide at left.
Thank you
pablito

Hi,

just take care - some rental companies don't have insurance if you drive on
non-tarred roads.

You will have to cope on the roads with reckless, unlicensed, drunk driving.
Many vehicles are not road worthy etc etc And then of course we have a few
incompotent traffic officials issuing fines because the braking lights don't
work when you are not braking...so people don't respect the traffic police
and even less the traffic laws.

But as long as you drive carefully, keep a good distance from the car in
front, and just keep in mind the other dangers lurking, you should have no
problems.

Hope you enjoy your stay!

Nico

"pablito" wrote in message
...
Hi,
in Febrary I go in South Africa for 30 days.It's danger to drive a car in
the roads?Are goods the road in the country and in the principal parks?I
have a problem for the guide at left.
Thank you
pablito

Originally posted by Pablito

Hi,

in Febrary I go in South Africa for 30 days.It's danger to drive
a car in

the roads?Are goods the road in the country and in the
principal parks?I

have a problem for the guide at left.

Thank you

pablito



My advice would be to definately rent a car. Public transport is very
poor and potentially dangerous.



Main highways are tolled and of a high standard, as are roads in cities.
When travelling between cities stick to the main routes/ highways. The
advise about having a cellphone with you is pretty sound.



all the best


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