We are going to SA in Feb. for 2 weeks. Arriving in Cape Town where we stay for 4 nights then renting a car and staying near Simon's Town for 3 nites before we travel the garden route and on to a Safari Lodge near Port Elizabeth for the last week. How important do you think it is to take a cell phone with us? We are in our mid 50's and will not be driving at night and will most likely not stray to far from well travelled areas. I see that phones can be rented at the airport but we really would want one only while we have the car. This would be used for emergency use only . At this point we plan on renting our car from Avis in Sea Point then returning it to the airport when we leave. We really don't want to be bothered with a phone but will do so if important. Thanks to all

Dear Laurelie
It's only important IF you think you should be able to make an emergency call if necessary.

Frankly - I would have one in any country. I think being able to call if necessity arises gives me a pretty secure feeling.

You can either rent it from AVIS (I wonder why they have not offered this) or from Cellucity at the airport.
There is also a MTN shop/Vodaphone from which you either can rent a simcard only with airtime or a phone incl. simcard and pay for the calls/phone by credit card. You get the invoice within a week you have returned the phone.

I think as American you need to get your phone cleared for usage in Africa (at least I have read here a couple of times that's not automatically cleared) therefore I would suggest you get a phone plus sim.

I do it all the time. I even get my phone number in advance so that company and family has got it in advance.

www.rentamobile.co.za
www.cellucity.co.za

SV

If you have a GSM capable AT&T or T-Mobile phone it will work in the areas you are going. Check with your carrier if yours will work (other carriers are now using GSM so you need to check). If you are only going to need it for emergencies, the roaming charges won't add up to much. I used my AT&T phone a few times in Cape Town and it was less than $15 worth of calls. A lot less than renting. Since you are going in Feb, you have plenty of time to get one that will work (contracts, upgrades and all that).

I've been traveling a bit lately and found out that if you hold down the 0 button until the + shows up and then dial the number it goes right through!!!! No need to know country codes or how to dial local or long distance. Whew. I was able to make a call from the Botswana bush to NY to check in on my elderly Mom (just once - I don't make a habit of it).

I called my cell phone carrier (Verizon) about this very topic a couple weeks ago. I was happy to hear that they will let you "borrow" global phones for no charge.You will have to pay $9.99 for the shipping and you have to return the phone(s) within 30 days.If you use the phone while in South Africa you'll be charged $2.29 per minute. (FYI, text messages are 50 cents to send and 5 cents to receive.)The phone # for Verizon global Services is 800-711-8300 if you need it.

Aknards borrowed a Verizon GSM phone for Tanzania last year and couldn't get it to work there. Our guide worked on it and put his SIM card in it; then she was able to call back to the US. Make sure that the Verizon folks get it right before you leave!

If you have a GSM compatible phone, have your service provider "unlock" the phone before you go. This can take a while, because they have to approve you, and I think they only do it for people who've had an account with them for a long time.

After you're unlocked, just buy a sim card when you arrive in SA. You can get them at the CNA bookstore in the airport, and at grocery stores and CNA stores anywhere. It's really cheap; only a few rands. You can then buy time from an SA service provider. The instructions for buying the time are in the package with the sim card, and you can do it by phone or by going into any phone store in SA. It's MUCH cheaper than getting overseas service from your American service provider. On our trip in 2008, I think we bought the sim card for less than 5 rands, and bought about 25 or 50 rands worth of time. We used the phone to make a couple of restaurant reservations and to confirm lodging, and also called back to the US two or three times. This cost us in total about $5.00.

I admit there is some hassle to this -- dealing with your phone company about unlocking, buying the sim card and putting it in your phone, etc. Weighing this with the ease of just getting an overseas plan from your company, you might prefer ease and little more expense over hassle and cheap. But for us, it was worth it.

And the bonus is that we now have unlocked phones that we can use anywhere in the world, just by buying a sim card.

Some car hire companies (incl. Avis I think) will give you a SA phone (you buy pre-paid airtime) for free with the car. That's probably easiest unless you can get your US mobile phone unlocked. Reception should be pretty much 100% along the Garden Route, but may be limited on safari (but hopefully won't have any emergencies there!).

There are now some formalities to get a SIM card in S.A. Previously you could just pick one up at even any supermarket, usually about R2 without airtime. I recently saw them priced at 45 cents recently.

But new anti-crime measures have been introduced and ALL card holders have to have their personal details in the network operators' databases. I haven't noticed whether it has actually been implemented at all outlets (I think the huge fines for transgressing network operators are not in immediate effect). But assume they are and that it will take at least a few minutes fo complete the formalities. S.A. citizens have to show their ID books amongst other things, but according to a poster on another travel site who called Vodacom to ask, for visitors the requirements are:

* cellphone number (obviously of the card you are buying),
* last four digits on the SIM card,
* full name/surname (passport document), and
* an address where you will be staying during your visit.

Arthur, thanks for this info. Does this mean you have to buy the sim card at a mobile phone store? Can it be done at the airport, so you know?

Celia

Many Thanks to all who have replied to this. Looks like the easiest will be to get a phone from Avis so I will look into that. I will call our cell phone service provider ( we use Bell in Canada) to see if we can get service in SA as well. Lets hope all we will need it for is peace of mind!

Celia, I don't think it will necessarily affect where you can get a SIM card, but that's partly based on my seeing some still displayed on a gondola near a supermarket checkout in Jo'burg yesterday. Even if that means the supply points are not affected, it remains to be seen whether supermarkets will want the checkouts to delay their queues while the formalities are done. More likely they will handle that at the Customer Services desk.

Further to my last post, I was curious and called one of the larger hypermarkets. Their admin manager said that they "weren't yet ready" to go through the required procedure. And while I gave up trying to get a simple yes or no answer to my question "so would you just sell me a SIM card today if I tried to buy one, even though I thought that was already illegal", it seems that when the documentation has to be done it will be (in their case) at Customer Services.

So seemingly no change in suppliers, but the new formalities to be complied with.

Thanks, Arthur! I appreciate your taking the time to phone and find out.

Celia

Lauralie-can I interupt this thread to ask you where you are staying on your trip and for how many nights at each spot? I am trying to get together a very last minute trip to Cape Town,winelands and possibly part way to Port Elizabeth in the next few weeks with my two kids (24 and 27-Dad doesn't want to do the long airplane ride!).I am planning on renting a car but wanted to try and figure out how many days in each spot. Thanks!

Dutyfree, for what it's worth here's my suggestion for a 9 day itinerary starting Cape Town. Is quite busy and involves some driving, but easily tailored to your timeframes / what you want to see / do etc.:

Day 1: Arrive at Cape Town International Airport. Hire your car and drive through to Camps Bay. Spend morning relaxing on the beach and - in the late afternoon (if the weather is good) take the short cable car ride to the top of Table Mountain. Return to Camps Bay for sundowners and dinner.

Day 2: Up and out early, driving across to the Victoria and Albert Waterfront to catch a ferry to Robben Island. Return to the Waterfront for lunch and people-watching. In the afternoon drive round along Chapman's Peak Drive to the Cape Peninsula to see the penguins and whale-watching (September to November). Dinner at one of Cape Town's excellent restaurants and drinks out at Long Street.

Day 3: Drive along the N2 through to Strand, then take stunning coastal road - the R44 - past Betty's Bay to the wild beach and a fresh seafood lunch at Hermanus. Take the R44 back to the N2, before coming off onto the R521 at Grabouw to take the spectacular mountain pass through to Franschhoek. Staying at one of the wide selection of boutique hotels or self-catering accommodation, indulge yourself in the gastro-capital of South Africa.

Day 4: Spend the day relaxing in the beautiful Franschhoek Valley taking in as many of the stunning wine-tasting vineyards as your liver can handle!

Days 5 & 6: Start your long journey along the Garden Route, meandering along the fantastic Route 62 through the dramatic Little Karoo. Relax at a boutique guest-house after your tiring, but rewarding, drive at Wilderness or Brenton-on-Sea, enjoying the beautiful beach. Consider taking in a round of golf!

Day 7: Starting early, begin your long but interesting drive along the N2, stopping at Tsitsikamma National Park for a stroll and even the highest commercial bungee jump in the world to get your adrenelin pumping. Arrive at your luxurious safari lodge in Addo Elephant National Park in time for a late afternoon game drive.

Day 8: Take a morning and afternoon game drive, with a good chance of seeing some (if not all) of the Big Five. Immerse yourself in the beauty of the African Bush where you realise that you're not at the top of the food chain. A truly magical way to end your short trip to South Africa.

Day 9: After an early morning game drive, check out and make your way through to one of the beaches or excellent restaurants in Port Elizabeth before catching your connecting flight to Cape Town, and home.

Duty Free : I am so sorry I did not read your post until today. If you would still like to know what our plans are for our Feb trip from CT to Grahamstown let me know and I will be happy to reply!