 | South Africa Tourist Traps | Tips 1 - 10 of 60 |  |
Popular Tourist Traps | Other Tourist Traps Tips | All Tips (60) I found that there were Africans selling their wares on the roadside, in markets and in stores. I thought that the cheapest souvenirs were bought from the roadside stalls. Of course a bit of haggling goes on. I was never good at that.
If you get into an African Market and it seems as though everyone wants a piece of you, I found (was advised actually) that the best thing to do was to look straight ahead and keep walking. If you make eye contact, then the hard sell really starts. Leave a Comment
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Of course, this is Africa and you will be subjected to begging and other forms of cons. Just keep your wits about you, if you wish to give money, then do so, but if not, don't feel guilty about it, this is a job to some.
If you don't want to give them money, the best thing to do is STATE, "I have no money" and continue walking, if you stop to chat, they have time to work on a good story, of course there are genuine people who struggle, but discretion is yours.
Avoid large groups, no direct contact, by pass them if you wish, you won't always avoid them but most of them are hassle free people. Leave a Comment
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OK, now I knid of had a feeling that this would be a tourist trap before we even got there but it still was interesting to see and I did learn some things too. The clincher that threw it into Tourist Trap status was the gift shop at the end...very tacky.
I would suggest to go to the Nyani Cultural Village instead, it was less crowded and more enjoyable. And as a bonus, no gift shop :) We also visited the Swazi Cultural village and this was a pretty cool one as well. Leave a Comment
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OK. So this guy fooled me. And lots of others that were behind me were fooled too. If you ever go to Harbeespoort (norhtwest Pretoria), and go to the craftmarket, youīll probably meet a guy that's raising money for the Harbeesport school, so the children will have somewhere to learn to become better persons and blah, blah, blah. He'll be so anoying that the only way to pass around him is to give him at least 20 rand for his fund (he wanted 100 rand, but I wasn't that stupid). Well, as I was told, he does that to every tourist that goes to the market, and makes a good salary every day.
Just avoid him, and if he gets in your way, just tell him that you just gave money to another guy for the same fundation. He will show you ID cards and everything, but don't be fooled!!!
Tell him that you came to South Africa to help children and to teach them, as you're an acclaimed teacher at your country and would like to share your knowledge. That's why you're in Harbeespoort, and probably you will see this guy on Monday, at the school, since you'll both be working at the same place. That you'll give him some money there. Leave a Comment
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Mr Boonzaaier, owner of the Bushveld train safaris, that runs from South Africa to Namibia.
This person is extremely untrustworthy as he had dumped my Grandparents in a foriegn country 230km in the Namibian desert, with no means of transport or any help what so ever, only with the intervention of the pleasant Spoornet rep. they were allowed onto a coach.
He has since been contacted and his reply when contacted by my mother to sort this issue out was " dream on......".
Don't bother with this company, there are plenty of other train safari companies offering this package and better facilities.
http://www.rovos.co.za/
Rovos Rail, is a well established company. Leave a Comment
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Victoria & Albert Waterfront is extremely expensive and very commercial! And the local vendors try to rip you off by not displaying the prices! I think that they judge you by the way you look and your accent and raise the prices if you are not from South Africa. The restaurants are also very expensive. And it's definately not a good spot to buy the African art as it's many times more of what you wil pay from vendors on Green Market Square.
However, it's good spot to do your groceries on Sunday at Pick'n'Pay supermarket as everything else is closed. It's also good to get your cash from ATM as it's safe and open on Sundays. Leave a Comment
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One night while having drinks around the fire, a couple of girls were telling me about having went to this place (Cango Wildlife Ranch) where they saw lions and pet cheetah's. I was getting very excited as I hadn't seen a lion, even in Zimbabwe on safari, and it sounded like it was close by. Then the girl telling me about the cheetah thing said they even got a certificate, this is when it dawned on me that they'd basically been at a petting zoo. :)
It was on the way though so we still stopped, and it wasn't "really" a petting zoo, at least not all of it. :) The cheetah's are wild and you sign your life away before walking in to pet one, which I did, and they had a croc they claimed had killed 12 people in nigeria or something before they caught him. They had a couple of lions and tigers and wild dogs and a hippo. We touched a hippo we could reach and I must say that it was the nastiest thing I've ever felt!! It was cool and clammy and sticky and just incredibly icky. It was firm too, I didn't expect it to feel like that.
There is a snake house and there is a real petting zoo within that has goats, etc. for the kids to play with.
If you are still interested in visiting the ranch...
http://www.cango.co.za/
THE CANGO WILDLIFE RANCH
Tourist Ranch:
P.O. Box 559 ·
Oudtshoorn · 6620 ·
South Africa
Tel: (044) 272-5593 ·
Fax (044) 272-4167 ·
Intl. Dialing Code: +27 44
E-mail: cango@kingsley.co.za Leave a Comment
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Back home from South Africa I was surprised to find hundreds of euros on the outprint of my visa expenses, that I had actually not spent. I was suprised because I never lost my card out of sight, I always had it on me, even at night...
The only moment I did not see what happened to it was in a busstation where they took it behind the counter for some minutes... It is hard to believe but it must have happened then... The socalled "proof" of y expenses (that you can demand from visa in case of doubt) showed an imprint of my card (which was not signed or anything!!) and lose (!) from that a receipt with an amount of money spent in a garage, and a signature that was not mine. Visa told me that I was responsible for this because "I should never let the card get out of my sight (!!) but finally agreed to refund after I kept on arguing that the socalled "proof" was no proof at all of ME having spent something and... that I would write about it...
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Pilgrim's Rest is not really a tourist trap, but it could be if you are not careful! It is actually a collection of preserved buildings from the late 1800's depicting what a gold mining town looked like at that time. The town is located in a very picturesque setting in the eastern Drakensbergs and there are a number of interesting buildings and restaurants. There are a few shops for tourist trinkets as well. Leave a Comment
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there have been a number or snatch and grab situations recently as woman drivers approach a stop sign or a traffic light the gang of theives 1 draws your attention to the drivers side then another smashes your passenger side window and grabs yuor hand bag or cell phone plse be on the look out
avoid traveling by one selves to remote areas alone ............................. Leave a Comment
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