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Flashsa what part of JNB did you live in?
Interesting reading this thread, I used to live there 40 years ago and still have family there.
So to summarise, everyone on this thread but two says dont go there.
Lived in Durban, cracking place, Drakensberg Mountains couple hrs away, endless biking (not dissimilar to Alps).
Trimix, to be fair most people with bad things to say about place have no first hand experience, their view is via 'stories, 'I heard it from a friend', 'someone told me about this guy' blah blah blah
Am not on commission for the SA tourist board by the way... 😀
I'm not a South Africa expert, I only spent 3-4 weeks there. I grew up and worked in dodgy and shitty places, so I think I have a higher tolerance for risk and discomfort than many. Based on my feelings about how heavy the towns got at sunset and from the stories I read in the press and by people I met, there is no way I would move to South Africa to live. I find the comparisons to Streatham and Soho ridiculous. (Everyone I met was nothing less than lovely to me - another difference to the UK).
I fully respect anyone who says that this is ignorant nonsense based on anecdotal twaddle.
Its worth going just to see people standing on the back of trucks, swigging beer on the way home from work on the motorways . . .
I travel to J'burg and Cape Town a lot. Love visiting both, especially CT, but would not move my family there (despite talks yesterday for such a move!). Crime is a real issue and that makes life challenging to say the least. Plus I find places like Sandton sterile even if they are relatively safe. Having said that the closest I have been to getting mugged in Africa was in Cape Town (near the waterfront!!) and Mombassa.
I have 2 south african friends, both from Joberg and both women.
1 was car jacked at her cousins and the other was robbed in her own home, left with a head injury and her husband made to watch the beating.
As a result, Joberg would not be on my list of places to move to....interesting it was the husband that was made to watch who insisted on leaving the country
I find the comparisons to Streatham and Soho ridiculous.
Depends on the experience in either..........
Apart from the terrible reputation for crime, I rode with a chap from SA and he said he prefered riding in the UK. Generally the temp in SA was way too hot for mountain biking. They used to do all their rides at the crack of dawn and finish by 8.00 am.
I'm not sure if the rumoured way that the locals think is a cure for AIDS is true or not.
I will spare you the details but its not nice.
Apart from the terrible reputation for crime, I rode with a chap from SA and he said he prefered riding in the UK. Generally the temp in SA was way too hot for mountain biking. They used to do all their rides at the crack of dawn and finish by 8.00 am.
I rode the Argus in cape town the other week from 8.00 am until 12.15 am and hardly broke sweat . . .
and in their winter it would be fine anytime of the day.
admittedly after 12pm it does warm up considerably in the summer
That's Cape Town though innit.
Programme on radio 5 in the next day or two talks to South African athletes and sportsmen and women about their experiences on day to day life in SA. Suffice to say from the trailer it seems most of them would concur with the general tone of this thread.
SA has it's own page on wikipedia about how bad violent crime, particularly rape, car jackings and murder are. If you look at the other statistically similar countries, half of them are war zones or places with little meaningful government. That alone would put me off going to live in one of the more violent cities in the country.
It's true that all cities have their dodgy areas, I know a guy grew up in an area of Durban called Westgate Gardens, made Syria sound tranquil!!!
It's true that all cities have their dodgy areas, I know a guy grew up in an area of Durban called Westgate Gardens, made Syria sound tranquil!!!
Like Tivoli Gardens, that [i]sounds[/i] like a delightful place to live!