Answers
Question:
What's the best time of year to travel?
Top
Answer:
Tricky one, as South Africa is a fabulous year-round destination
so it depends on what you want to do. The best time for
game watching is late spring, August to October. The southern
right whales hang around off our coasts from about mid-June
to the end of October, and the humpback whales from August
to December. The diving is best in most of the area over
winter (April to September), and so is the surfing. (But
that doesn't limit it to those times.) Flowers are best
in August and September. River rafting is better in the
Cape at the end of winter; and in KwaZulu-Natal in summer
(late November to February). In Mpumalanga and Limpopo,
it's not quite as time-dependent. The shoulder seasons,
spring and autumn, are best for hiking, as summer can be
very hot all over. In the Drakensberg, summer thunderstorms
are extremely dangerous and there is a good chance of snow
in winter. In the Cape, the winters can be wet, so hiking
is a bit hardcore. If you're a birder, the palaeoarctic
migrants arrive in about November and the intra-African
migrants usually by mid-October. If you fancy getting in
some southern hemisphere skiing, there is guaranteed snow
from June to August. Of course, if you want to lounge around
on the beaches, mid-summer is the best time - but everyone
else will be there too. And - big bonus - the beaches of
northern KwaZulu-Natal are warm and sunny even in midwinter.
Also - don't forget - it's the southern hemisphere, so summer
is mid-October to mid-February, autumn from February to
April, winter May to July, and spring August to October.
Question: What's the weather like? Top
Answer:
South Africa has a mostly temperate and pleasant climate,
with lovely warm sunny days most of the year. Being in the
southern hemisphere, the seasons are opposite to those experienced
in Europe and North America so, yes, we spend Christmas
on the beach. Generally, summer is from November to February
and, over most of the country, is characterised by hot weather
with afternoon thunderstorms, which clear quickly, leaving
a warm, earthy, uniquely African, smell in the air. The
Western Cape, with its Mediterranean climate, is the opposite
and gets its rain in winter.Autumn (or fall) runs from February
to April and offers probably the best weather. Very little
rain falls over the whole country, and it is warm but not
too hot, obviously getting colder as the season progresses.
In Cape Town, autumn is fantastic, with hot sunny days and
warm, balmy nights, which most people spend at outdoor cafés.
Winter in the higher-lying areas is characterised by dry,
bright, sunny, crisp days and cold nights. So it's a good
idea to bring warm clothes. The lowveld and the Maputaland
Coast offer fantastic weather in winter with bright, sunny,
warmish days and virtually no rain or wind. The Western
Cape gets most of its rain in winter, and there may be a
few days of grey, cloudy, rainy weather, but these are always
interspersed with wonderful days to rival the best of a
British summer. The high mountains of the Drakensberg and
the Cape usually get snow - and you can even ski. Spring,
like everywhere else in the world, is a time of renewal
and rejoicing - when bright green buds appear on the trees
and young grasses pop up from the veld, but nowhere is it
more spectacular than in the Cape. Here the grey winter
is forgotten as the bright green foliage of the south and
east, and the sear browns of the north and west, give way
to a riot of colour as thousands of small, otherwise insignificant
plants cover the plains in an iridescent carpet of flowers.
The journey to see the flowers of the Namaqualand in the
Western and Northern Cape is an annual pilgrimage for many
South Africans. For daily and long-term forecasts, see www.weathersa.co.za.
Question: What time zone is South Africa in?
Top
Answer:
South Africa operates on Central African Standard Time (CAST),
which is two hours ahead of Universal Time (UT), which used
to be called Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and is the time in
London. So, for example, when it is 06h00 in London, it
is already 08h00 in South Africa. This time difference is
so slight that visitors from England or Europe do not experience
jet lag – what a bonus.
Question: When are your public holidays?
Top
Answer:
January 1: New Year's Day March 21: Hero's DayAnniversary
of 1961 Sharpeville massacre March 29: Good Friday April
1: Family Day April 27: Freedom Day. Anniversary of the
first democratic election in 1994 May 1: Worker's Day June
16: Youth DayAnniversary of 1976 Soweto uprising August
9: National Women's DayAnniversary of 1956 women's pass
law protest September 24: Heritage Day December 16: Reconciliation
DayAnniversary of Battle of Blood River December 25: Christmas
Day December 26: Day of Goodwill
Question: When are your peak seasons? top
Answer:
Many of the best areas to visit can be quite busy in peak
season. For example, the coast tends to be a bit crowded
around Christmas and New Year, when all the schools are
on holiday, the universities are out and many local people
take their annual leave. So, if you’re looking for
peace and quiet – this is not the time to visit.Another
major peak is over Easter – when the schools are also
on holiday and, once again, many people take their leave
so they can spend holidays with their children.The winter
school holidays don’t seem to cause that much of a
problem for two reasons. Firstly, different schools have
different holidays, so the busy period is spread out over
June and July. And secondly, people choose from a greater
variety of destinations than just heading for the beach.
But you will still find the warmer beach areas, for example
those in KwaZulu-Natal, pleasantly bustling over this period.A
major advantage of travelling out of peak season, of course,
is that some places do offer special out of season deals.
