Is it safe to travel to South Africa?

While some are concerned about malaria or wild animals, it is the threat of violent crime that worries most people who are hesitant about booking a trip to South Africa. If it were not for South Africa's high crime rate and reputation as an unsafe destination, the number of tourists who would visit South Africa would probably be double or triple.

The news headlines are often not pretty. While very few tourists have been murdered in South Africa, on the very rare occasion that a tourist is murdered in South Africa, it makes headlines around the world. It is natural that tourists are asking "Is it safe to travel to South Africa?" or "How dangerous is South Africa really, from a tourist perspective?"

Let's look at a number of safety concerns potential tourists have.

Health Concerns

Health risks are not a major cause for concern. During the coronavirus pandemic, South Africa received some unfortunate bad press due to the variants of concerns discovered here (first Beta, and later Omicron) and many tourists chose to avoid traveling to South Africa (despite South Africa having much lower infection numbers compared to most of Europe, UK, the US and other source markets). But the pandemic is over and this is no longer a concern.

Malaria is the only other minor health concern. In most of South Africa malaria is not endemic, but the famous Kruger National Park and surrounding area is a malaria area, presenting a low risk of infection during the winter months (May to September) and mild risk during the summer months (October to April). Fortunately, malaria is easy to prevent and easy to treat. Take the necessary precautions and don't let the tiny risk of contracting malaria stop you from visiting Africa.

I shouldn't be necessary to point this out, but Ebola is not and never has been a risk in South Africa. There has never been an Ebola outbreak in South Africa or any of its neighbouring countries.

Protests and Unrest

Reports of violent protests and the threat of unrest scares off many potential tourists. One of the worst examples of this was during the second week of July 2021 in Kwazulu-Natal province. Following the arrest of former president Jacob Zuma for ignoring a court order to attend a corruption inquiry, his supporters instigated a wave of riots and looting that made news headlines around the world. The violence and looting in KZN and Gauteng provinces lasted about a week, left about 300 people dead and saw many shops and warehouses ransacked. The situation calmed down within days, but as usual the news coverage made it sound like the entire country was burning. In reality, most provinces in South Africa were unaffected. Popular tourist areas like Cape Town, the Kruger Park, the Garden Route, the Panorama Route, and O R Tambo International Airport remained completely unaffected by the riots.

More recently, a week of taxi protests in Cape Town from 3-10 August 2023 again made news headlines around the world, and caused some countries to issue travel advisories.

From time to time, protesters from communities who have been let down by the government block off roads. This can occur anywhere but is fairly common in Mpumalanga province, temporarily affecting access roads to the Kruger National Park. Service delivery protests are common in South Africa, and they sometimes get out of hand, but they seldom put tourists in any danger. By their nature, protest actions are usually very localized and limited in duration. They typically do not present a general travel risk, but media coverage of rioting crowds scare many potential tourists away. Of course, if you're driving in South Africa and do see what appears to be an angry mob or crowd of protestors, don't try and drive through the crowd. It is best to turn around and find another route to your destination. Our own guides and drivers usually know a safe alternative route so our operations are seldom affected.

Travel Advisories

A number of countries have issued travel warnings to their citizens regarding the situation in South Africa. Generally, these travel advisories warn travellers to exercise caution due to high levels of crime in South Africa, including murder, robbery, car-jacking, rape and other violent crimes. They tell visitors to never walk around alone (especially after dark), drive with car doors locked and windows closed, and not to display cash or valuables. They also tell you to avoid certain areas. Good advice perhaps, but reading through the list of possible things that could happen, it certainly sounds like a very unsafe and risky destination. If you've never visited before, you might be scared off from booking a trip to South Africa.

Such advisories are standard practice and are in place for many popular tourist destinations around the world, including Brazil, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Turkey, Kenya, India, Egypt, Mexico, and many more. The list of "unsafe" countries will keep you sitting at home if you take them at face value. They are meant not only to warn and inform citizens but to avoid complaints and litigation against the government in case something does happen to one of their citizens.

Conspicuously absent are travel advisories by these developing countries to their own citizens regarding travel to Europe, the UK or the US, where you may be at risk of violent riots, terrorist attacks, mass shootings, being robbed at gunpoint or assaulted at a football match. The world is not a safe place. Incidents of vehicles driving into pedestrians have increased sharply in several wealthy, western countries. London experienced a spate of robberies by thugs on scooters, not to mention several knife stabbings and terrorist attacks over the years. Cities like Paris have been rocked by violent riots several times. Travel scammers, muggers and pickpockets are common in places like Paris or Barcelona or Los Angeles. Tourists get robbed more often than you think, in the very countries that are warning their citizens against a destination like South Africa. Truth be told, terrorist attacks have been far more common in Europe and the US than in South Africa. But nobody is warning tourists to stay away from these destinations.

This is partly why there have been some vocal objections from South Africa regarding these travel advisories. They paint a grim picture and chase tourists away. But they are not always an accurate reflection of the actual safety situation. It's important to read them in context.

In the remainder or this blog post, we'll examine the general threat of crime in South Africa. How bad is it really? And most importantly, what are the odds of a tourist becoming a victim of crime in South Africa? Bear with me, because we are going to look at several examples and some of it may sound like bad news at first. But there is good news, too, and understanding the context will help you assess the actual level of risk.

Crime and poverty

Crime levels are high in South Africa, there is no denying that. But the statistics don't tell the full story. As with anywhere else in the world, crime and poverty go hand in hand. And the majority of crime stats come from the poorest neighbourhoods. In Rio, tourists are warned to avoid the favelas (slums) because of high levels of crime. Around the world, the poorest parts of any city are also the most dangerous parts of the city. Similarly, most of South Africa's terrible crime statistics come from the townships, the densely populated poor neighbourhoods, and declining downtown areas. Violent crime is common in the poorest regions, just like anywhere else in the world. And South Africa has thousands of townships, populated by millions of poor citizens. Quite simply, the crime statistics are so high because of the country's exceptionally high levels of poverty and unemployment.

But does this change the situation for tourists? Yes, it does. Where the stats come from is important. Believe it or not, American cities like Baltimore, Chicago, St Louis, New Orleans and Detroit all have higher murder rates per capita than Johannesburg. Yet no tourists are warned to stay away from New Orleans or Chicago. People understand there are certain areas that are dangerous and have a high crime rate. Cape Town has the highest homicide rate of any city in South Africa (primarily due to turf wars between gang bosses and drug lords in the townships), but from a tourist perspective, it is reasonably safe to visit. And it is often voted as one of the best and most beautiful tourist cities in the world.

There are no statistics that specifically measure crimes against tourists, but the worst incidents tend to make news headlines, so we have at least some idea of how often a tourist is murdered in South Africa. And the answer is - almost never. Cape Town has a disturbingly high murder rate, but how many foreign tourists have been murdered in Cape Town in the last 10 years? Can you name even 5 examples? Most people only know about Anni Dewani, because her death made news headlines around the world. She was killed in the township of Gugulethu, in 2010, during her honeymoon. I could only find three other examples - one from 2015 where the killer was not a South African, but a fellow tourist, an acquaintance from Guatemala. The second one was an attack on a lone hiker along a remote trail near Cape Town in 2019. And the third example was a British doctor who was fatally shot in August 2023 after taking a wrong turn and ending up in Nyanga township in the middle of a taxi riot.

The only other tourist murder I know of did not occur in Cape Town. In early October 2022, a German tourist who was driving to the Numbi gate of the Kruger National Park was shot and killed during an attempted car jacking. (The road to Numbi gate passes through a poor community and is known as an unsafe area). This incident made international news headlines and brought a wave of cancellations from tourists who had planned to visit the Kruger Park. As tragic and disturbing as this incident was, we need to take a step back and look at the numbers in context. Despite painstaking research, I have not been able to find more than 5 examples of tourists murdered while on holiday in South Africa, in the last 20 years. Perhaps I missed all the tourist murders that make South Africa so dangerous? No, the truth is this: very, very few tourists are killed in South Africa as a result of crime. Less than one a year, out of more than 15 million tourists visiting this beautiful country every year. One death is one too many, and I'm not suggesting South Africa is perfectly safe. But the odds of being murdered as a tourist in South Africa are nowhere near as bad as most people seem to think.

Most tourists are not likely to set foot in the poorest and most dangerous areas, where the rates of murder and robbery are at their highest. It's the same in any big city around the world. There are areas of Chicago or Paris or Barcelona that are not safe for a tourist. A typical visitor to South Africa will experience no crime at all during their trip. Crime against tourists is not common.

It's worth repeating. On average, there is less than one tourist death per year as a result of crime, out of more than 15 million tourists visiting South Africa each year. According to this blog from data.world regarding American tourist deaths from October 2009 to June 2016, South Africa does not even feature as one of the countries where American tourists are most likely to be killed. Your chances of being murdered in South Africa as a tourist are miniscule. And the reason is that the areas frequented by tourists are generally safe, if you use common sense and take basic precautions.

Robberies

Unfortunately, tourists getting mugged, scammed or robbed is a lot more common than we would like it to be. This is true for many major tourist cities around the world. Tourists tend to carry cash and valuables around with them, and being unfamiliar with the environment or with basic safety precautions can make them easy targets for thieves. This is not unique to South Africa, but the number of robberies here do scare people away.

Robberies are probably the worst aspect of South Africa's high crime rate, as far as tourists are concerned. News reports and social media can make South Africa sound like a very scary destination, because every once in a while we hear of tourists getting mugged in the city, or getting attacked and robbed while walking on a remote beach, or while hiking up Table Mountain. Such incidents always make the news or get shared widely on social media. Tourists have also been mugged or scammed while drawing cash at certain places. A few years ago, there was a spate of robberies involving a gang of robbers who followed people from the airport, pulling over tourist vehicles or rental cars by posing as police officers, before robbing them. Quite often, they specifically targeted tourists known to be carrying large sums of cash or valuables. One highly publicized incident in 2017 involved a tourist bus full of Dutch tourists being pulled over by these fake cops and robbed. This terrible event made world headlines and sparked the formation of a special task team to find the perpetrators and end this spate of robberies. Nobody was killed in this incident, but there is no doubt that it did huge damage to South Africa's reputation abroad as a tourist destination. Fortunately, these incidents have sharply declined the last couple of years, following the arrest of one specific gang who were involved in such robberies.

Such things can happen, but once again, perspective is important. You will read about the tourists who were robbed, but you won't read about the fifteen million others who visited South Africa without incident. Hiking in certain areas is dangerous. Walking around alone or after dark can also be dangerous. By following some basic safety precautions, you can greatly reduce the risk of becoming a victim of crime in South Africa.

Will it happen to me?

This is the key question for any tourist who wants to visit South Africa. If you are security conscious and apply basic safety protocols, it is very unlikely that you will be a victim of crime during a visit to South Africa. The global odds of dying in a car accident is said to be around 1 in 5,000. Those are extremely scary odds, yet few people hesitate to get into a car and drive somewhere. It is far, far more dangerous to get into a car, in any country in the world, than to come to South Africa as a tourist.

If our own statistics as an inbound tour operator are anything to go by (as a reasonable sample), your odds are perhaps 1 in 10,000 that you may experience some form of crime while visiting South Africa. We have never had an incident of violent crime, where a tourist was physically harmed. Since 2005, having hosted thousands of tourists, we had only one case of a guest being robbed of cash during their trip, one case of a thief snatching a tourist's bag in a downtown area, and one case of theft from a hotel room safe (an inside job - the guest was later reimbursed). No violent crimes, no injuries, no murders. Reality does not match the scaremongering on social media and news headlines. If South Africa was so dangerous, we would have seen a lot more incidents.

Why do some South Africans maintain the country is unsafe?

Generally, people are more likely to post bad news on social media than good news. And stories of crime tend to go viral, while an uneventful trip report of a wonderful South African safari, without incident, will never go viral. So you are more likely to hear bad news than good news. Crime is a concern to South Africans, and local residents bear the brunt of our country's terrible crime statistics. The citizens are the ones most likely to be affected by home invasions, farm murders, violent protests, armed robberies, shootings or hijackings. These things happen, and the concerns are real, but they rarely involve tourists. Most tourist regions are very safe.

Another sad reality is that South African expats are notorious for bad-mouthing their home country. Some of the most negative people you will meet are South Africans who have left the country (not all of them, but many of them). Perhaps some have been victims of crime and have fled the country, angry and bitter at government's failure to eradicate crime. Others perhaps feel the need to justify their decision to leave, by broadcasting to all how the country has deteriorated, how crime and corruption are out of hand, there is no future for their children, the country is becoming a failed state, white genocide is coming, and so on. Exaggerations are common. Some things are blatantly false (like the white genocide myth). Others are true (corruption is bad here).

Our advice is - don't listen to these people. Prophets of doom have been around forever, and we've heard similar warnings since the day Nelson Mandela came to power, which sparked the first wave of émigrés after the end of Apartheid.

To be fair, any South African or foreign tourist who has been a victim of crime is likely to disagree with me and might wish to warn others not to travel to South Africa. Tourists who have been robbed are seldom going to champion or promote that destination. This is true not only for South Africa but also if you were robbed or scammed as a tourist in Paris or Barcelona or New York City. These things happen, and it is natural to then feel negative about that destination.

Why we still maintain SA is safe for tourists

Perspective and rational thought are often absent from discussions around safety in South Africa. It's an emotive issue. There is no doubt that the high crime rate is a genuine concern in South Africa, in particular for residents, and the crime statistics are nothing to be proud of. If South Africa is going to be called dangerous, it is most dangerous for township residents, for the poor, for women, and for African immigrants. Some areas can also be dangerous for hikers or cyclists or wealthy residents, and most South Africans take steps to ensure their own security and avoid known dodgy areas or unsafe situations. But for tourists, South Africa cannot be called a very dangerous destination.

The vast majority of the millions of tourists who visit South Africa do so without incident. Most are blown away by the country's beauty, wildlife and friendly people. Many first time visitors are amazed at how safe and stable the country is and make plans to return again. Significant numbers of tourists visit year after year.

It helps to be streetwise, of course. With a little common sense and basic safety precautions, most crimes are easily preventable. In our blog post with safety tips for tourists, we outline these basic do's and don'ts to ensure you don't get mugged or robbed while visiting South Africa.

My message to tourists is simple. South Africa is such an amazing country, with such an attractive exchange rate, such beautiful scenery, friendly people, rich history and incredible wildlife, that you would really miss out if you don't visit this wonderful country at least once in your lifetime. Don't let the fear of crime stop you from visiting. Don't believe the lie that South Africa is one of the most dangerous destinations to visit. While there is certainly some level of risk, it is generally safe for tourists to visit South Africa.

Your safety is our top priority. Contact us now and let our friendly travel experts help you plan your dream trip to Africa.