Tegwyn

Tegwyn

Those of us posting here are either from SA with lots of family still residing there, or lived there for many years. We are not your usual tourist.

Cyan

Thanks for insights so far.

Have no feel for the place except I always thought that Cape Town was more geared for tourists. The World Cup draw for the group rounds happens in December so it will be interesting to see which teams will be based in which cities.

Having Googled map the country, places like Rustenburg, Pretoria, Nelspruit seem to be satellite urban areas near JoBurg - so I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing - but hotels should be plentiful.

Which leaves in addition to CT, I've got Port Elizabeth and Bloemfontein (but the latter seems to be in the middle of nowhere but despite the Afrikaaner sounding name - appears to have a good civilized set-up according to Wikipedia. Plus KLM has direct flights to Bloemfontein).

ededed

Hand / Supervision - I'll take either

janizaf

You seem to have done exstensive research. This one of the official SA travel sites http://www.southafrica.net/sat/content/en/za/home

I've already said all there needs to be said about Cape Town. Regarding your other choices....Bloemfontein is very organised but it is in the middle of nowhere. Port Elizabeth is another very good option. It a beautiful coastal city and the people are super friendly and helpful. It is also very conveniently situated, should you choose to explore the Garden Route.

Good luck.

the troubadour

Cape Town is a great place and the stadium for the world cup in Green Point will be a great location in what should be a great atmosphere.
There will be a lot of security visible so beyond taking normal precautions all should be fine...The V&A not far away is completely safe and has some great venues.
C T has one of the finest natural locations in the world and plenty of class things close enough to do and see when when folk need a break from football.

kiwibok

I would take this post with some salt. Especially when the words, "should be fine" and "completely safe" are used.

One of the biggest attractions to the V & A waterfront is its Mall.

Cape Town: 12 shopping centre robberies in 3 months
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_i...1158925C799861
July 23 2009 at 02:39PM

# Thursday, at 10am: Robbers strike at Canal Walk's parking area and make off with cash and travellers cheques after holding up a shopper.

# Wednesday, at 11pm: Daniella Jewellers in the Garden Centre is hit.

# Wednesday between 1pm and 2pm: Five men, armed only with a hammer, walk into the Oro é Diamanti store in Canal Walk, smash a cabinet, grab jewellery and flee.

# Tuesday, July 21: Six men rob the Pringle store in Access Park, Kenilworth.

# July 6: Two men enter ITA jewellery store in Canal Walk, break a display case with a crowbar and flee with goods valued at R500 000.

# June 15: A jeweller in Somerset Mall is shot by armed robbers.

# June 10: An armed robber walks into Harris Jewellery at the V&A Waterfront and steals jewellery worth about R10 million.

# May 31: Armed men posing as customers storm the Ackermans store in Vangate Mall, lock up staff and flee with R2 000.

# May 11: Three armed men make off with R30 000 from a store at the Fairbridge Mall in Brackenfell.

# On May 10: An employee at John Dory's restaurant in Canal Walk is shot in the neck during an attempted armed robbery at about 9.45pm.

# April 7: Three armed men rob a Canal Walk stand at closing time. A store manager is shot in the foot.

# February 23: Two guards are wounded in a cash heist at the Kenridge shopping mall in Durbanville.

# 38 vehicles were stolen from shopping centres in greater Cape Town between April 15 and May 29.

kiwibok

Hi Cyan

Here are some valuable tips if you are going to be going to CT.

http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel...heft-BR-1.html

Read through the comments, real tips from real tourists who have visited and stayed in the area.

The V&A Waterfront is still pretty safe by SA standards, as locals will tell you! But by first world standards its dangerous. Remember you are visiting a third-world country, so you need to take plenty of caution, at all times. Be street smart if you are visiting. No camera's, no moonbags, don't carry money etc. Watch out for the street children, and if you going with your family. don't let them out of your site. If you are driving around, keep windows closed, doors locked.

Remember CT is still considered safer than most other cities in SA, you will need to take even more extreme caution if visiting places like Durban, Johannesburg & Pretoria.

duglambier

It is not my business but, why do you hate SA in such a high level ?
As I understand, you left SA for New Zealand (that has the same level, I remember some Kiwis who told tourists to go away and choose Australia instead ,as crime is rampant in NZ)
Generally, the human being causes to hate the country/culture/language we leave as a way to convince others we have made the right choice.
For instance, new muslim converts are likely to be more zealots and angry against Western cultures as they want to convince themselves their new cultures are the best one.

Live your life mate ! Don't use IRC/MSN/FaceBook/Tweet to insult you country of birth and enjoy New Zealand ! Make a difference, fight criminals that cause many thousands Kiwis to leave the country for Aus. New Zealand is such a beautiful country (as SA), think positive, think different !

ededed

Interesting post - and well said. There are lots of people here (Pablo, Tegs, Daxk etc) who regularly post about the dangers of SA, but balance it with positives and always come across as informative but reasonable and invite you to make your own judgement.

Then you get this clown.

I notice he hardly ever posts on the NZ thread, so is unwilling or unable to add value in his local community. He takes such delight in hurling rocks from the safety of his bolt-hole and it seems he is genuinely upset when people enjoy life in a country that is probably glad to see the back of him and his type.

It's fine to raise comment, objection and even criticism, but such constant hate-speech (where debate is not tolerated) is reminiscent of of PW Botha and his pre-94 supporters. Just a thought.

Pablo

Ed. You must have missed the posts where the bizarre Duglambier was slagging off France. I think that was before your time.

ededed

Must have been - just calling it as I see it....

kiwibok

Dug please highlight what in my post below is so bad and indicates to you I hate south africa, I am just highlighting important facts which Cyan should be aware of before venturing off to Cape Town. I am not here to rip off South Africa as you may think, I still have valuable ties with my country, family and assets in CT and I would hate to see it getting any worse than it is already. That said, I am concerned about the World Cup 2010 is SA, most other saffas feel the same. I am concerned about the rampant crime on the tourists. Forgive me for just trying to give some honest advise here.

LOL Dough at you comparing me to somebody that has recently converted to Muslim.

There is no comparison between crime in NZ and SA, chew on this before making statements about the crime here, last year in NZ there were about 50murders in the year (yes and entire year), 98% of them were solved. SA has about 54 murders per day, none of them are solved. SA has 150 rapes per day, tell me Dough, how many solved?I have lived in South Africa, New Zealand and Australia, No need to lecture me on where crime is the worst. .

Please tell me Dough, where did I insult SA? Please quote me!!!

Again, what is wrong with giving Cyan advice? He asked for it, must I lie and tell him there are some real nice safe B&B around Soweto which he can stay in, very close to the main matches too.

Where is my hate speech, please quote me edeeed. Or have we hit a nerve somewhere and you just unwilling to face the facts about your country? If you or dough cannot quote my “hate speech” or “insults” please stay out of this conversation.

PS: For your info, I am a British expat, hence my reason for posting on this forum, and I can post wherever I like.

ededed

Remember writing this (copied below)? Interesting....I know it was a while ago but it's at odds with your most recent post - unless your invaluable contribution to NZ society has single-handedly cleaned up the place since then.

And no - you haven't hit a nerve. But you have got on them with your dogmatic approach that suggests you can't be wrong because you lived here a while ago and seem to know everything... As for "stay out of the conversation". Another PW Botha comment. He couldn't handle dissent either.

I really don't care where you post. Good luck to you - I just hope you find some happiness in your own life rather than seeking pleasure in trying to find misery in others.

Lovely to get such a balanced view - a chip on each shoulder.

kiwibok
Member


Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 51




Re: South Africa is now to dangerous to live.
Well for those of you that think New Zealand is a safe haven, think again. Just 2 weeks ago, a guy was stabbed to death here while waiting for a taxi. The Pack n Save here was robbed. Both of these events occurred not far from where we live, and we live in a pretty descent area. Sure its safe, and we don't bother to lock our doors sometimes etc, but those days it seems are coming to an end.

Things however are not out of control but NZ is getting worse too and i sometimes catch myself wondering which country will be better off in 30 years time.

NZ is suffering from severe skill shortages and they aggressively recruiting from all over the world, many new immigrants are coming from India etc.. Hell, one of the guys I now work with is a black Zimbabwean, educated but his whole family is moving across shortly too. Many of the kiwis are moving to Australia, myself probably included.

ededed

Another example: Even when pointed out that this was a domestic argument (and not "the type of thugs you have to deal with daily in SA") there was no retraction, no comment - just a desperate hope to shoehorn an awful story into confirmation that the argument is valid. Pitiful, pitiful, pitiful.