Accommodation
The accommodation offer is huge in South Africa. You have cheaper hostels where the younger backpackers especially stay, luxury lodges in game parks or comfortable Bed & Breakfasts. In low season, you can often find a safe, comfortable accommodation for relatively little money.
Hotels are fine to use. However, do not rely on the number of stars given. The truly luxurious hotels are often extremely luxurious. For us, this wasn’t necessary when we were there. Instead, we usually slept in a bed and breakfast. The ideal thing is that in many places you can use a compact guide with a large list of low- to high-priced B & B’s. An alternative is that on your phone, with a prepaid SIM card you buy at the airport, you can look up your next stay via a booking site like Booking.com. We never actually booked well ahead but were always able to spend the night at a reasonable rate.
In the game parks, but also in the wine regions in the south, another option is to spend the night in a so-called rondavel, a typical round African house with a straw roof. We did that in the Addo Elephant National Park which we liked very much. The houses are available in various shapes and sizes, from primitive to extremely comfortable.
Lovers of camping can also enjoy themselves in South Africa. Although we’d like to add that you should do it in the wild parks for safety reasons.
The picture below: the homestay/Bed & Breakfast where we stayed for the first nights in Cape Town.