If an African invites you to visit...
Perhaps my review of Africa will be the most unusual, because I traveled around South Africa on untrodden tourist trails, by car, and even with a real African!
“South Africa is the world leader in the number of murders and rapes.
South Africa - almost every fifth person there is HIV-infected.
South Africa - in the safest and "white" city of Cape Town, you should not walk alone on the street after 19 pm. And in crime-ridden Johannesburg, even during the day, whites travel exclusively by car. ”
I learned all this from the Internet a long time ago, and yet, a trip to Africa has been my blue dream for many years. Therefore, when I was invited to go there for three whole weeks, I agreed without hesitation!
My African himself developed the route, which was supposed to be a “Pleasant surprise” for me. Being a lover of adventures to the fifth point, I did not even try to find out what was waiting for me there and, having collected my things, flew to Durban.
Plane to Moscow, then to Frankfurt, then 11 hours to Johannesburg, then 1.5 hours to Durban.
Durban is a very interesting city on the ocean, a snow-white beach with skyscrapers along the coast make it a bit like Dubai, although inside it is completely different. Skyscrapers, futuristic architecture and 95% of the black population - it feels like you are on another planet! Well, very exotic!
Durban seems to be a little safer than Johannes, but more dangerous than Cape. We always traveled around the city by car. But at the same time, they never sat at home at night - there are a lot of excellent restaurants and bars, the nightlife is in full swing! I was especially impressed by the restaurant, where instead of a glass wall, behind which sharks swim in a huge aquarium.
There are more or less safe areas, there are terrible criminal streets, where heaps of suspicious personalities hang out along the roads. It is especially unpleasant to stop at traffic lights at night - yes, theoretically, you can be attacked. However, the likelihood is quite small.
Normal houses in the city are all fenced, all guarded by alarms. It's the same with villas outside the city: high fences, coils of barbed wire, stretched electric lines, signaling from the army. Houses are robbed. If they don't get killed, you're lucky. In relatively safe Cape Town, there are also fences and alarms everywhere. Crime in Africa is a huge problem. And yet, and yet I am irresistibly drawn there again and again. . .
From Durban we went for three days (3 hours by car) to the Tula-Tula reserve, where we lived in a tent with a shower and a very nice bathroom. I liked it there: there is such romance in nature, nature is ascetically beautiful, delicious food, a safari, during which we saw all kinds of horned animals, as well as an elephant and a hippopotamus.
But! Compared to other reserves, according to my African, this one was rather poor. Because in other reserves you can see a much larger number of animals, giraffes, zebras, even lions. The most famous in South Africa is Kruger, which is located near Johannesburg. Everyone recommends it!
After Tula-Tula, we returned to Durban, from where we drove by car towards the city of East London. The worst thing that can happen in South Africa while traveling on your own is to turn the wrong way and get lost! I don't wish this on anyone! It happened to us, even when the gas was almost at zero. Everything ended well, we found the way, remaining safe and sound - we were lucky... Very... But that's another story.
East London I saw briefly and only from the car window. He gave the impression of a pretty, well-groomed and quite safe town. In general, the closer to Cape Town, the less criminal cities become.
This was followed by several days on the very beautiful island of Knysna. There is nothing special to see there, a calm and relaxed holiday, expensive houses, very beautiful nature, and what impressed me the most was the night sky! This is exactly how it should be! You can see billions of stars, and most importantly, the Milky Way is clearly visible, a magical sight!!!!
The last point of our trip was Cape Town, the capital of South Africa. We rented a room in one of the most prestigious areas of the city, Kepms Bay: palm trees, expensive restaurants, snow-white villas on the ocean - if heaven on earth exists, then this is Kemps Bay!
Excursions - I went up to Table Mountain by funicular. Beautiful view from the mountain to the city.
I flew around the entire Cape Town in a helicopter in half an hour - also a stunningly beautiful view!
I went to see (an hour and a half by car) pygmy penguins that live at the very end of the world, that is, at the southernmost point of Africa. Penguins are adorable!!!
More about South Africa in general:
1) Vaccinations – no vaccinations needed! Malaria pills? Rave! We didn't see a single mosquito there. If there is malaria, it is only in some of the wildest places in South Africa. But how many, they say, side effects from these pills... And in general, I ate raw meat there more than once, or half-done, drank tap water - and nothing happened to me. South Africa is a safe country in this respect. Of course, you do not need to buy anything in suspicious eateries, you need to follow basic hygiene rules, as in other normal countries. South Africa is not the Congo, not Zimbabwe . .
2) Food - the quality is better than anywhere else! You will not find such delicious meat in any European country! The same can be said about fish and fruits. South Africans do not eat sharks or crocodiles. The cuisine there is international, a lot of Indian chicken dishes. The most exotic thing I tried there was kudu carpaccio.
Even in South Africa, unusually tasty wine is also better than European, very strong, rich taste. Ah, what a wine!
3) Shopping - you can buy a lot of local souvenirs like painted plates and wooden giraffes. In terms of clothes, the choice is terrible. Prices in South Africa are high.
4) Nature is very beautiful! Over many hours of traveling by car, I had the opportunity to observe how amazingly it changes, how diverse the landscape in South Africa is.
5) The local population is quite friendly! This is me about waiters, sellers, parking attendants, etc.
6) Slums - another of the sights of South Africa, which I had enough of "admiring" during my wanderings. When you see luxurious villas, literally a few meters from which beggars huddle in cardboard booths, you begin to understand much better the origins of this crime...
5) Security - we walked in the evenings. We walked around Cape Town, the third gay capital of the world, at night, there is one party street where there are bars and discos all over - you can meet so many unusual people there, a very exotic place!
But still, this country is not safe. Crime is a big disadvantage. But the only one in South Africa. In all other respects, I repeat once again, South Africa is heaven on earth.
Despite the fact that I didn’t go on a tour, I think those who read my review will still find something useful for themselves here. 3 pages is too short to describe everything I saw and experienced there. I tried to describe the main points.
Summing up: do not try to repeat it!!! ))) In the sense that if you go to South Africa, then only from a travel agency, for security reasons.
Do not go anywhere for a walk after 19 pm. I was willing to take the risk, but I wouldn't recommend it to others.
Otherwise, enjoy this most beautiful and exotic country in the world : )