Not even the most beautiful scenery or the best food and tasty restaurants and wine can help the holiday maker get over his disappointment and frustration if he is involved in a traffic accident, or a case of theft or is confronted with other nasty experiences during his holiday. It is our duty to provide our guests with a great holiday experience and to help avoid this sort of thing happening. For this reason, and not to sound interferring we would like to point out the following to our guests:

Traffic

As continental Europeans we first of all have to get used to driving on the left hand side of the road in South Africa, and this is not so easy. Driving a car sitting on the right is not the biggest problem, moreover it is driving on the left hand side of the road and driving in the opposite direction say round a roundabout and getting onto and off motorways etc. When you first start driving on the „wrong“ side of the road you really concentrate and carefully maneouvre what would be second nature at home. Herein lies the danger because if you get used to being a driver on the wrong side of the road after a few days and feel over confident there is a danger you will react like you do at home and therefore forget that you are on the left hand side of the road, you just have to realise that driving in South Africa for someone who is used to driving on the right hand side of the road is just not normal.

For most foreigners it takes some time getting used to the right of way at roundabouts, crossroadss etc. Where there are no signs at crossroads it is case of first come first served and not right before left or left before right, that is to say the cars must go according to the queue in front of the crossroads, you mustn't be too defensive, but take the initiative when it is your turn, otherwise you will confuse the other people and therefore get them to react unnecessarily.

On dual carriageway and motorways it is a decree to drive on the left side and overtake on the right hand side and this is mostly interpreted very loosely or not at all. For someone driving too long on the right hand side, someone will overtake you from the left hand side or someone who is in a particular hurry will simply zig zag through the traffic as if he was in a slalom race, noone gets excited about this, not even the traffic police.

Be warned about drinking and driving. In South Africa the limit is 0.5 promille. If you are driving under the influence of alcohol and get caught up in a traffic control then this can have very unpleasant consequences such as high fines and immediate arrest and stay in one of the police cells. It is recommended that the driver goes extremely careful with our tasty wines whilst driving or even better take a taxi or shuttle service, especially whilst doing wine tasting tours in the Winelands or wine and dine evenings.

The word SERVICE is written in large letters at our petrol stations. The mostly friendly service attendants love cleaning your windscreen and controlling your oil and water as well as the tyre pressure, they therefore have deserved a tip of say 3 to 5 Rand, according to their service. You can only pay in cash or with a special garage card which is connected with a bank account in South Africa, most petrol stations do not take credit cards or Euro cheques.

Parking in Cape Town and its environs can pose a particular problem because the parking spaces are very narrow. There are parking attendants and guards available in open places and by buildings such as nearly all restaurants. Most of them wear a yellow vest. A tip is also expected here. They are always very keen on keeping an eye on your car and helping you get in and out of your parking space. The larger supermarkets and shopping centres all have parking spaces and parking houses which are relatively cheap (not at the airport).

The locals

South Africans, especially the Capetonians are mostly very friendly and relaxed. However there are young drivers and motorbike riders who are very dynamic or even aggressive. Keeping to the correct traffic laws is not such a popular thing with them. Skin colour makes no difference here.

Due to the high level of unemployment in all the areas with traffic, at nearly every single stop you will find beggars. They can be irritating always asking you for small change. In order to gain sympathy they often use so called blind people or women with small children. Even if it seems hard you should not fall for this, especially not for begging children or youths. It is okay if you give them something to eat instead of coins (fruit or biscuits) and you will find that they often hand this back to you. One should not be supporting beggars even with a few coins, rather support old people who dont have the opportunity to find work.

At many stop signs there are street peddler trying to hawk their products such as clothes hangers, plastic bags, fruit, vegetables and flowers, hand made objects and toys. Some of these products are really reasonable priced. Should you be interested, pull over and barter with them. You should not do any deals from the traffic which could prove to be detrimental to yourself.

Restaurants

A certain dress code is expected in the restaurants. This should not include shorts, bathing trunks, bikini tops or similar scanty attire. At the entrance it nearly always says, please wait to be seated and a waiter is assigned to you and you will be shown your place. In most of the better restaurants it is wise to make a booking in advance, what we are very keen on doing for you. Capetonians mostly go to lunch between 12.00 and 2.00 pm and for dinner between 6.00 and 8.00 pm.

For foreigners the South African habit of taking your own bottle of wine to a restaurant is somewhat strange. It is perfectly normal to do that here and to take a mostly expensive bottle with you and to pay corkage. The amount of corkage depends on the price level of the restaurant and is between 25 and 50 Rand per bottle. In some restaurants they restrict the number of bottles you may drink or you may only drink the wines which are not on the restaurant’s wine list. We even know a really good steak house near to our holiday homes who doesn't even charge corkage. Only a very few top restaurants do not allow to bring your own wine.

Tips of between 8 to 10 per cent are normal here when it hasn’t already been included in the bill. The higher the bill, the smaller the per cent in our opinion. Please note that with a group of 6 – 8 people or more, there is an automatic 10% service charge added.

Telephone

You can use your European mobile phone in South Africa. Reception round and about Cape Town is very good. However it is very expensive to have roaming from foreign mobiles to South Africa. It is much cheaper to buy yourself a SIM card here from a local service provider and insert that in your phone. A SIM card from Vodacom or MTN costs R1 and can be bought at the tills in the supermarkets such as Pick n Pay in Constantia Village. You can also buy airtime in various amounts for example R275 should cover you for a 2 – 3 week holiday here. You do have to register your mobile phone and SIM card in order for it to work. Best of all to do this in the shop of the service provider such as Vodacom in Constantia Village.

Safety Measures

Nimble-fingered crooks and professional thieves are present in tourist centres all around the world as well as in Cape Town and surroundings. It is possible one of these unsavoury characters will try to rip your handbag off your shoulder or they look for cars where goods and articles of clothing are visible thus tempting these thieves. Better be careful and don't leave anything on view in your car.

When you are travelling to the sightseeing spots, it is better not to take any valuables with you such as jewellery or large sums of cash. Expensive cameras and cell phones should always be well insured and closely kept an eye upon. Don't leave any valuables such as wallets, purses handbags etc. on chairs or tables in the restaurants, especially not in the typical tourist places. Should one be in the unfortunate predicament to be attacked by muggers do not challenge them because it is always possible they are armed. We do have to emphasise here that none of our guests have ever had such experiences. However better safe than sorry.

Telephone numbers for emergencies

Police - SAPS Emergency - 10111

Traffic Police - Metro Police - 0860 765 423

Security Company - ADT Emergency - 0860 002 669

Armed Response (Armed Response) - ADT Patrol Car - 0861 212 3001

Emergency ambulance - Ambulance - 10177

Hospital - Constantiaberg Medi-Clinic - 021 799 2196

Doctor Centre - Tokai Medicross - 021 715 7063

Constantia Fire Station - 021 794 1128

Fire Brigade - 021 535 1100

Mountain Rescue - 10177

Sea Rescue - 021 405 3500

Over and above our recommendations it is advisable to find out about matters from the press and to find out more about changing money and public transport as well as the correct manner in which to drive, what happens in case of sickness or injury and therefore we recommend you check this with

Tourism Department of the City of Cape Town

Cape Gateway: easy access to western cape government information and services