D
Whats up, im wanting to go to SA next summer since I didnt get to go for the WC. I understand that they have done a lot of work down there since then, is it still as safe now as it was during the games, and have things inproved over the past couple of years? I understand that Joburg and other areas should be avoided after dark and all that, but on a grand scale are things relatively better there or is there still a lot of racial tension? Really looking forward to going! If your actually South African that would be better than someone just giving a blind opinion. Thanks.
Answer
I'm South African and I can tell you that if you are worried about racial tension you're worried about the wrong thing.
Our crime stats are the real concern. During the WC there were much more police visibility and for that time period it certainly seemed to have helped. When you are in a city, don't let your guard down even during the day time, muggings are common, be vigilant of anyone following you or cars following you. Do not walk around with cameras to advertise that you are a tourist - you'll be targeted. Stay out of townships, we don't want another incident like the one with the murdered british tourist on our hands.
Be careful of minibus taxis if you are driving - half of them probably bought their drivers licenses and all of them drive like maniacs.
If you bring electronics like laptops or cameras - do not let them out of your sight for even a moment at the airport. Make sure your luggage is secure (with locks), airport personnel have been known to go through people bags and steal valuables.
I'm not sure what type of places you like to see when on holiday, but I can assure you that if your the nature loving type and more interested in things like the Kruger national park or the Drakensberg, you should be absolutely fine. Even if you decide to visit Capetown and you stick to the bigger tourist attractions like Table Mountain and the surrounding Wine routes you have nothing to worry about. The City centres are the places to avoid.
I'm South African and I can tell you that if you are worried about racial tension you're worried about the wrong thing.
Our crime stats are the real concern. During the WC there were much more police visibility and for that time period it certainly seemed to have helped. When you are in a city, don't let your guard down even during the day time, muggings are common, be vigilant of anyone following you or cars following you. Do not walk around with cameras to advertise that you are a tourist - you'll be targeted. Stay out of townships, we don't want another incident like the one with the murdered british tourist on our hands.
Be careful of minibus taxis if you are driving - half of them probably bought their drivers licenses and all of them drive like maniacs.
If you bring electronics like laptops or cameras - do not let them out of your sight for even a moment at the airport. Make sure your luggage is secure (with locks), airport personnel have been known to go through people bags and steal valuables.
I'm not sure what type of places you like to see when on holiday, but I can assure you that if your the nature loving type and more interested in things like the Kruger national park or the Drakensberg, you should be absolutely fine. Even if you decide to visit Capetown and you stick to the bigger tourist attractions like Table Mountain and the surrounding Wine routes you have nothing to worry about. The City centres are the places to avoid.
I am thinking of buying myself an Alienware laptop,but!!!?
OK, well I am wanting to buy the "alienware xm920", but you see I live in South Africa, if it gets delivered to South Africa, from the U.S.A will it be able to work in South Africa (we use EU adapters, and our systems runs on PAL & games) Will the alienware laptop still work in South Africa? If not, how do i change it?
Regards
Answer
I would assume that all your have to do is possibly get a "universal power adapter" set so that the plug will match the socket. Most laptops can use 100-240 volts, and 50/60hz. As far as the pal thing you will probably need to just set region that you are in using the region/language settings in control panel. But just to be sure I would get the 1-800 (toll free) number for Dell (they sell the alienware line) and ask before you spend that much money. I was in the US Navy and a lot of us used to take our laptops overseas with us. NOTE: I do know that in windows there was a "limited" number of times that you could change the region before it became a permanent thing and we bought our movies on base so that we didn't have to worry about the PAL format. However, with a "travel valet" power adapter so that we could plug them into the wall they ran fine. Anyway it is probably best to call dell and ask if the cd/dvd drives are different on their overseas models so that they can support PAL if they are then I am sure that they sell European versions of the computer they are an international seller so they must get this question often.
I would assume that all your have to do is possibly get a "universal power adapter" set so that the plug will match the socket. Most laptops can use 100-240 volts, and 50/60hz. As far as the pal thing you will probably need to just set region that you are in using the region/language settings in control panel. But just to be sure I would get the 1-800 (toll free) number for Dell (they sell the alienware line) and ask before you spend that much money. I was in the US Navy and a lot of us used to take our laptops overseas with us. NOTE: I do know that in windows there was a "limited" number of times that you could change the region before it became a permanent thing and we bought our movies on base so that we didn't have to worry about the PAL format. However, with a "travel valet" power adapter so that we could plug them into the wall they ran fine. Anyway it is probably best to call dell and ask if the cd/dvd drives are different on their overseas models so that they can support PAL if they are then I am sure that they sell European versions of the computer they are an international seller so they must get this question often.
Powered by Yahoo! Answers
