South Africa is the largest country in Southern Africa and one of the fastest growing Economies in Africa. With a population of over 57 million people, South African Passport is often considered as the Green Mamba.
According to Passport index, citizens of South Africa enjoyed visa-free access to 61 countries and are entitled to Visa on Arrival to 32 other countries making South African passport the 51 most sought after Passport in the World and the third in Africa.
The reason why South African passport is called the green Mamba is still a mystery, while many school of thoughts try to relate the strength of color green which can enhance vision, stability and endurance to the reason behind the name. Others are of the opinion that the color and the name of the passport was irrelevant.
But from research, South Africa has a long history with green color, presently, all national sporting teams have a touch of green color in them. Mamba on the other hand has it origin from Zulu.
Just like My history teacher once noted “Be proud of the Green Mamba, because it will carry you like your Mama, carry it as a shield and it will take you anywhere, defend and hold your head high if you have the green Mamba in your pocket and our passport index will keep staying high above every other passport in Africa.”
Table of Contents
The Passport(Green Mamba) is divided into 5 categories:
1. Regular Passport
Regular Passport is valid for 10 years and is not renewable. They are often issued to South African citizen for occasional travels and business trips.
2. Diplomatic Passport
Diplomatic passports are strictly for diplomats and their consulates
3. Official Passport
Official Passport is issued to government officials by the Department of Home Affairs and it has a validity period of 5 years.
4. Maxi passport
Maxi Passport is similar to regular passport but it contains 48 pages, it has a validity period of 10 years and its non-renewable
5. Child passport
Child Passport is issued to Children who are 15 years or younger and it has a validity period of 5 years.
Just like Green Mamba, South African citizen can travel visa-free to Countries where giants of Africa cannot. Apart from Mauritius and Seychelles passport which has a little comparative advantage over South Africa, South African Passport is one of the best passport in Africa.
Here is the list of Countries that you can travel to with visa with a South African Passport
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Argentina
- Bahamas
- Barbados
- Belize
- Benin
- Botswana
- Brazil
- Chile
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- El Salvador
- Fiji
- Gabon
- Georgia
- Grenada
- Guatemala
- Guyana
- Haiti
- Honduras
- Hong Kong
- Indonesia
- Ireland
- Israel
- Jamaica
- Kenya
- Kosovo
- Lesotho
- Macao
- Malawi
- Malaysia
- Mauritius
- Micronesia
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- Nicaragua
- Palestinian Territories
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Philippines
- Russian Federation
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Lucia
- Senegal
- Singapore
- South Korea
- St. Vincent and the Grenadines
- Swaziland
- Tanzania
- Thailand
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Tunisia
- Uruguay
- Vanuatu
- Venezuela
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
With South African Passport, you will have either a visa waiver on arrival, e-visa, visitor’s passport or given a visa on arrival to these Countries.
- Armenia
- Bolivia
- Cambodia
- Cape Verde
- Comoros
- Cote d’Ivoire
- Djibouti
- Ethiopia
- Ghana
- Guinea-Bissau
- India (eVisa)
- Iran
- Jordan
- Kyrgyzstan
- Laos
- Madagascar
- Maldives
- Marshall Islands
- Mauritania
- Nepal
- Oman
- Palau
- Qatar
- Rwanda
- Samoa
- Seychelles
- Sri Lanka
- Timor-Leste
- Togo
- Turkey
- Tuvalu
- Uganda
Thank you Girlf from the South, I will be happy if you can also look into the Nigeria passport also. It’s a shame that Nigeria is called the giant of Africa for nothing
You don’t actually explain what the title says: WHY is it called the green mamba?
You list a whole lot of access countries and make a statement that it is called the green mamba, but where did the explanation to the name disappear to?
The South African passport is called a “green mamba” because during apartheid, many countries refused to issue visas to (white) South Africans in an effort to isolate Pretoria and push the government to abandon white minority rule. The passport was seen as “useless” or even “dangerous” and “not something you wanted to hold.” Hence the association with the dangerous reptile