My partner and I are going on a trip to SA and would appreciate advice, useful hints, etc etc. The plan: Fly to Cape Town, buy a cheap estate or similar large car. Climb a lot around CT. Drive roughly along the costal road to Durban (sp?), then north via more climbing to Jo'Burg. Stay and climb around there for a while. Go home. Intending to do a mixture of sleeping in the car/van and hostelling, maybe the odd camping bit. Mostly climbing focused, my preference being for single pitch sport/trad with the odd big adventure thrown in but no hideous walk-ins. Plus a bit of other stuff e.g. safari, eating antelope etc. Worries: What sort of vehicle to buy. How much accomodation is going to be. The large amount of driving/travelling in general. Road safety esp. in a van. General safety. Not getting anything stolen. Meeting like-minded travellers/climbers for socialising. Any advice would be appreciated, be it general about South Africa, about travelling there, or about the climbing. We will get the books and have been revising these sites, but personal, experienced recommendations and advice would be useful. Thanks in advance.

Get a large car with a boot (the stealers cannot see what is on the menu with an estate). Bring a trad rack, sport rack and boulder mat (you will regret it if you leave one or the other behind). Recommended sport options - Montague, Hellfire, Kloof Gorge in Natal, Swinburne, Mount Everest, Restaraunt and Fernkloof in the Magaliesburg. Recommended trad options - Table Mountain, all the Cederburg venues (Wolfberg is the most accessible and does not require a Cape Nature permit, Tafelberg and Krakadouw - which do require such a permit), the Magaliesburg gorges north of Jhb (amazing settings but speak to the Jhb MCSA), Blyde River Canyon in Mpumulanga and Blouberg (in the Northern Province, I think). Bouldering - Rocklands (of course), De Doorns in the Hex River valley and Top Side in Cape Town. Safety wise - always be on your gaurd but Montague and Cederburg are pretty safe. I would imagine that Swinburne, Mount Everest and the Magaliesburg are also pretty reliable. Everywhere else - check with the locals which crags you need to watch out for. Don't be put off by this last statement otherwise you will miss out on some awesome climbing.

Oops forgot Paarl and Oudtshoorn as recommended sport venues. Basically all the sport crags are worth a visit. Very few are shitty ones around.

Spend at least one day at Silvermine, Cape Town. Definately worth it for single pitch sport routes.

Huh? Did anyone read the question? So why not suggest the best single climbing area in the Southern Hemisphere? Get your buts up to the Restaurant at the End of the Universe. This last weekend Mark Seuring and Claire Keeton opened another 3 classic trad lines at the waterfall crags and sport routes are being added steadily. And if you did not hear about the crime situation: the SA Police have put the muggers behind bars and the crags have been safe for the last months, so put the word out.