South Africa - driving on the left

One thing you can do to lessen the stress is to insist on an automatic transmission. I say "insist" because in many countries rental cars are 99% manual transmissions, and even when you check automatic transmission on the online form, you shouldn't assume you will get one. What you want to do is follow up with a personal phone call to the actual office you will be picking up the car from, not their 1-800 number, and explain that you really, really are needing and expect an automatic transmission.

This will not solve all the challenges of driving on the "other" side, but it eliminates having to shift with your left hand.

darlene,

You'll need to exercise a high degree of caution there, and not just with driving on the left. You may find this information from the Canadian government travel website (I didn't check the U.S. site) - https://travel.gc.ca/destinations/south-africa . Of particular note are the tabs on Safety & Security and Laws & Culture.

Driving on the left takes a bit of practice, which is easier in areas with lower traffic volume. Given your previous experience, you might find that you're quite comfortable with it after a few days.

Good luck!

my husband is nervous.

Is he nervous about his having to drive or nervous about you driving?

If you are comfortable with driving on the left, seems there is no real problem.

Is there some reason you cannot do all the driving?

I am from the UK and have hired cars in the USA, Canada and in Europe, which all drive on the wrong side of the road to me. I have never had a problem with switching sides. Just remember on your first full day with the car that you need to be on the opposite side of the road than you are used to, as this for me was the most confusing.

If you are used to an automatic, hiring similar will help.

The roads in SA were generally good and much less busy than Europe. Places were well signposted. I was there 8-9 years ago. However, the Transkei road had many potholes and there were animals wandering across the road at times. Think cows not cats. You may not be taking this road. We were there for 4 weeks and covered Kruger to Cape Town. We had no driving issues.

My nervous husband. Lol. Good question. He’s nervous about both driving on the left and my driving. Even though I have a spotless driving record, over our 35 year marriage he has always done the driving when we are both in the car. But yes, he may just have to take a breath and let me drive. The best scenario would be if we could put us both on the car hire record as drivers, provided it wasn’t to cost prohibitive. I am seeing, overall, very inexpensive prices to rent cars, so that may be doable.

Thanks to everyone who has responded thus far. It is all helpful.

My first experience driving on the left was in South Africa. Later I have driven on the left in Scotland and Wales. I usually drove a stick shift.

In South Africa I drove in Pretoria and in the countryside of Kwa Zulu Natal. I don’t remember any problems in Pretoria. Except for once, I stopped for gas at a Shell station. After my tank was full I discovered that they would only accept Shell credit cards or cash. I did not have enough cash and only a Visa card. One of the employees rode with me to a ATM to get the cash. This was about 20 years ago.

Driving in the country is much easier than in Wales. The countryside is much like the Southwest USA so the roads are relatively wide with wide shoulders. There is no problem of driving narrow roads with stone walls right on the verge. As mentioned, live stock on the roads can be a problem. The cities are of the same vintage as American cities so the roads are in a grid and wide. Parking lots having wider slots than in the UK.

South Africans are serious about faster traffic having the right away. Do not linger in the passing lane of a multi lane highway. On a two lane road give following traffic the opportunity to pass.

One thing to note is that the highways are numbered. Single digit are primary roads, two digits are secondary roads (generally OK), and three digit roads may be an adventure!

My wife and I always pay to have both of us be drivers. Just in case.

This info is from about 20 years ago.

If you can get an automatic, do so. But if you can drive with a stick, learning to shift with your left hand is not a problem.

Another option.......
We spent 16 days in S. africa 2 years ago. My husband did not want the stress of driving. So we had Thompson Safari pick us up at each of our destinations and drive us to our next base. They were wonderful! Always on time and courteous. We felt like we had a private tour, even though we were on our own.
It wasn’t very expensive either.

"My wife and I always pay to have both of us be drivers. Just in case."

I was going to recommend this as well, for the same reason. It's usually not too much more money to put a second driver on a rental car. Think of it as cheap insurance. Even if only one of you plans to do all the driving, this way you're all set if plans change.