Johannesburg  - A South African holiday does not have to include a stay at a luxury safari lodge in Kruger National Park or taking an expensive wine tour in the Western Cape province.

Increasingly, tourists of modest means are exploring the country and they can use an elaborate network of inexpensive backpacker hostels and bus routes linking South Africa's attractions.

Prior to your departure, travellers can use the internet to reserve a seat with Baz Bus, a company that calls at almost every tourist destination between Cape Town and Johannesburg. It will even take you to neighbouring Swaziland and Mozambique.

Among the ticket options are a seven-day travel pass and "hop-on hop-off" ticket valid from a specified starting point to a final destination. The latter lets you get off the bus along the route as often as you like - with no time limit.

"Our customers are flexible," said Baz Bus sales manager Cecilia De Freitas, adding, "They themselves decide where they want to go, and we take them there." Safety is another benefit of Baz Bus, she said: The driver will pick you up and drop you off at the door of your backpacker hostel.

A ticket costs between 126 and 859 dollars. The 19-seater buses are often filled to capacity, but the faces keep changing because passengers get on and off at every stop.

"Our main customers are backpacking tourists from Europe," De Freitas said. In addition to students in their mid-20s, however, you could easily wind up sitting next to a large US family or an elderly British couple who heard about Baz Bus from their grandchildren.

The company was founded in 1995 and works with some 180 hostels in and around South Africa that not only offer a place to sleep but will also book your seat for the next bus trip.

A free guidebook called Coast to Coast, available at the reception desk of nearly every hostel, lists hostel locations, furnishings and prices, whether breakfast is included, whether there is wireless internet access, etc.

Striking up a conversation with fellow travellers is both helpful and practically unavoidable on long bus trips and in eight-bed rooms. What about a visa for Swaziland? Is shark-cage diving in Hermanus worth the money? Are there really elves in the mountain village of Hogsback? At nearly every stop you run into backpackers coming from your destination and who are glad to pass on tips.

Your itinerary, be it traditional or more adventurous, is up to you. Among the many possibilities are bungee jumping and white-water rafting, elephant-watching in one of the many national parks, and spending the entire holiday surfing on South Africa's coast.

Despite all the ways to save money, you should expect to spend at least 884 dollars on round-trip air fare from Europe. For many travellers, that sum will be even less of a deterrent in 2010: Then South Africa, with all its attractions, becomes the first African country to host the football World Cup.

Internet: www. backpackingsouthafrica. co. za (dpa)