Safety in South Africa

The basic rule: South Africa has a very high crime rate. The single most important rule for an independent traveller is never to walk through a city after dark, even if your destination is two blocks away.

Load shedding: Rolling power cuts happen regularly across the country. Install the EskomSePush app so you know the schedule and don't get stuck in a lift or on an unlit street.

Car guards: Every free parking area has people in high-vis vests. They aren't official employees, but the convention is to give them a few coins when you leave to keep an eye on your car.

Valuables in cars: Don't leave bags, jackets or phones visible in a hire car. Thieves will break a window for an empty box, so everything goes in the locked boot before you park.

On the street: Don't flash an expensive watch or camera in crowded places. Take your phone out inside a cafe or shop rather than on the pavement, where snatch thefts happen at speed.

On the road: If anyone other than police tries to flag you down on a highway, don't stop. If you break down, stay inside the locked car and call roadside assistance by phone or app.

Advisories: Read your own government's travel advice before you go, which will flag specific districts to avoid. Make sure your insurance covers driving and any adventure activities you plan.

South Africa has one of the world's highest rates of violent crime, and the subject here is armed attack rather than petty deception. Millions of tourists nonetheless visit every year without incident: geography and discipline do the work.

Hijacking. A car taken with the driver in it at a traffic light or at a driveway gate. The rules locals follow: keep a gap to the car in front so you can pull out; doors locked, windows up; no bag or phone on the passenger seat; be alert at lights rather than on your phone. If attacked, hand the car over immediately, throw the keys and step away.

Smash-and-grab. A window is broken at a light and a bag snatched. Nothing of value should be visible inside the car at all.

ATMs. A "helper" offering assistance swaps your card. Use machines inside malls and let nobody near you.

Fake police. They stop your car and demand to inspect your wallet. A real officer does not. Insist on going to the station.

Table Mountain trails. Robberies on the routes, especially Lion's Head and Platteklip Gorge, occur regularly. Walk in a group and in daylight.

Cannabis. Private use and cultivation for personal purposes were legalised by a 2018 Constitutional Court ruling and subsequent legislation. Selling and buying remain illegal, and use in public places is prohibited.

Weapons. Import without a permit is prohibited, and unlawful possession brings a real sentence.

Wildlife. Exporting ivory, rhino horn and other animal parts is a serious offence with active international cooperation. In national parks, leaving your vehicle outside designated areas is prohibited, and that is not a formality: elephants and lions kill people every year.

Travelling with children. South Africa applies particular documentary requirements for minors: an unabridged birth certificate naming both parents may be required on entry and exit, and travelling with one parent may require the other's consent. The rules have changed over time — check before you fly.

Drones. Registration is required, and flights over national parks and cities are prohibited.

Driving. Traffic drives on the left. Intercity journeys by day only: at night the highways bring both robbery and pedestrians in the road.

Townships. Visit only with a licensed guide. Driving into Khayelitsha or Alexandra independently is not an adventure but a serious risk.

Vaccinations. None mandatory, but a yellow fever certificate is required from arrivals out of endemic countries in Africa and South America, transit included.

Malaria. Present in Kruger, northern Limpopo and Mpumalanga, and in KwaZulu-Natal near the Mozambican border. Cape Town, the Winelands and the Garden Route are malaria-free. For a safari, discuss prophylaxis with a doctor in advance; the risk season runs September to May.

Water. Tap water in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban is drinkable. In rural areas and the Eastern Cape, bottled is better.

HIV. Prevalence is among the highest in the world. This does not affect an ordinary tourist trip but matters for any medical procedure and in personal contact.

Power cuts. Load shedding affects traffic lights, street lighting and alarms. In darkness, junctions become doubly dangerous.

Healthcare. South African private medicine is world class — Netcare, Mediclinic, Life Healthcare. The public system is overloaded. Private hospitals require a payment guarantee upfront, so insurance is essential.

Emergency numbers: 10177 ambulance, 112 from a mobile, 10111 police.

South Africa ranks low on the Corruption Perceptions Index, and the police are overstretched: response is slow and clearance rates are low.

The main rule in a robbery is not to resist. Attackers are armed, and resistance sharply raises the risk to your life. Hand over the phone, the wallet, the car. Any local will tell you the same.

Tourist police. Present in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban, along with CCID patrols in central Cape Town, which genuinely work and are visibly present.

Reporting theft. Your insurer needs a case number from a police station. Reports are taken, but the process is slow.

Geography matters most. Cape Town's Waterfront, Camps Bay, Constantia, Stellenbosch, the Garden Route and the national parks are one country. Central Johannesburg at night, Hillbrow, townships without a guide and highways after dark are quite another. Look at the district and the hour, not at the country.

What works. Taxis by app only, a car at night, no valuables in view, and someone knowing your plan for the day. With that discipline the trip passes calmly, and most visitors spend it exactly so.

Emergency number is 10111, or 112 from a mobile.