The most common road marking is yellow continuous lines on the edges of the road. This line marking is unique from most the world however it is also found in the neighbouring countries of Eswatini, Lesotho and Botswana. In South Africa people are fairly security conscious and often houses will have high walls or fences around them, sometime with spikes. South Africa has the Afrikaans language that resembles Dutch appearing on some signs. In South Africa there is a plateau between Eswatini and Lesotho and land in this area is normally fairly high up and flat relative to other parts of the country. High walls and fences around houses are a common sight in South Africa. Like Lesotho, Eswatini and Botswana, South Africa’s most common road lines feature yellow, continuous edge lines and white centre lines. This unique combination of road lines is often one of the easiest ways to determine that you are in one of these four Southern African countries. Cars drive on the left in South Africa. Cars drive on the left in Africa everywhere south of the red line on the map at the start of this Africa section. These are the second most common road markings in South Africa. They feature dashed white lines encased by two, white continuous lines. Often these markings occur simultaneously with the continuous yellow lines on the outer edges of the road South African highway signs are green with white lettering (similar to the other countries in the southern part of Africa). The highway number is indicated by yellow lettering. These signs are very useful when trying to pinpoint in South Africa. You will often see them at remote intersections. South African highways start with the letters R, M or N followed by a number. This is the warning sign used throughout Africa. It looks like the European warning signs (and the sign used in parts of Asia). This warning sign is different to the yellow diamond used throughout North and South America, New Zealand and Australia. These narrow, red and white signs are almost like bollards in South Africa. They are very common. Although South Africa widely uses wooden poles, the urban areas of South Africa mainly contain concrete poles, pained black on the base. The rural South African landscape rarely features much vegetation other than grass (which often appears dry, yellow or red). Between Eswatini and Lesotho, South Africa has a plateau. There will often be hilly lumps around you or on the horizon. The landscape tends to be greener here. There are many dry, rocky mountains in the south-western part of South Africa. Generally, the further north and west you travel in South Africa, the drier and more desert-like the landscape. A map showing the topography of South Africa. Note that the mountains are mainly around the south-western edge of the country (near Cape Town) and in the north-east. (Image source: mappdoutofficial). South African cars tend to have quite long and narrow, white license plates- both front and rear.   This map shows the 3-digit R road distribution across South Africa. If you see an R road sign in South Africa, it can take a while zooming in and out before you find it on the map. This map shows where you should look.

South Africa drives on the left.

On most roads, South Africa utilizes single yellow outer lines and white centre lines.

South Africa occasionally features unique white triple centre lines with 2 solid lines on the outside and a dashed line on the inside.

You may also sometimes encounter another unique triple centre line, consisting of two white lines with one yellow line in the middle. These centre lines are usually found on larger main roads.

South Africa has 11 official languages: English, Afrikaans, and various Bantu languages. English is the lingua franca and therefore appears most often on signage.

Afrikaans is a Germanic language that is closely related to Dutch. Common Afrikaans place name suffixes are -fontein, -kraal, -kop, -dorp, -nek, and -berg or -burg. While Afrikaans is most commonly spoken in the western half of the country, you will find Afrikaans place names all over South Africa, meaning that it is not useful for region-guessing.

Afrikaans is rare to non-existent in Eswatini and Lesotho. It is also abundantly rare in Botswana, but has some limited presence in the form of place names.

The most common type of pole in South Africa features 1 to 5 horizontal bars with thin white insulators that resemble rows of birds, which is why they are referred to as “bird poles” in the community.

South Africa has a wide variety of other poles and pole tops. Some of these are (mostly) limited to a certain region.

South Africa uses green directional signs with the road number in yellow. 

Green directional signs with yellow road numbers are also used in Lesotho, Eswatini and Botswana.

N and R-roads are exclusive to South Africa. 

South Africa utilizes triangular warning signs with a red border and a white background.

South Africa uses white-and-red chevrons. You can find a similar chevron pattern below directional signs. 

In addition, unique-looking small, thin chevrons with one arrow are common next to roads. 

The thin chevrons can also be found in the other southern African countries of Botswana, Eswatini, and Lesotho.

Suburban houses in and around large cities will often be surrounded by high walls, fences, and gates to deter criminals.

Bollards:

Like Botswana, these signs are located near the sides of Drainage ditches. However, there appears to only be one sign, not two like Botswana.

These KM markers seem to be found on the major roads. They tell you which road you are on, and how far along it you are.

Unique Vehicle:

A lot of vans have a South African flag on the side with a nice design. They are in every city, and I believe they are like Taxi’s.

Road Lines:

Much like the rest of this geographical region, you will see yellow shoulder lines and a white center divider line. Similarly to the other areas, you can also see the triple white line.

Road Signs:

South Africa uses several different letters with their roads, however R and M are some of the most common.

All traffic lights in South Africa appear to be on Yellow poles. Or at least all the major cities have them like this. They have varying degrees of paint ware.

Road numbering system:

South Africa has national (N1 to N20), provincial (R21 to R99) and regional (R300 to R799) numbered routes. The regional route numbers follow a pattern depending on the province they are in. 

Electricity poles:

South Africa uses wooden poles in multiple styles. They can often be found around the Rural and developed areas.

License plates:

Each individual region in South Africa has their own license plate. However, its not the easiest to tell through the blur of GeoGuessr. For the sake of this website, each regional license plate will be listed, but just be aware that it may be tough to tell the difference in the game itself.

Most seem to have a two letter province code at the end, however the blur will make it tough to spot those letters. The public service vehicle license plates are yellow.

Currency:

South Africa uses the Rand. Its usually marked by the letter R.

General look:

The general feel to South Africa is very close to Botswana. A good rule of thumb is that Gen 2 is South Africa, Gen 3 needs something else. You can usually find something relatively fast that will help determine the distance. Also, South Africa has more hills than Botswana, as well as more overall coverage.

