In 2018, I took a solo trip to Southern Africa, visiting Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Before I left, many of my friends and family expressed their concern for my safety. Since coming back, I am most often asked whether I felt safe travelling alone through these countries. So I figure I should address it in a blog article! This is an over-cautious female traveller’s guide to solo travel in Southern Africa.
1. Want to travel overland? Take a tour.
Arguably some people will say I can’t call myself a “solo traveller” because I spent the vast majority of time on a tour. I think this mentality is rubbish. There are places I would travel solo without a tour, but Southern Africa is not one of them.
Going on a tour is a great, safe way to travel overland around Africa! There are so many benefits of taking a tour aside from the obvious ‘everything is organised for you’. You also have an instant group of friends who have similar interests to you and who you can go out with if you’re not comfortable walking around alone. Your guides should also be able to point you in the direction of the best and safest places to visit (and away from the dodgy places). The vast majority of the tips I will share with you in this blog were given to me by our guides.
On the downside, your new friends might drag you to a dodgy club for your all-important first clubbing experience! Okay, it probably wasn’t that dodgy but I felt totally uncomfortable, most likely because of the sheer number of people! The club in Swakopmund is somewhere I NEVER EVER would have gone to alone. However, if clubbing is more your thing, make sure you go with someone you trust and maybe let someone else know where you are, just to be safe.
My scariest travel experience was on this tour…
Being on a tour doesn’t necessarily mean nothing bad is going to happen. For the most part, I felt totally comfortable everywhere I went in Southern Africa. That was until we crossed back into South Africa from Zimbabwe straight into a riot. It was the real deal with spikes and tyres on the road and fires off to the side and there were people everywhere! Thankfully they had nothing against us tourists and actually helped our guides to find the safest route through the riot. So whilst we were super freaked out, no one was hurt and we lived to tell the tale. I genuinely can’t imagine dealing with that alone, though; all the more reason to choose a tour! You never know what you might drive into…
2. You’ll be safe walking around alone during the day, but not at night.
When I first arrived in Cape Town, the guy who did my transfer told me it was totally safe to walk around the city alone during the day, but DO NOT go alone at night. Because I’m the most over-cautious traveller ever, I definitely took this advice to heart not just in Cape Town, but throughout my whole trip. In Cape Town, instead of going out for dinner, I bought some microwave meals at the supermarket which I could heat up in my hostel kitchen: cheap, safe and yum! There was heaps of variety available, including at least one vegan option!
In other cities, I did leave the hostel at night to go out for dinner. However, I made sure to stick with at least one other person from my tour group. This is important because I can guarantee that someone will approach you asking for food or money. It’s much easier to firmly say no and keep walking when you’re with others than if you’re alone. Especially if you’re a shy, awkward, not very street-savy 20-year-old girl like me!!
During the day, I was totally comfortable walking around Cape Town alone. I stuck to the tourist sites like the waterfront and Kirstenbosch National Botanic Gardens, all of which are pretty safe. Similarly, I never had an issue in any other city or town walking around during the day.
3. Hiking in Cape Town? Do NOT go alone!
I mentioned above that it’s safe to walk around Cape Town alone during the day. But you know how they say there’s always an exception to the rule? Hiking Table Mountain or Lions Head are the exceptions. Multiple people told me not to walk up Table Mountain alone under any circumstances. My future tour guides, the receptionist, the taxi driver AND the airport transfer guy. This is not just in case you get some injury, but also because muggings are common. There’s plenty of guided hikes available, or you can ask around your accommodation to see if anyone wants to go with you! If you’re interested in a guided hikes, most options are paid and take you up more interesting routes on Table Mountain. There are also free options, such as the one offered by Baz Bus which I took.
4. Interested in visiting a Township? Take a tour.
This is another exception to the “Cape Town is safe to walk around during the day” rule. It was also one of the first things my airport transfer driver told me. Speaking of which, I totally recommend getting a transfer from the airport. It takes away the stress of sorting out transport and my driver was extremely helpful and provided lots of insightful tips.
Anyway, back to the townships. These areas are where the poorest people live in Cape Town and are home to the highest crime rates. I did take a tour through a township (included in my overland tour’s Adventure Pass) and felt completely safe. However, we had a local guide who lived in the area with us and we stuck together as a large group. Despite my experience, I think if a local tells you not to venture in alone, you should probably listen.
For more information about everything I got up to in Cape Town, click here.
5. Lock up any valuables you don’t need on you or use a money belt.
This is more of a general solo travel tip rather than one specific to Southern Africa… However, it was more in the forefront of my mind on this trip than others. If possible, I recommend you lock any valuables you don’t need with you in a safe (in a private hostel room) or locker (on the overland truck). That way, you don’t have to worry about carrying them around with you and potentially having them stolen!
If this is not an option for you, you should consider a money belt or similar. For the most part I didn’t need or use a money belt my valuables were locked away. The only time I did use my money belt was when leaving them behind wasn’t an option. That was a grand total of two days out of approximately 30: when I first arrived in Cape Town and on my last day in Johannesburg. When I did use it, it was good to know that even if my bag got stolen, I’d still have the important things like my passport, spare card and spare cash.
To any girls wanting to travel solo to Southern Africa, don’t let what people say put you off! I had the best time and felt completely safe 29 days out of 30. It’s such an incredible part of the world with wildlife, stunning scenery and culture to boot. For more information about travelling through Africa, including location-specific guides and further travel tips, check out my Africa destination page! You can find all my blog posts there.
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