Weather & when to go in South Africa

South Africa has been favoured by nature with one of the most temperate climates on the African continent, and plenty of sunny, dry days. The main factors influencing conditions are altitude and the surrounding oceans. Basically, the further east you go, the more handy your rain-gear becomes, but there are also damp pockets in the south-west, particularly around Cape Town.

The coast north from the Cape becomes progressively drier and hotter, culminating in the desert region just south of Namibia. Along the south coast the weather is temperate, but the east coast becomes increasingly tropical the further north you go. When it gets too sticky, head for the highlands, which are pleasant even in summer. The north-eastern hump gets very hot and there are spectacular storms there in summer. In winter the days are sunny and warm.

Most popular time to visit:

During the South African school holidays: from mid-Dec - late Jan; April; mid-Jun – mid-Jul; Sept. Not only do you have locals fleeing the cities in search of open spaces, but also, you have your Europeans and North Americans joining in.

This means that you’ll struggle to find available accommodation, and if you do, prices can sometimes be more than double! So, if you still want to come during this time, make very sure that you book in advance.

The really nice thing about this time, though, is that there are some great festivals that offer refuge from the outdoors crowd, like the Cape Town New Year Karnaval, Standard Bank Grahamstown Art & Culture Festival, and Art and Swaziland's Incwala Ceremony.

Good time to visit:

All year. South Africa’s blessed with kind weather. From June to September, it’s winter, meaning that it’s cooler, drier and ideal for hiking, outdoor adventures and wildlife watching. On the other hand, spring is the best time again to see a vast sea of wildflowers bursting with colour in the Northern Cape.

Best things to do in South Africa

1. When there in the spring, go and see the kaleidoscope of wildflowers in the Northern Cape.

2. Walking and driving safaris in the Kruger National Park or any game reserve in KwaZulu-Natal with an experienced safari guide will teach you a lot about the African bush.

3. Hike or go biking in the Garden Route, Drakensberg or Western Cape mountain ranges. If you don’t feel like walking, scenic drives in these areas are just as worthy, or taking the cable car up Table Mountain is another easy way of getting to the top!

Areas of interest in South Africa

Cape Town

Alive with laid-back enthusiasm, cultures and nationalities, Cape Town is a bubbling, trendy city where hardly a week goes by without some kind of event or celebration happening somewhere in the city or its immediate surroundings. The weather in a day in Cape Town can sometimes be as diverse as its people. Overall, it can get pretty chilly and wet over winter, but even that isn’t even enough to dampen the young-hearted spirit of Cape Town.

The list of attractions for this place is endless, ranging from Table Mountain, Lion’s Head, Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, postcard-pretty beaches, Cape Point, the penguins at Kalkbay, museums, theatres, restaurants, nightclubs, idiosyncratic shops (especially in Loop and Long Street), dreamlike vineyards, adventure centres, and really much, much more!

Summer is usually the most comfortable month to explore the city, but a wild gale, called “The Cape Doctor”, sometimes makes its dramatic appearance, especially during spring. It will literally and figuratively blow you away!

Music, especially live music, seems to be the heart and soul of this place, and if you’re not hearing it in a restaurant, club or pub, you’ll most probably hear it coming from some corner or another as you walk down the street. It gives one a sense of a general ambience that’s open-minded and relaxed.

Johannesburg

The largest city in the country, Johannesburg is the intriguing, dynamic heart of this turbulent country. This city will help you understand and get a feel for the real South Africa. It’s a city of astonishing contrasts, a huge metropolis where abundant wealth and desperate poverty live side by side.

Locals affectionately call it Jo'burg, Jozi, eGoli ('the city of gold'), but never Johannesburg. The reality is that Johannesburg is a fast-growing, brash and often ugly city, yet, it’s got wealth, and a beautiful climate. If you use some common sense and mix it with some advice from the locals, you can enjoy this place safely.

Addo Elephant National Park

As the name suggest, Addo Elephant National Park is a sanctuary for hundreds of elephants, whose forefathers once roamed the wilds of the Eastern Cape. The park lies near the Eastern Cape’s Zuurberg Range in the Sundays River Valley. Just be aware, though, that the park closes if there’s been any heavy rain, because the rain makes its dirt roads impassable.

Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve

A photographer would go raving mad when going to the Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve. It’s one of South Africa's scenic highlights, bragging with absolutely awesome viewpoints of Wonder View and God's Window. Most people drive slowly through the place, but we recommend that if you have time, it's really worth exploring the impressive rock formations and rainforest on foot.

Cango Caves

Even though this is a highly commercialised place, it’s still incredibly impressive. It’s named after the Khoisan word for 'a wet place', and you can choose between a whole bunch of tours – depending on how fit or claustrophobic you are. The longer tours involve crawling through some tight spaces, which can be insanely exciting for some, and just insane for others, so bear this in mind when making your pick.

Kruger National Park

Anyone who has not heard of the Kruger National Park probably has some sort of serious amnesia. It’s not only the most famous wildlife park in the world, but also the biggest and oldest! In fact, in 1998, it turned a solid 100 years old. The Big Five thrives here, along with cheetahs, giraffes, hippos, all sorts of antelope species and smaller animals.

The Kruger National Park gives you the rare and privileged opportunity to view wild African animals in their natural habitat, an experience that cannot be likened to any in a zoo. Seeing a giraffe gallop gracefully past you, or a zebra staring into your car window, or a little crèche of baby bucks huddled together as an older buck baby-sits, are just some of the experiences waiting to wow you when there.

The nice thing about the Kruger National Park is that even though you’re right in the middle of the African bush, the roads and accommodation are highly developed, organised, accessible and popular. Accommodation ranges from super fancy to really basic. The main entry points to the park are through the towns of Skukuza and Nelspruit, and if coming from Johannesburg, it’ll take you about a day to drive there.

Garden Route

If you’re into scenery and laid-back holidays, then opt for the Garden Route, consisting of a string of beaches, dense forests, attractive towns, beaches and oyster-rich lagoons. The entire route runs along a coastline, and begins in Cape Town and end in Port Elizabeth.

The fact that it’s become South Africa’s most poplar tourist destination after Cape Town, should give you some idea about how incredible this region really is. Impressive mountain ranges, indigenous forests, hidden coves, wetlands, freshwater lakes, a year-round good climate and long beaches are just some of the clues.

The interior is reached via a number of magnificent passes that take you to the wide, open spaces of the Karoo. On your way, you’ll come across places, like Mossel Bay, Knysna, Wilderness, Plettenberg Bay and the mother of all bungee jumps, Bloukrans Bridge. If throwing yourself off a bridge gets you hungry for more, go black-water tubing at Storms River Mouth, or go cage-diving with a great white shark, or ostrich riding in Oudtshoorn.

KwaZulu-Natal

The waters and weather are not the only things hot in KwaZulu-Natal. The down-to-earth people are incredibly welcoming and generous, and you’ll soon find yourself making friends as you explore this old homeland of the legendary King Shaka Zulu.  

KwaZulu-Natal is one of South Africa’s largest provinces, and is located south of Mozambique in the east of the country. The warm Indian Ocean and tropical plant life and weather will quickly help you get rid of any inhibitions

Durban, or “Durbs”, as the locals – who are mostly surfers or body-boarders - like to call it, is the province’s main city and transport hub. To the north of Durban, you’ll find some excellent national parks and game reserves, such as Phinda and the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve, an unusual park with its hilly landscape, making for great viewing of the famous Big Five.

Another park worthy of mentioning in that region is The Greater St Lucia Wetland Park, the third largest wilderness area in the country, and declared a World Heritage Site because of its important eco-systems. Crocs, hippos, fish eagles and sharks are just some of the creatures sharing Lake St Lucia.   

The most popular diving spots in South Africa for scuba diving are at Cape Vidal and Sodwana Bay. These are unbelievably pristine beaches.

Between the awe-striking Drakensberg Mountains and KwaZulu-Natal’s coastal playground, you’ll find a region where the memories of yesterday’s heroes are still being kept alive by live storytelling and marked location. It’s known as the Natal Midlands, and is the place of the Battlefields, where Zulus, Boer, and English came together and made bloody history. Unsurprisingly, it was called the Battle of Blood River, a war where thousands of Zulus died due to the Boers’ overwhelming firepower, with their blood turning the river into a deep-red pool.

Even though this history is extremely sombre, it’s quite an experience being on the receiving end of this vivid storytelling, which takes place at the scene of those historic events. Ironically, many people have found this to be a very uplifting experience, in the sense that the entire endeavour is very powerful and overwhelming, leaving one with a new kind of enthusiasm and appreciation for life and, of course, South African history.

Recent history of South Africa

After five years of learning about democracy, South Africa got to vote in a somewhat more normal election in 1999. Among the issues raised and debated, were economics and competence. Some thought that there would be a decline in ANC voters after Nelson Mandela’s retirement, but it did everything but that. It increased so much, that it put the party within one seat of the two-thirds majority that would allow it to alter the constitution. Thabo Mbeki from the ANC replaced Mandela as president, and is still ruling the country today.

It was in November 2003 when the government finally approved a major program to treat and tackle HIV/AIDS, of which the rate is critically high in South Africa. Before this approval, the government had refused to provide anti-AIDS medicine through the public health system.

In April 2004 the ANC won another landslide election victory, with 70% of the nation’s votes. This means that Mbeki will be in power until 2009.

In 2010, the first African nation to ever host FIFA’s World Cup, will be South Africa.

Highlights of South Africa

1. Standing on top of Table Mountain
2. Visiting Robben Island and seeing Nelson Mandela's prison cell
3. Shark cage diving with the Great White's
4. Hike or go biking in the mountain ranges
5. Travel down the beautiful Garden Route
6. Walking and driving safaris in the Kruger National Park
7. Deep sea fishing off the KwaZulu-Natal coast
8. Relax on one of the many beaches

Quick facts of South Africa

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Medical matters

1. HIV/AIDS
2. Malaria (only in Northern Kruger)
3. Schistosomiasis (Bilharzia)

Getting there

Fly into Cape Town, OR Tambo International (Johannesburg) or Durban

Safety in South Africa

It’s no secret that South Africa is a dangerous country. But it’s only as dangerous as your common sense will let it become, except for the rare occasion where you just happen to be in the right place at the wrong time, or other way around, and, of course, then makes the headlines all over the world, scaring people into heightened states of paranoia.

Listen to the advice on safety from the locals, and carry as little valuables as possible with you. If you do carry any with you, don’t flash them around. Also, don’t walk alone in desolated areas, especially at night.

Lock all doors – weather you’re inside or outside of them. This includes the doors of your accommodation, car, cupboard, etc. Not only are you trying to keep out any unwelcome and/or unexpected visitors, but also, theft is common, so don’t leave valuables lying around on display.