Money

The currency unit of South Africa is the rand (R or ZAR). The value of one rand is approximately € 0.10 / $ 0.14 (date 8/6/2007).

It is cheaper to use an ATM in South Africa (if you have a card that belongs to the Cirrus network), then to exchange money in your home country in advance. ATM’s are widely available throughout the country (there is even an ATM in the Kruger Park). Credit cards (especially MasterCard and Visa) are widely accepted too.

If you want to exchange travellers cheques, you can do so at one of the South African banks. Most of banks are open on work days from 09.00 hrs till 15.30 hrs. A passport is needed for all transactions at the South African Banks.

There are notes of R10, R20, R50, R100 en R200, all with an illustration of the”Big Five" (R 200 = leopard, R 100 = buffalo, R50 = lion, R 20 = elephant, R 10 = rhino). Here you'll find a picture of the banknotes.

The coins are 1 cent, 2 cent, 5 cent, 10 cent, 20 cent, 50 cent (copper color) and R1, R2 and R5 (silver color)

Tipping
The wages in South Africa are very low, so people are used to tipping about 10% to 15% of the bill.