Check out this post — Expense Report: Pre-Trip Costs — for a better understanding of other costs associated with a RTW trip, as well as a definition of my travel style and how it impacts my budget.

Here’s what I spent in U.S. dollars over 41 nights in South Africa — which includes two nights in Swaziland, as they use the same currency:

• Accommodation = $633.36 … $15.44 per night
• Food = $683.31 … $16.66 per day
• Groceries = $100.46 … $2.45 per day
• Coffee = $79.71 … $1.94 per day
• Activities = $289.10 … $7.05 per day
• Cell & Wifi = $68.52 … $1.67 per day
• Transportation = $895.53 … $21.84 per day
• Miscellaneous = $159.25 … $3.88 per day

And the grand total for 41 nights in South Africa is…

$2,909 USD, which works out to $70.95 per day.

Here’s how those numbers compare with other countries I’ve traveled to:

• My daily average in Cook Islands: $157.05
• My daily average in New Zealand: $88.56
• My daily average in Australia: $83.37
• My daily average in Singapore: $78.86
• My daily average in Indonesia: $51.34
• My daily average in Malaysia: $117.09
• My daily average in Palau: $160.91
• My daily average in Philippines: $49.21
• My daily average in Japan: $89.55
• My daily average in Nepal: $75.42
• My daily average in Jordan: $68.88
• My daily average in Israel: $70.62
• My daily average in Turkey: $72.42
• My daily average in Egypt: $192.41
• My daily average in Dubai: $218.03
• My daily average in Morocco: $54.94
• My daily average in Ethiopia: $87.55
• My daily average in South Africa: $70.95

Not bad! I knew South Africa was cheap, but these numbers reveal just how much.

A few notes:

• I used xe.com in mid-September 2014 (the time of my trip) to calculate the exchange rate and at that point in time, 1 ZAR (South African rand) = .091 USD.
• I received the following blog discounts during my time in South Africa: wine tour of Stellenbosch & Franschhoek ($73 USD), shark cage diving ($137), Cango Wildlife Ranch ($13), cage diving with crocodiles ($16), bungee jumping ($73), kayaking at Tsitsikamma National Park ($30), Baz Bus hop-on / hop-off transportation from Port Liz to Durban and then Durban to Johanesburg ($260), day trip to Lesotho ($45), day hike to Amphitheatre Backpackers ($45), small discount at Hawane Resort ($15). Total savings = $707. So my identical itinerary without any blog discounts would have set me back $3,616 instead of $2,909 — which works out to $88 USD per day instead of $71. Still not bad.
• I did not include my flight out of South Africa in this expense report, as it will be accounted for in a separate post documenting my Africa international airfare budget.
• I paid $30 USD (323 rand) for a Vodacom SIM card, 1 GB of data, and airtime to make local calls. I went through the data rather quickly because I used the GPS on my phone while driving, so I popped into a Vodafone store on two different occasions (there’s one in every city) to add another 1 GB of data for $13.50 USD (150 rand). I also added some extra airtime to make an international call to my grandfather on his birthday. That brings my total cell phone expenses to $66 over six weeks — not bad considering their excellent service puts Verizon to shame in the States. I continue to use the Viber app to communicate for free with my friends and family who have the app back home.
• I continue to use my Charles Schwab debit card to avoid international ATM fees.
• Let’s discuss the ways in which South Africa is budget-friendly. First of all, my average cost of accommodation is only $15 USD per night — and that accounts for the handful of times I stayed at guest houses and B&Bs for under $30 per night! For the most part, hostel dorm beds cost around $12 USD per night, including at my favorite hostel in Cape Town. Meals are cheap — I often ordered steak with veggies and potatoes plus a glass of wine for around $12 total. My daily latte cost less than $2 on average… take that, Starbucks!
• The transportation slice of the pie includes my rental car for two weeks (one week along the Garden Route, then a second week to visit Swaziland, Kruger National Park, and the Panorama Route). The total cost of renting a car for 14 days plus gas and tolls cost me $796 — not bad when you consider that just recently I paid MORE than that for a 7-day car rental in Iceland. I found renting a car was the best decision I could’ve made, especially along the Garden Route because there were so many times I pulled over on the side of the road to snap photos of the landscape. The sort of freedom that comes with a rental car is priceless.
• A few items in the miscellaneous slice of the pie include… three books ($24), overland guide tips for two 14-day tours ($40), two pairs of sunglasses to replace broken ones ($20), postcards and stamps ($17), laundry four times ($14), Swaziland CD of this performance group ($9)

Verdict: South Africa is my favorite country. I can’t recommend it highly enough, and a piece of that is how affordable it is to travel there. Do yourself a favor and bump it up to the top of your bucket list. You won’t regret it.