1. Safety and Security in South Africa?

A member of VSA will accompany you from the time you land in Durban all the way through to your departure in Cape Town. You won’t need to catch taxis or arrange transport. Your accommodation is pre booked in secure areas and your guide will be staying with you in each place. You will never be lost or alone. South Africa does have a relatively high crime rate and petty crime is common practice.

For this reason please adhere to the following safety tips:

Inform your guide of your whereabouts and intentions when in the cities.

Keep photocopies of your passport, visa, airline or other tickets and a list of your traveler’s checks with you in a separate location from the originals and leave copies with someone at home (also keep one set of copies with yourself)

Don’t bring or wear expensive jewelry

Don’t take a lot of baggage. Keep cameras out of sight when walking in the cities.

When you’re at an airport, you always keep your valuables and all the baggage with yourself.

Call the tourism safety line on +27 83 1232345. They are open 24 hours a day, and will answer any queries, including what to do in an emergency.

Thieves/pickpockets often perform certain tricks to distract tourists and then steal their valuables. For example, one person “accidentally” drops ice cream on a traveler's shoulder, apologizes and offers to wipe it off (usually with a large handkerchief). As one thief wipes off an ice cream and distracts the traveler, a partner picks the traveler's pockets.

Become familiar with foreign currency before using it. Make all the currency exchange operations only at the bank offices; avoid small street currency exchange places. We will be with you for this. Previous volunteers have found that the best way is to use your debit card here, it’s not that expensive to draw and saves you the hassle of exchanging money, and this also means that you won’t have to carry your home currency with you on the trip.

Don’t wonder around alone at night. As with most safety regulations common sense prevails.

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