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Diving South Africa
South Africa offers shark diving, wreck diving on rugged wild coasts, diving with whales and dolphins, or diving on pristine coral reefs with abundant wildlife. You can dive the cold waters of the Cape Province, the warmer waters of KwaZulu Natal, or the tropical waters of Mozambique. The Cape Province has good wreck diving, white sharks, kelp, and colorful sponges. KwaZulu Natal has a little bit of everything with mantas, rays, sharks, wrecks, whales, dolphins, turtles, reef and pelagic fish, and hard and soft coral reefs. Mozambique has whale sharks, mantas, turtles, dugongs, and tropical hard coral reefs. Most of the diving is done from semi-rigid boats, or from a few hard boats, and shore diving. The only “liveaboards” are found in Mozambique and are not of international standard and size.

Best time to dive

Year-round the diving is great depending on what type of diving or sea creatures you want to see.

Visibility

Visibility averages 15 to 130 feet depending on where you’re diving.

Water temperatures

Water temperature ranges from 80 to 95 F.

Weather and climate

South Africa is a large country with diverse climactic regions. In general, the weather is sunny and hot in the summer months (December to April) and mild during winter (May to November). Winters in the Cape and Natal are cold and wet, and snow falls on the mountain ranges. Gauteng and the northern areas experience thunderstorms regularly during evenings in the summer months, and winters are usually warm during the day and cold at night.

Language

Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, English, and Tswana

Passport/Visa requirements

U.S., UK, Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand passport holders need a valid passport, but no visa is needed for stays of up to 90 days. Passports must be valid for at least 30 days beyond the period of intended stay. An onward or return ticket is required, as well as sufficient funds and documents needed for further travel. Note that visitors to South Africa must have at least one free page in their passport for endorsements. Other countries should check the requirements before traveling.

Currency

Rand – Get exchange rates at http://www.xe.com/ucc/

Electrical current

220 volts AC, 50 Hz. Converters or transformers are required for U.S. electronics.

Capital

Pretoria (official); Bloemfontein (judicial) and Cape Town (legislative)

General information

South Africa is one of the most diverse and interesting countries in the world. South Africa extends 1,240 miles from the Limpopo River in the north to Cape Agulhas in the south and 930 miles from Port Nolloth in the west to Durban in the east. Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Swaziland run west to east along South Africa’s northern border and Lesotho is in the southeast. The country can be divided into three major parts: the vast interior plateau, the Kalahari Basin, and a narrow coastal plain.

South Africa offers a variety of adventures from wildlife safaris, where you’ll see elephants, giraffes, lions, etc. to whitewater rafting, hiking, climbing, and horseback riding. South Africa has something for everyone and is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Map

Get a map of South Africa from WorldAtlas.com.

 Diving Egypt (Red Sea)

There are over 1000 species of invertebrates and around 200 recorded coral types in the Red Sea. The Red Sea boasts over a thousand species of fish, more species than any other proportional body of water. The Red Sea is considered by many to offer the very best diving available in the marine world. The Red Sea supports sharks, stingrays, turtles, dolphins, colorful corals, sponges, starfish and various mollusks. In places, the living reef stretches way out to sea, forming an elaborate system of caves, lagoons, gardens, and plateaus. Some of these coral summits plunge thousands of feet to the ocean floor.

Best time to dive

Fall and spring are typically the best times of year do to air and water temperatures.

Visibility

Visibility is often 150+ feet.

Water temperatures

Water temperatures in the Red Sea vary from around 90 degrees F in the southern Red Sea in the summer to about 65 degrees F in the northern Red Sea in the winter.

Weather and climate

There are basically two seasons in Egypt: a relatively cool season that lasts November to March with average temperatures of 68 to 79 °F and a hot season April to October. The Red Sea coast has fewer extremes and is nice year-round, where as the rest of Egypt experiences a desert like climate. The average humidity stays in the 7 to 20 percent range. In the spring (especially late March to early April), sand and dust storms called khamsin blow in and can reduce visibility (sometimes even in Cairo) to less than 100 feet.

Language

Arabic. English and French are widely spoken.

Passport/Visa requirements

All visitors to Egypt, except nationals of Malta, South Africa, and Zimbabwe are required to have a visa and a passport (which must be valid at least one week beyond period of intended stay). Visas can be arranged through Egyptian embassies worldwide. Visitors from the U.S., Canada, EU, and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries may be able to purchase a visa stamp upon arrival at many large airports if the visit is for tourist purposes. One-month visitor’s visas can be extended.

Currency

Egyptian pound – Get exchange rates at http://www.xe.com/ucc/

Electrical current

220 volts AC, 50 Hz. Converters or transformers are required for U.S. electronics.

Capital

Cairo

General information

Egypt borders Libya in the west, Sudan in the south, the Mediterranean Sea in the north, and the Red Sea and Israel in the east. The eastern region, across the Suez Canal, is Sinai. The Red Sea is located between Asia and Africa. At its most northerly point forms the Sinai Peninsula and stretches over 1000 miles south to join the Indian Ocean, between Ethiopia and Yemen. The movement of plates in the Earth’s surface created the Red Sea about 30 million years ago.

Map

Get a map of Egypt from WorldAtlas.com.