Like anything to do with money, perspectives on tipping are shaped by many factors including your experiences and where you come from. We’ve put together some helpful tips to help you navigate gratuity while on holiday in South Africa.

Guidelines for tipping in South Africa

South Africa is a country where tipping is the social norm. The general rule is to start at 10%. – however, you are not obliged to tip if you are unhappy with the service you receive.

Tipping in restaurants in South Africa

Most restaurants in South Africa do not add a service charge to bills – but double check especially if you are a large group. We would recommend leaving a 10-20% tip, depending on how good your experience is.

Car guards and petrol attendants

For first-timers to South Africa, car guards may be a novel surprise for you. Car guards are self-appointed, informal people who usually wear a reflective vest and help people navigate parking. A R5 to R20 tip is the norm if you are driving your own vehicle while in South Africa.

Petrol attendants are another uniquely South African. Service station staff will fill your car with petrol, offer to clean your windscreen and check your oil and water.

Parking and petrol station attendants can be given whatever small change you have available – R5 to R20 is customary. This is always appreciated by service station staff, even though it may seem a small amount.

Tipping at Kings Camp

Tipping at Kings Camp is never something that is expected, but is always greatly appreciated by our staff. Firstly, tips are much appreciated but totally discretionary.

Our guideline that we give when asked is as follows:

You can tip in any currency. If it is dollars we can just exchange locally, you can also tip with a credit card if you don’t want to have cash on you.

The amount that you tip goes directly into the staff’s accounts and there are no deductions at all. We have a general staff ”pool” which includes all staff members, the ones you will meet, such as the front office and service staff but also the ones ”behind the scenes” like chefs and people who make the gardens look pretty.

There really isn’t a guideline amount for this and it is just whatever you can afford. This amount is shared equally between all of the staff members.

Your guide and tracker you may tip separately as they are not included in the ‘pool’. We don’t have any formal guidelines but to give you an average amount it would be around R250-300 per day, per room for a guide and about R150-200 per day, per room for a tracker.

Again though, whatever you can afford.

For further information you might require about travelling in South Africa, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our friendly reservations team at Kings Camp via email at book@kingscamp.com or by calling +27 (0)13 751 1621 / +27 (0)82 675 6539.

If you’d prefer to fill in our online booking form, you can find it here. We look forward to welcoming you to Kings Camp in the future.