Hints and Tips

The following information is designed to be useful to those travelling to Komatipoort and South Africa, it is not comprehensive and travellers should ensure that they are advised correctly on all matters pertaining to their trip.

Arrival

It is likely that your arrival in South Africa will be through the international airports at Johannesburg, Cape Town or Durban. Internal flights can be booked between the major airports and local airports of which the closest to Komatipoort in Nelspruit. We are around 1 ¼ hours drive from Nelspruit and 4 ½ hours from Johannesburg.

Time Differences

For an ‘exotic’ location South Africa enjoys a great advantage for most European travellers in being just two hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. This really banishes the spectre of jet lag. For those from the Americas or Australasia, some jet lag as we are seven hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time and seven hours behind Australian Central Time. But, it's still worth it.

Driving

We would really recommend that anyone visiting South Africa avails themselves of a hire-car. The road infrastructure is very good, the public transport infrastructure less so. South Africans (like all civilised countries) drive on the left hand side of the road: for mainland Europeans or visitors from North America this may mean some initial glancing the wrong way for the mirror and waving your right hand where the gear lever isn’t – but hey, you get your revenge when we visit you. Distances in South Africa are sometimes large, particularly on a European scale, but can usually be accomplished at a steady speed. Adhering to speed limits is important because of the numbers of pedestrians by roadsides, the occasionally erratic behaviour of your fellow drivers and the increasing numbers of speed traps. Seat belt wearing is obligatory. Travel with your driving licence and passport at all times. There are no on-the-spot speeding fines in South Africa so always insist that you will pay any fines at the appropriate office. Drinking and driving is as much a crime in South Africa as anywhere else.

Money

The local currency is the South African Rand (ZAR), with 100 cents equaling R1.00. Exchange rates fluctuate so we would recommend www.xe.com as a useful currency converter. Exchanges of foreign currency can be made at most banks and most banks ATMs will pay out on transactions involving foreign credit or debit cards. Most major credit cards are accepted widely although cash is often preferred because of South Africa’s high bank charges..

Tipping

As a subject, tipping can be a controversial one. In restaurants a tip of 10 -15% is becoming increasingly normal although South Africans themselves are not habitual tippers. Parking Attendants will usually expect around R5.00 for watching your car and petrol pump attendants can be given a few cents or rand in change. At Trees Too we pool all tips and divide them between all our staff at the end of June and at Christmas. Should you wish to tip (and only do so if our service merits it) we suggest that you apply an amount that would seem appropriate in your own country.

Disabled Travellers

South Africa still has some way to go in providing fully adequate facilities for disabled travellers. Wheelchair ramps and toilet facilities are becoming more common and, at the time of writing, we are improving our own facilities at Trees Too in this respect.

Electricity

In general South Africa operates an electrical supply of 220/230 volts AC 50 z. Plugs are either three round pinned or two pin. Trees Too can lend a range of adaptors, but please don’t be offended if we ask for them back.

Safety

For tourists applying common sense precautions South Africa can be as safe a travel destination as anywhere else in the World. Sensible precautions include, locking valuable away in the boot/trunk of your vehicle, taking local advice on security issues, avoiding too obvious displays of money, jewelry or expensive equipment and not walking alone after dark are as applicable in South Africa as London, New York or Rome. By taking these obvious precautions you will generally be opening yourself up to an experience of friendly people and diverse and fascinating cultures. Apart from a perceived risk of crime, travellers are often concerned about the risk of Malaria. Lowveld Mpumalanga (including Komatipoort) and Limpopo provinces and northern Kwa-Zulu Natal are areas where the disease can be contracted. This can only occur through being bitten by an infected mosquito, which obtains the virus by previously biting an infected person. Most mosquitoes are not carrying the malarial virus and are largely absent in winter between April and October. Modern sprays greatly reduce your risk of being bitten: wearing long sleeves and trousers after dusk even more so. . The decision to take anti-malarial prophylactics should be discussed with your own physician. Of roughly one million annual visitors to the greater Kruger Park area, around 200 will contract malaria – which can then be treated. Surely a risk worth taking precautions against, but worth taking to enjoy the splendours of the area.

Useful Links

Internal travel in South Africa:

We would highly recommend that anyone coming to the Lowveld avails themselves of a car, www.avis.co.za have, in our experience, the best levels of service and the closest offices to Komatipoort.

For internal flights www.saairlink.co.za operate services between major centres including Nelspruit/Mpumalanga.For less exalted budgets www.citybug.co.za run buses from Nelspruit to Johannesburg Airport and both www.greyhound.co.za and www.intercape.co.za run air-conditioned bus services between major centres.

Other Accommodation:

The following links are all to places that we have enjoyed staying ourselves in South Africa, Mozambique and Swaziland;

General Accommodation Sites: The following sites are useful for locating accommodation anywhere in South Africa www.safarinow.com and www.greenwoods.com

Tour Operators:

For genuine value adding help in putting together your itinerary we recommend; www.aaatravel.co.za www.afritours.de www.get-up-tours.de www.mozambiquetravelservice.com www.rainbowtours.co.uk www.taruk.com www.umfulana.com

Social Responsibility:

Trees Too is delighted to support; The African Children’s Choir www.africanchildrenschoir.com Komatipoort Care Centre www.komatipoort.com/OtherNonProfit/KomatiCareCentre.aspx