Month: April 2023

Not all visitors need a visa to enter South Africa for purposes of tourism or business.

Citizens of many countries are on a visa exemption list issued by South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs, meaning they are free to visit the country for a period of time, in many cases up to 90 days.

That makes it easy to see some of the country’s best places to visit, photograph the country’s wildlife, eat biltong and other local dishes, see where two oceans meet, and commemorate Nelson Mandela at the 27 Madiba’s Journey sites.

Here’s what you need to know about visas for South Africa.

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Travelers with passports from the US, Canada, the UK and most EU countries don’t need a visa 

If you’re traveling with a passport from the US, Canada, the UK and many EU countries, you do not need a visa to visit South Africa as long as your trip is for tourism or business and isn’t more than 90 days. You’ll need to have a ticket showing your return travel exiting South Africa, meet a few passport requirements and, depending on where you’re traveling from, provide other documentation. But keep in mind that requirements can change quickly.

Check the visa exemption list for the latest information that fits your passport. It’s also wise to double-check the Republic of South Africa’s website, the South African embassy or consulate site in your country (such as South Africa’s US embassy) as well as the international travel advisory site from your government (like the US State Department) before you purchase your flight as well as shortly before you depart.

Don’t forget that regardless of whether you hold a valid visa or are exempt from needing one, it is the decision of the immigration officer at your port of entry whether you’re allowed to enter the country, how long you’re eligible to stay, and what conditions you must follow.

There is an eVisa system, but it’s not working for everyone

Travelers that need a visa can apply online through eVisa South Africa, a system that is currently live for users from some nations, including citizens of Albania, Croatia, Slovakia, India, China and Mexico.

Some visitors will need to apply for a visa at an embassy

Other passport holders will need to apply for visas at the South African embassy or consulate in their home country. You’ll likely need to go in person and bring a BI-84 form (completed in black ink), two passport-size photos plus additional documentation. The fee depends on your passport, the type of visa you’re requesting and how long you plan to stay. 

There are passport requirements that all visitors to South Africa must fulfill

South Africa’s immigration regulations state that your passport needs to be valid at least 30 days beyond your planned date of departure from the country. However, both airline and immigration officials are known to insist on that validity period being six months. To ensure that you’re not refused boarding on your flight or sent back home as soon as you arrive in South Africa, play it safe and make sure your passport’s expiration date is at least six months after the date you plan to leave South Africa. 

You’ll also need to double-check that you have enough empty passport pages. Each entry into South Africa requires you to have two empty pages, and they need to be consecutive. These empty pages need to be the ones marked with “visa” (rather than “endorsements,” “amendments” or “observations”).

Have proof of onward travel, and you might need a yellow fever certificate

Even if you’re exempt from needing a visa, you’ll need to have proof of onward travel showing you won’t be in South Africa more than 90 days. There are also health requirements. South Africa requires proof of yellow fever vaccination, for example, if you’ve been in one of the countries designated by the World Health Organization to be at risk for yellow fever during the 10 days before arriving in South Africa. That includes several African countries such as Kenya, but also countries like Argentina and Panama.

There are several visa types

South Africa has several types of visas, including for visiting family, studying, attending conferences, other kinds of work, medical treatment, a three-day transit visa, visas for those who want to retire in South Africa, and those for people under the age of 25 participating in an exchange program. South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs’ visa website and their VFS.Global site have details for all passport holders.

Fines are issued for those that overstay their visas

Visas to South Africa can be extended. Applications and fees can be brought to one of the dozen visa facilitation centers in the country. Fines are enforced for staying beyond your allowable date, including if you’re exempt from needing a visa.

From dynamic Cape Town and the cosmopolitan vibes of Johannesburg to wildlife-filled expanses of wilderness such as the Kalahari and the Drakensberg mountains, the best time to visit South Africa will depend on where you want to go and what you want to do when you get there.

In general, the climate in South Africa is warmer in the north and cooler in the south. You’ll also find different weather on the coasts compared to the elevated plateau that makes up most of the country, where it tends to be drier. Usually, the Indian Ocean coast feels more tropical, while the weather on the Atlantic coast is milder, though cold fogs and hot desert winds can still roll in.

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Cape Town and the Western Cape are unique, weather-wise, having their rainy season in the winter (June to August). In the rest of the country, the rains arrive in the southern hemisphere summer (November through March), but the deluges rarely last for long (and there’s the chance of a photogenic thunderstorm). For many visitors, the weather is less of a factor than South Africa’s vibrant festivals and the annual migrations and breeding seasons for the country’s diverse wildlife populations. Whatever draws you to South Africa, here’s a guide to the best times to come. 

November to March is peak festival season with higher prices

November to March is summertime in South Africa, with daytime highs reaching 32°C (90°F), often with quite a lot of humidity. If you’re looking to visit during this peak season, you’ll need to plan ahead. Accommodations in coastal areas and national parks can book up months in advance, and popular vacation spots see accommodation prices rise by 50% or more. 

That said, if you have the budget to travel in the high season, you can enjoy a host of festivals and events. AFROPUNK, a massive international multi-day music festival that draws artists from all over the world, kicks off in December. Held annually on January 2, the Cape Town Minstrel Carnival (known locally as Kaapse Klopse) is a high-spirited street parade dating from the mid-1800s with important links to overcoming apartheid and South Africa’s long history of enslavement.

Cape Town’s Pride Festival is held in late February or early March, followed by the Cape Town Cycle Tour, which brings in cycling enthusiasts from all over the globe. March also sees the Cape Town International Jazz Festival and Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees, one of South Africa’s largest arts festivals, held at Oudtshoorn in the Western Cape.

The Lowveld (open grassland and woodland areas between 150m and 610m above sea level) is steamy and warm, and the landscapes are lush and green; the Highveld, at a higher altitude, is slightly cooler. This time of year is especially good for walking and beach bumming in the Western Cape.

April, May, September and October mean lower prices and great wildlife watching

South Africa’s shoulder seasons see smaller crowds and several important festivals — including April’s Splashy Fen Music Festival in Durban. The big lure in the fall is wildlife-watching, as the tail end of the dry summer weather brings wildlife out into the open. The rutting season for impala — one of South Africa’s most abundant antelopes — begins in April, with displays of dominance (like the clashing of horns) increasing as the days get shorter. 

The spring months of September and October bring the best chances of cetacean encounters. Wildflower season peaks in late August in the north and early September in the south, but blooms can appear from July depending on the rains and continue into October if it’s not too hot. 

June to August is the best time for budget travelers 

The South African winter from June to August brings lower prices (except for safaris) and smaller crowds. This is the rainy season in Cape Town and the Western Cape (with Cape Town restaurants often offering pocket-friendly winter specials), but there’s still plenty of sunshine around.

Elsewhere in the country, winters are much drier, and conditions are ideal for a safari (be prepared, though, for chilly nights and cold early morning game drives). Top winter festivals include the National Arts Festival in the Eastern Cape and Knysna’s 10-day Oyster Festival in July.

South Africa’s game reserves are best in the winter months

Rain will most likely interfere with your travels if you’re on safari. Northern game reserves such as Kruger National Park are driest from May to September, during the South African winter. While you might not have the lush backgrounds to your photos that you would in the spring and summer, wildlife is often easier to spot because the vegetation dies back and animals congregate around water holes.

The chilly winter nights also mean fewer mosquitoes, but you’ll need to bring layers to keep you warm during dawn game drives. For safaris in the Western Cape, the summer months are drier but coincide with the busy Christmas period and South Africa’s summer school holidays. 

Peak whale-watching is in September and October

Though whales and dolphins can be seen year-round off South Africa’s southern and eastern coasts, September and October are the peak cetacean-spotting months. Between June and November, southern right whales and humpbacks migrate to and from Antarctica to breed and have their babies in the warmer waters off Mozambique and Madagascar. May to June also sees a massive run of sardines that attracts whales, dolphins, sharks and sea birds (Durban is an excellent base to watch the spectacle).

While you’ll see more from a whale-watching boat, whales often come close enough to the shore to be spotted from land. This is particularly so near the town of Hermanus, celebrated by the World Wildlife Fund as one of the world’s top whale-watching destinations, where whales can be seen as early as April. Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth or PE) on the Eastern Cape is known as the world bottlenose dolphin capital, and pods are frequently seen between January and June.