Living in South Africa it was a little tricky to get started with crypto currency, due to not being able to buy coins from well known exchanges like Coinbase. So I could never buy Ether or other altcoins with the knowlegde that I had at the time.
I started by doing some research on the biggest crypto currency around, being Bitcoin, and found that there were two exchanges working in South Africa (where I live) Icecubed and Luno.
Luno was my ultimate choice after weighing up the pros and conns and I could not be happier. It is an easy platform to use. Friendly people and fast enough for my experience level.
If any one of you are in South Africa and plan on exchanging some Rand to or from Bitcoin you can find them at https://www.luno.com.
I'm still only able to use Bitcoin as they only use Bitcoin and getting other coins is a pain, but everyone has to start somewhere.
This was the beginning of my story, stay tuned for more.
Hope you all have a blessed day*