TV Globo aired tonight a report about taxis in Johannesburg.
Most taxis are actually mini-vans; drivers pick up and drop off passengers wherever they want.
To communicate with taxi drivers, potential passengers must know a kind of body code; by moving fingers, wrist and arms, passengers signify to the driver where they want to go, and then the driver decides whether he will stop or not.
South Africans drive in the left-hand side of roads, like the British, Japanese and Australians.
Speed limits are: 120 km/h (75 mph) in national highways and freways; 100 km/h (60 mph) in secondary roads; 60 km/h (35 mph) in built-up areas. All road signs and car speedometers show speeds and distances in kilometers.
Long distance roads are in good conditions. Notice, however, that South Africa is a large country, and driving between host cities can be very tiring (Cape Town and Polokwane are more than 1,000 miles apart). Plan your routes carefully.
Many national roads require payment of tolls; toll value varies from R 2.50 to R 46, payable in cash or credit card. Visit this page of Automobile Association of South Africa for more information about road conditions, tolls, distances, etc (free registration required).
In rural areas, there are animals on the road, both domestic (dogs, sheep, horses) and wild (antelopes).
Fastening seat belts is mandatory. Using mobile phones while driving is an infraction. Driving under influence of drugs or alcohol is a crime. South Africa’s number of fatalities in the roads is one of the highest in the World: about 10,000 people die each year.
Some emergency phone numbers:
Police 10111
Fire 10111
Ambulance 10117
Netcare 911 082 911
From mobile phones, call 112.
Not all Travel Operators are authorized to sell packages to South Africa which include tickets to matches. Only operators which have partnered with FIFA can guarantee the availability of tickets.
1. http://www.fifa.com/ is the only online source for legitimate tickets sold outside of a package. Paper ticket applications are also available in South Africa at FNB branches nationwide. (read more about how to buy tickets online).
2. Participating Tour Operators are the only entities authorized by FIFA to sell ticket inclusive travel packages for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa.
Actually, very few travel operators can offer packages.
Cape Town is one of the host cities of the World Cup 2010, and one of the major travel destinations in the country; below, a short travel guide for those who are coming to visit Cape Town.
There are some things to do and places to see in Cape Town that it is almost bewildering and so as soon as you become tired for a while of the long sandy beaches, the gentle tanning sun and warm refreshing dips in the sea there is a long list of travel attractions waiting for you in Cape Town.
If you are on Cape Town on holiday then it is a great idea to make a list of the unmissable attractions and concentrate on visiting and experiencing them first. Obviously the top travel attractions in Cape Town which you put at the top of this list will depend upon what sort of person you are and what activities you enjoy.
If you like sports then Cape Town is awash with so many different attractions from Scuba Diving in crystalline waters to playing Golf on some of the most challenging courses in the world. Then after you have dived beneath the ocean you can do the same but with a parachute from 5,000 ft when you are learning to skydive.
If you prefer to sight see from somewhere around ground level rather than beneath the ocean or from a few thousand feet above the ground then a trip to Table Mountain has to be towards the top of your list and better still what about a walk up Table Mountain?
Actually there are a number of routes that you can take to the top of this magnificent mountain though the most used is to begin your walk at Kirstenbosch (one of the National Botanic Gardens) and walk up through Skeleton Gorge which is much more beautiful than its rather alarming name might suggest. You can book either a 5 or 7 day hike and rest assured it will be worth it.
Obviously to walk up any mountain you have to be reasonably fit but if you are not then let the younger fitter ones take the trek while you head to the Table Mountain Cableway.
The Table Mountain Cableway is one of South Africa’s wonders and was built by the British nearly a century ago and since then over 77 million people have used it to get to the top of Table Mountain. The Table Mountain Cableway will take you right to the summit of Table Mountain in around 10 minutes and so that you get a great view the cable car has an interesting feature it rotates 360 degrees offering you a breathtaking view of the city below.
The photo to the left (by Cape Town Travel Authority) shows Mountain Table overlooking the city and the new stadium.
Today because of the wonders of the www you can buy your Table Mountain Cableway ticket on line and save waiting in line which is good news if you have little ones or are just a little impatient.
After the excitement of riding all the way up Table Mountain you may want to just have a quiet day strolling through beautiful Cape Town, make sure that towards noon you head up to Signal Hill to watch the firing of the noon day gun and witness an old tradition which before wireless and very accurate clocks and other time pieces, allowed sailors to set their chronometers before they set sail across the oceans.
In the afternoon if you want to do some shopping then the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront and Canal Walk is the place to be. The V&A Waterfront and Canal Walk are world famous for an original mixture of shops, restaurants and entertainment, which allows the visitor to visit at any time of the day or night an discover something new.
Happily the V&A Waterfront and the Canal Walk are very people and tourist friendly which means that you are not only safe but also that you won’t get lost and being so very close to the centre of town you can visit many more times than just one.
And if you don’t want to walk to the V&A Waterfront or Canal Walk or indeed you prefer to do your sightseeing from a bus then that is exactly what you can do. And better still you can take advantage of the wonderful climate and take an open top bus tour of the city.
You can even hop on a Party Bus (like this one or this one), as everyone knows Cape Town is the party capital of not only South Africa but some say the entire continent of Africa and there isn’t a better way to party than on an open top big red bus.
If you have children especially teenagers then apart from the beaches and the surfing at Hout Bay, they will demand that you take them to the Ratanga Junction Theme Park to ride the Cobra. The Cobra is a fast modern rollercoaster that will rip any wig off and turn most knees to jelly. But it is by no means the only attraction at the Ratanga Junction Theme Park there are over 30 of those and lots of rides for people of all ages.
A day out at the Ratanga Junction Theme Park is well worth it and in the evening as it is so close to Canal walk why not eat out in the open at one of the wonderful restaurants before going home.
If you would like to see Cape Town from the air you can do it in several way, obviously as we mentioned above by Sky Diving or how about a Helicopter tour, there are several to choose from all of which are breathtaking, maybe you would like to fly over the city and ten skim the waves even catching sight of Blue Whales far out to sea.
Or if you are the adventurous type and have always wanted to flying in a Jet Fighter you will be delighted to know that Cape Town is the location for the only private Jet Fighter flying school in the entire world and of course you can learn to fly a jet Fighter there or maybe take a short but memorable flight in the clear blue skies above Cape Town. The choice is of course yours.
No matter what you do in Cape Town you will always have the weather with you, in one of the best places for warm sun days out in the world.
Durban is one of the host cities of the World Cup 2010; Brazil will play at least one match in Durban, on June 25th 2010, against Portugal. Below, a short travel guide for those visitors who are coming to attend the World Cup.
An interesting coincidence: Durban is located in the province of KwaZulu-Natal; Natal is also a host city of the World Cup 2014, in Brazil.
It is strange how when you think of visiting cities around the world or even in South Africa, Durban doesn’t seem to automatically come to mind; that happily is what makes Durban really a rather exclusive place to visit.
Durban is actually really very, very attractive and like a genteel English Victorian seaside town Durban has a lot of perfect places to visit. The Botanical Gardens (the older ones in South Africa) are a miracle mixture of traditional Victorian plant houses (such as the City Hall, photo to the left) and modern architecture and this beautiful amalgam of building styles houses some of the most beautiful plants in the world and some of the rarest.
Below, some photos of Durban.
If you visit the Botanical gardens then you mustn’t miss The Orchid House as you walk around the well kept and neatly manicured gardens, and if you want to pretend that you are in a nice corner of England on an unusually sunny day then stop by the Tea Rooms and have Scones and a Cream Tea; they are delightful and so very English.
Do you like fish? Does you family like fish or Dolphins? Well if they do then they are in for a treat and you could be spending a couple of days visiting first the uShaka Marine World where there are water slides and rides for people of all ages and of course a marvelous Dolphin show.
Or taking a trip to the Durban Sea World Aquarium where you can see fish almost in their natural environment and then unlike most Sea World Aquariums you can get in the water with some of the fish and believe it or not Sharks as well. The Sharks obviously are harmless ones, but if you have a snorkel and some fins you can swim with them and the feeling is amazing.
You become one of the attractions too as people on the outside of the aquarium watch your antics. Be prepared to spend a lot of time here because the park is enormous. In the centre you wander through a complete and astonishing shipwreck on one side watching enormous manta Rays and the other very large sharks with teeth that any dentist would appreciate.
If you are spending some time in Durban whatever you do don’t miss The Valley of a 1000 Hills. It is an area of thick dense tropical forest that is dissected by deep gorges, villages of the happiest smileiest people in the world and small rivers.
The Valley of a 1000 Hills has been described as one of Africa’s best kept secrets and that is because it is so beautiful it will have a lasting impression on you.
This is a place of great history home of the Zulu nation and from wherever you look you will see small villages of neatly kept round huts. You can drive to The Valley of a 1000 Hills without difficulty or why not take The 1000 Hills Choo Choo steam train that runs through the area and if you do please don’t forget to wave back at some of the friendliest people on the planet.
One of the most interesting parts of Durban is the Indian Quarter, there are over 1 million Indians living in South Africa today who are relatives from the workers who were imported to work in the Natal sugarcane fields. Most of the Indians who live in the Indian Quarter have never integrated and so they have kept their traditions and customs alive and that means if you walk through the centre of the Indian Quarter, as you walk down grey Street you will see the Golden roofs of the Juma Mosque, shops selling Indian spices, leather good and of course gold and jewellery.
And if you like Indian cooking this is the place to be at any time of the day, especially at night when you will be invited into a family owned restaurant to taste some of the best Indian food in the world.
It is hard to believe when you walk through any part of Durban that it is the second largest city in South Africa with around four million people living there, it is a homely friendly place and so visitor friendly and a great place to visit whether you are alone or with your family.
One of the best and most exciting places in Durban is the oddly named Durban Golden Mile. The Golden part of the name is easily understood it comes from the beautiful golden sand on the beach, the odd part if that the Mile is about six kilometers or 3.72 miles long, but you can forget that because there is so much to do along Durban’s Golden Mile.
First the Golden Mile is a very long pleasure beach and enormous beach resort which is home to too many to count fountains, splash pools, waterslides and swimming pools and of course the sea if you are a little adventurous, well the waves can be big enough to surf on as they crash onto the beach.
Second are the places to shop from stylish boutiques to interesting little markets where ‘handmade’ is the fashion.
Then at night the whole area changes and the wonderful nightlife begins, from modern nightclubs to daring menus in exotic restaurants you can experience everything you would ever want to as the sun goes down and the lights begin to twinkle along the seafront.
If you have time then there is somewhere just a short distance out of Durban that you must see. The Umhlanga Rocks are just 12 miles north of Durban and worth a visit. The rocks that give the place its name are actually on the other side of long wide white sandy beaches. The Umhlanga Rocks area is home to some of the most exclusive hotels in South Africa and form a resort that was established by the English over 150 years ago.
Everything here is exclusive from the shops to the beaches both of which can boast being the biggest in South Africa this is a Mecca for the well heeled tourist and for all beach goers in the country.
Below, a movie about Durban produced by South Africa TV Channel.
Johannesburg is one of the host cities of the World Cup 2010, and will stage both the opening and the final matches of the Cup (Soccer City, photo below; read more about the Soccer City Stadium); below, a concise travel guide to Johannesburg.
The biggest attraction in Johannesburg is the city itself it is truly an amazing place where cultures, creeds and life collides and you can do almost anything you like at any time of the day or night.
Johannesburg is lively, wild, thrilling, fun and above all interesting. If you enjoy life that is a little wild then clubbing is obviously something you do, and if clubbing is for you, you aren’t going to be disappointed with the clubbing and nightlife in Johannesburg the clubbing capital of Africa (read more about nightlife in Johannesburg).
If after a few night clubbing and then a couple of days relaxing around the pool you fancy something that will knock your socks off in a different way but you want to experience something that you will remember fro the rest of your life then you need to go to the Sabi Sands Game Reserve.
As they say this is Africa, but this is an Africa that is dying, and that is being drilled for oil, bulldozed for development, mined for minerals and sadly in some parts fought over. This is Africa and happily will always be as it was originally when animals and native peoples ruled and roamed the area and not settlers.
The Sabi Sands Game Reserve is 65,000 hectares of wild Africa that borders the Kruger National Park which allows animals to migrate between the two and that means that you will see water buffaloes, wildebeest antelopes, giraffes, elephants and so many more animals roaming free and being stalked by lions and other soft pawed predators.
Here, because of the neighbouring Kruger National Park animals are free to go where they please and that is because they have a total of 2.7 million hectares to walk around in and when they are doing that they are protected.
The Sabi Sands Game Reserve is perfect for visitors of the human variety and that is because it has some of the best Lodges in the world, there are 5 Five Star lodges which can accommodate your every need and whim and when you are not taking advantage of their services you can do what every visitor to Africa wants to do and that is go on Safari.
The number, type and range of Safaris offered in the Sabi Sands Game Reserve and surrounding areas are numerous and each one attempts to take guests as close to the animals who live in the Sabi Sands Game Reserve and Kruger national Park without worrying the animals.
Safaris also provide employment for locals and that has meant that poaching has begun to drop which is good news for the elephants and other animals who were hunted for their teeth, tusks and all sorts of other personal bits and pieces that find their way into Chinese chemists.
Back in Johannesburg, city sightseeing will take you through the well kept streets with white washed houses to the Johannesburg around bright corners you’ll discover the Johannesburg Art Gallery or indeed the Johannesburg Botanical Gardens.
The Johannesburg Art Gallery is located in the beautifully manicured Joubert Park and houses some of the best examples of African art under the same roof as more traditional masterpieces from around the world and is well worth a visit.
The Johannesburg Botanical Gardens are some distance outside of Johannesburg on the Olifants Road in a town called Emmarentia which is also famous for the Emmarentia Dam as well as the Johannesburg Botanical Gardens.
The short trip is well worth it because you will be able to walk around a very peaceful place that no matter how many people seem to visit always give you the opportunity to be alone to watch breathtaking waterfalls or admire some of the most unusual plants in the world.
There are four thousand roses to sniff if you get in the middle of summer in the oldest part of the gardens the Rose Garden which is right next to the marvellous herb garden which grows only traditional African medicinal plants and herbs.
After you have enjoyed the wonderful plants in the Johannesburg Botanical Gardens you can enjoy what is described by some as the best place to walk a Dog in South Africa: the Emmarentia Dam. The Emmarentia Dam is actually a series of dams to the north of Johannesburg which were originally built by Dutch settlers over 300 years ago to stop the river flooding and breaking its banks.
Today the area is full of trees and nature and one of the most pleasant places to while away a summer’s afternoon watching sail boats and canoeists at play while Dogs swim and run around enjoying a bit of freedom.
While Johannesburg is rich and sun drenched sadly it has some neighbours which are much less fortunate. Soweto is a place where the revolution of the last 15 years of Rainbow Power has had little or no impact upon the people, who even today seem to be separate from the rest of South Africa as it becomes wealthier and much more affluent. Photo below, by Georgia University.
For all of that or indeed because of that Soweto is a lively place. It should be a mistake to describe a township as a happy place though so we won’t but on the other hand Soweto and the other townships which you can visit on a tour are interesting.
The music, the atmosphere in Soweto and the other town ships is wonderful, the colours that the good people of these places of great dilapidation and economic despair paint their houses encourages a sense of wild abandon.
When you visit Freedom Square in Soweto, the place where Nelson Mandela wrote the Freedom Charter the only thing that seems to have changed from the old days is the Mandela Museum which is well worth the price of entry.
You can stay along the only road in Soweto these days in a guesthouse and it is an eye opening experience and one that you will remember for as long as you live.
Some people employ a tactic to meet the players of Brazilian team for a reasonable price: stay in the same hotel as the team.
Sometimes, CBF rents a whole hotel; sometimes, when the hotel is too big, only a sector is rented. When the team shares a hotel, some security measures attempt to isolate the players from the other guests, but some socialization is unavoidable (and most players don’t care about that).
Nobody knows yet where Brazil is going to stay in South Africa; the city will be defined by a draw on December 4th; the hotels where the team will stay will be defined by CBF only in 2010.
But, looking at the hotels where the team stayed during the Confederations Cup of 2009 may provide hints about where they will (or won’t) stay in 2010.
The first match was in Bloemfontein; there, Brazil stayed in the Bloem Spa.
Next, Brazil played too matches in Pretoria; there, Brazil stayed in the large Centurion Lake Hotel (photo below). On leaving the hotel, however, Dunga confirmed the occurrence of robbery; before Brazil, the Egyptian team had also complained about robbery. There are rumors that the robberies occurred following parties organized by the players; in any case, Dunga will probably have restrictions to the hotels (either by allowing robbery, or by allowing parties).
Finally, Brazil traveled to Johannesburg, to play the last two matches. In Johannesburg, Brazil stayed at the Sunnyside Park Hotel.
If you are on Cape Town on holiday then it is a great idea to make a list of the unmissable attractions and concentrate on visiting and experiencing them first. Obviously the top travel attractions in Cape Town which you put at the top of this list will depend upon what sort of person you are and what activities you enjoy.
If you prefer to sight see from somewhere around ground level rather than beneath the ocean or from a few thousand feet above the ground then a trip to 
The photo to the left (by 
Durban is actually really very, very attractive and like a genteel English Victorian seaside town Durban has a lot of perfect places to visit. The 
One of the most interesting parts of Durban is the 
One of the best and most exciting places in Durban is the oddly named 
If after a few night clubbing and then a couple of days relaxing around the pool you fancy something that will knock your socks off in a different way but you want to experience something that you will remember fro the rest of your life then you need to go to the 
Here, because of the neighbouring Kruger National Park animals are free to go where they please and that is because they have a total of 2.7 million hectares to walk around in and when they are doing that they are protected.
