Customer Reviews

Lonely Planet South Africa, Lesotho & Swaziland

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I used the 3rd edition of this guide on my first trip to South Africa in 1999. Back then, this guide would recommend places to stay in the most dangerous streets of Jo'burg, and guarantee the readers that the area was even safe to walk around at night. A taxi driver in Jo'burg told us he was appalled at their reccommendations on where to stay and where to go out, saying they were simply too dangerous, especially for white backpackers. The guide also had an aggressive attitude towards any predominantly white bars or clubs dismissing them as "artificial"... as if the only option was to go out in Shebeens.

Racial issues apart, they seem to be reversing this trend, and have been doing constant progress. This edition recommends mostly well-located places and acknowledges that some areas are just too dangerous to stay in. Otherwise neglected entertainment areas are being put into this guide too.

But the issue is that this guide is mostly useful in planning your trip, by telling how to get from one city to another, and what are the costs like, etc. It is also more useful in smaller towns than the larger ones. The fact is that there isn't a 100% reliable guide to South Africa, but this update is about as good as it can get.

I bought this exact lonely planet guide for a friend a year ago and now I need it myself, it's great! It's very practical, it allows you to be prepared, it's easy to read and it makes travel so much easier. (I'm hooked; each time I travel I get the lonely planet guide for where I'm travelling to first).

Just like the rest of the Lonely Planet tour guide books - it's awesome! Everything is the same in this book as the others, except it's about South Africa. So, if you liked their other tour guide books, as I do very much, you'll like this one too. Check it out!