South Africa

When entering south africa, please make sure you get the max time allowed. Even if you plan to only stay 1 month ask for the maximum. By law you should get a minimum of 3 months. But note if you have an existing SA visa and there is time left(even 1 day) you will not get a renewal. I can tell you stories you won't believe. The bottom line is do whatever it takes to get at least 3 months.
Scream, shout, insist on seeing the supervisor, ask them to phone your embassy. Custom officials are not trained in customer relations and sometimes cannot even count. They don't realize that tourism can actually create jobs. Officials at the airports and Botswana borders are good. At Swaziland they are hard as nails and will only give you 2 weeks.
Although you are supposed to have an outgoing flight it is not really neccessary as many travellers go on to Vic Falls or Nairobi. Every now and then you get a hard assed official that abuses his position and gives some foreigner hell. Don't take it. Ask for his superior. Ask for your embassy. Ask for a laywer. Throw the SA constitution at them. Sue the sobs...or at least threaten to. You might mention the equity court. You ARE supposed to have an outgoing ticket - otherwise you have to lodge about R5000 with customs which you get on exit. Except that you don't want rand on exit..so you get a cheque. Brilliant. It is so easy bypassing the system it is not even a joke. Travellers regularly buy flights to Swaziland or Maputo and cash them in later. The cheapest would be a bus ticket to Maputo. There is a Translux Bus office at the airport. tell the custom official to go buy it for you!!
In general though the custom guys at the airports are nice, the queues are just too long. There is absolutely nothing as welcoming as when arriving at an airport after a long flight to stand in a queue for an hour.

PASSPORTS:Valid passport required by all. The passport must be valid for at least six months
beyond the date of departure from South Africa.

VISAS:Required by all except:
(a) nationals of Britain, Australia, Canada, the USA, Japan and EU countries;
(b) nationals of Andorra, Argentina, Bahrain, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Chile, Cape Verde, Iceland, Israel, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Namibia, New Zealand, Norway, Paraguay, Singapore, Swaziland, Switzerland and Uruguay for business, tourist or transit purposes;
(c) nationals of Costa Rica, Ecuador and St Helena for business, tourist or transit purposes of up to 90 days;
(d) nationals of all other South and Central American countries (except nationals of Colombia), Barbados, Belize, Benin, Comoro Islands, Czech Republic, Ivory Coast, Congo, Cyprus, Egypt, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Gabon, Hong Kong, Hungary, Jordan, South Korea, Kuwait, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Malta, Morocco, Mauritius, Mexico, Nicaragua, Oman, Panama, Peru, Poland, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Seychelles, Slovak Republic, Surinam, Taiwan (China), Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela and Zambia for business, tourist or transit purposes of up to 30 days.

NOTE: Holders of Visitors' visas are not allowed to take up employment in South Africa.