When my wife, 13-year-old daughter and I arrived in Johannesburg on a Sunday evening, we weren't sure what to expect. Some friends who had been to South Africa warned us to stay off the streets after dark to avoid becoming crime victims, while others told us of the country's fascinating sights and incredible beauty.

Since we arrived during the World Cup festivities, we found a celebration in full swing on a national scale. South Africa embraced the World Cup in a big way and was transformed into a nation of rabid soccer fans. The national colors of red, green, blue and black were everywhere, from the flags fluttering alongside roads and on buildings to car mirror covers. No matter where we went, people wore the yellow and green jerseys of "Bafana Bafana," the South African national team, or the colors of their favorite team. Conversations with locals and fellow travelers seemed to always turn to the latest soccer match.

The day after we arrived we took a two-hour flight from Johannesburg to Cape Town, where we rented a car and began our exploration of the country. We planned to spend 10 days in Cape Town, attending two World Cup matches and checking out some of the local sites before driving up the country's eastern coast along the famed Garden Route through Durban, Swaziland, Kruger National Park, Blyde River Canyon and finishing back in "Jozi" five weeks later.

In all, we logged about 2,500 miles on our rented compact car, and we saw a lot of the country along the way. Among the highlights within easy reach of Cape Town were renting bicycles and riding among the leafy neighborhoods of Stellenbosch, where we stopped at a winery to sample the local vintage; watching a Southern Right whale lolling in the shallow water off the coast of Hermanus; and coming face-to-face with the black-and-white members of a penguin colony near Simon's Town on the Cape Peninsula.

Another pleasure was walking along the V&A waterfront, checking out the shops and stopping in open-air cafes for drinks and food. The scene reminded me of Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. We happened to be at the waterfront on an afternoon when Bafana Bafana played France, and thousands of tourists and locals packed into the area to watch the match on large video screens that had been set up for the occasion. Of course we also rode the aerial tram to the top of Table Mountain and took in the stunning views of the city and sparking Atlantic Ocean below, and toured Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for opposing the apartheid regime.

Then it was time to leave Cape Town and begin heading north. Both my wife and I had become used to driving on the left side of the road (and shifting gears on our manual-transmission car with the left hand), so we felt ready to tackle the national road system. As advertised, the roads were mostly in excellent condition, with wide shoulders to help us slower drivers keep out of the way of the speedsters.

We set aside five days to drive from Cape Town to Durban, a distance of about 1,100 miles. We wanted to give ourselves plenty of time to arrive at each destination before dark, and we also wanted the chance to see some of the sights along the way.

One stop we especially enjoyed was Addo Elephant National Park near Port Elizabeth, where we spent the night in a bungalow overlooking the rolling hills. Soon after entering the park, we were treated to the sight of a large herd of elephants, including babies, drinking at a watering hole just a few feet from the paved road.

As we drove from town to town along the N2 — which varied from two to six lanes, depending on whether we were in a city or a rural area — we got a view of life in South Africa we never would have seen from an airplane window. The scenes varied from bustling market streets, with people carrying bundles and bags in their arms, in carts or on their heads, to cow pastures and postage-stamp farms.

We found people to be helpful and friendly everywhere we went. In Mthatha, where we spent the final night before arriving in Durban, I stopped at a gas station to ask directions to our guest house. Several customers, both black and white, huddled over our guidebook, and then one man offered to lead us to our destination in his car.

We attended a semifinal match in Durban and then drove on to St. Lucia, a charming, tree-lined village near the entrance of iSimangaliso Wetland Park, where hippos sometimes roam the streets at night and in the early morning. After border formalities, we entered Swaziland, where we drove past thatched-roof huts, cow herders and vast brown plains that brought to mind the Africa we had envisioned before our trip. We spent six days in Kruger National Park, spotting four and a half of the Big Five: lions, elephants, buffaloes, rhinos and a fleeting glimpse of a leopard.

With a few days left before we had to return to Johannesburg, we opted for three nights in Graskop in the mountainous Mpumalanga region, where we hiked around streams and waterfalls and drove along the Blyde River Canyon. The couple who owned our guest house treated us like family, seeing us off with hugs and handshakes.

My daughter, Salome, was apprehensive about spending much time in Johannesburg because of its reputation as a high-crime area, and I have to admit I was put off by the way homes in the city are surrounded by walls topped with razor wire and electric fences. But our stay in a guest house near the airport was uneventful, and our day tour of the Soweto township and Apartheid Museum gave us a crash course on South Africa's recent history and the economic problems the country still faces.

Our guide and driver, Eric, eagerly filled us in on the daily routines of township life in between discourses on South African drivers and the shortcomings of the national soccer team. We also visited a "shantytown" of tiny tin-roofed shacks where people live without electricity or running water, and were invited inside the home of a woman in her 50s, who patiently answered our questions.

Only time will tell if the spotlight that shone on South Africa during the World Cup will translate into increased foreign investment and tourism. But my family found the country enchanting, and the three of us could easily have stayed longer when the time came for us to board our flight home.

WHEN YOU GO

Transportation: Round-trip airfare, Los Angeles to Johannesburg, runs from about $1,300 to $2,600, depending on the season.

Accommodations: Cape Town: Atlantic Sunsets, two-bedroom apartment with kitchen, $68-$204 per night, depending on season.

Durban: La Bordello boutique hotel, single, $61-$75, double, $95-$115, including breakfast.

Graskop: Autumn Breath guest house, $40 per person, including breakfast.

Restaurants: Dinner for three at a sit-down restaurant, including drinks, appetizer, dessert and tip, $40 to $52

Car rental: $51 per day; gasoline averages around $4.25 per gallon.

All Photos courtesy of Tash