What is your top 3 liveable places in Africa... and why?

Mine would be...

Windhoek, Namibia (cause i lived there)
Rustenberg, RSA (friends lived there)
Warmbaths, RSA (visited a few times)

Kasane or Maun Botswana.
Beautiful, safe, wonderful people and a good economy.

Forrest, good choice... I forgot about how nice Botswana can be and the economy was good... at least is was 4 years ago.
Aaron

Port Elizabeth and Durban are two very scenic towns in the RSA. Maun, Botswana or Windhoek, Namibia probably have less crime though!

Namibia in general is just great.

Depends on whether Pohamba wins the next election as to what road they will travel though..............

Blair,
I know Ben Ulanga (the opposition) and he seemed fairly good. His wife was a member of our church and he came quite a bit. He was kicked out of Swapo for being critical of Nujoma. But I doubt Swapo will loose the power because its mostly tribal. The younger generation may not be as loyal to Swapo and elect another but there are too many that will be loyal to Swapo becasue they "freed" Namibia.

Aaron,

Good points mate. None of the whites trust Nujoma one bit.

Thanks for the info.

Cheers,

In todays Africa, I think I would choose New Zealand!! at least for the time being.

It may depend on just what it is you want to do there. I was in Lusaka not too long ago and thought it seemed nice, and going mostly in the right direction. If you want to buy on speculation I would bet Harare offers some good prices these days. Old Bob can't live forever. I hear Serbians, who don't mind a little civil unrest it seems, are buying up the place. I know a couple of people who like the small towns on the Indian Ocean in Mozambique. Probably the only place in West Africa I would consider living is Ougadougou in Burkina Faso (of course I lived there for three years).

I've lived in White River RSA for the last 7 years or so and in many ways, I like it very much. Infrastructure is great as are road and air links etc ....... BUT the home affairs people drive me nucking futs and I've just about had enough of them.

As I have a week spare in my Tanzania season, I plan to go look at some beach or close to the beach properties close to, but not in Dar es Salaam and possibly also some properties in Arusha.

Prices are high by African standards and infrastructure won't be anywhere near as good, but I'll be happy to make those sacrifices if it means I don't have to put up with all that home affairs shit I get here.

Check some of these places: http://www.my-beach.com/

White River and Nelspruit are great.

Pietermaritzburg is great too (I hope to end up there next year when home) and I am very partial to Parys, which has been my seasonal home base for the last few years.

I really like Vic Falls (current poiltics not withstanding) and Livingston (Zambia).

Jinja (Uganda) is cool too.

Kasane ain't bad either!

quote:

I would bet Harare offers some good prices these days. Old Bob can't live forever.

I've thought about this a lot, too. Particularly as I was in the middle of applying for residency, back in 1999/2000 when the situation really started to slide. There are (or were) some magnificent places in Zim and if it every looks like coming good, I'll be seriously considering taking the risk.

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
In todays Africa, I think I would choose New Zealand!! at least for the time being.

I would go with Libreville, Gabon. One of the most stable countries in Africa (and constant French presence insures that) and the nature is unbelieveable. I would also consider Tangier or Casablanca in Morocco, very european and safe places (was there for 1.5 months two years ago, one of the best experiences of my life). That said, these places are not exactly what you call hunting paradises.

Kenyan Highlands, except for all the Africans.

Not being racist, just the truth.

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
In todays Africa, I think I would choose New Zealand!! at least for the time being.

Yes, but you would really have to like sheep!

Salisbury for mail delivery, otherwise up the zambezi escarpment toward the manna pools.

Get the little hospital up and running, say a sermon some Sundays, slay poachers on other Sundays. Help keep the buff and ele' out of the maize patches.

On every easter I would go down to the river and flip over an ecotourist raft just upstream of that deep hole where the crocks gather to discuss their next meal.

Funny you should mention that John, I heard a while ago that one of the old EA PHs was subdividing his farm in the Abadares into plots of a few hectares each for building. It sounded like a fabulous area. - Trout streams, good climate and great views.

Steve

Thank you for posting your link. I enjoyed the holiday---some very cool properties....but no prices!

The site says Dar is an expensive city re land- is it?

Did you inquire about any specific places on the site - Any idea what some of the places on the site are going for?

As a guide

Secret Chamber US$29000
Easy living US$125.000
Oasis rest US$194.000
Town house US$185.000
Arusha Hatari US$400000 (I think, but it might have been more)

quote:

Originally posted by shakari:
Funny you should mention that John, I heard a while ago that one of the old EA PHs was subdividing his farm in the Abadares into plots of a few hectares each for building. It sounded like a fabulous area. - Trout streams, good climate and great views.

But will the buyers still own their land in twenty years time?

The highland areas of Kenya are fabulous places.

quote:

Originally posted by BwanaBob:

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
In todays Africa, I think I would choose New Zealand!! at least for the time being.

Yes, but you would really have to like sheep!

Of course Ray likes sheep! He is from Idaho isn't he?

465H&H

Hi
I am interested to a calm and nice place which i can buy cheap acrage for organic farming ,not necessairly in africa,but any where on the earth with warm climate becuase i hate cold. any suggestions?
regards
yazid

A mans home is where he prospers!

After hunting in Africa on several occasions, I can honestly say that " I love Africa and the bulk of the people are very nice". I live in Chile and have been in a Third World country for three years. I will be happy to return to the US and would really have a difficult time living any other place except possibly Switzerland or the US! The Spanish are among the most ignorant I have ever met and they are thrilled to remain that way. I love Cape Town but since they have resorted to draconian gun laws and a black government, they can keep it. The only way I would live in Africa is if the white people were put in charge once again!

Perhaps my love for Africa is more than natural... I have given her some of the best years of my life... moved back to the states and her grip on me seems to be strengthening! I cannot hardly function some days because I am dreaming of Africa. Sure there are problems everywhere in Africa... But even the rhythm of life is so much more attractive to me... I am hopeless!

I liked Swakopmund, Namibia.....a nice Bavarian town on the Namibian coast.....surrounded by desert! It had to be the cleanest city I've ever seen just about anywhere.

Swakopmund's streets are made of salt! They look black like tar but are salt based... i always thought that was quite a weird deal... Its also fun to be there during crayfish time... Lobster without pinchers - I caught one on the beach. cooked it in the place i was staying... best lobster I ever had.

I dont know if I will be able to lives in Africa for all the year, but from many years I'm looking for a nice holiday place for go there (and hunting) for a couple of months a year.
Shakari, in the website you have posted ther'are some interestign property and farms. Do you think is possible hunt there as owner?

As with all things African there are no accurate pat answers. If you're thinking can you shoot the odd Elephant or Lion as it walks out the park next door, the answer would be no you wouldn't. If you mean could you get away with shooting the odd impala, then the answer would probably be maybe, if you were careful.

Your residential status would also be a factor in what you could and/or couldn't do.....

We've been doing a little research into it lately and think probably the best way to go for us at least, would probably be to buy a piece of land and build to our own specifications. We'd like a place on or very near to the beach and somewhere near but not too near Dar es Salaam. - Hopefully we'll find time to go look at a few places sometime during the hunting season, but if we're too busy hunting and we probably will be, it might have to wait until after the season closes......

I have pretty much given up on this.

Maybe later on in my lifetime, but I don't think it will work for me now.

I would rather live in Scandanavia, Greenland, Alaska, the Yukon, NWT, Nunavat, Australia, New Zealand, or Russia.

Maybe with time it will get some solidarity, but it's not worth it to me.

Fairbanks Alaska, with round trips tickets once a year will be good enough when I retire.

I mean I have enough experience in the southern africa for to know that is possibile buy a farm and have the hunting rights on the animals inside. Of course obtain a quota for protected animals is another story.

quote:

Perhaps my love for Africa is more than natural... I have given her some of the best years of my life... moved back to the states and her grip on me seems to be strengthening! I cannot hardly function some days because I am dreaming of Africa. Sure there are problems everywhere in Africa... But even the rhythm of life is so much more attractive to me... I am hopeless!

Ah Aaron!!! In the deep end like the rest of us!
I'm born and bred for 32 years and I'm addicted like its still new!

Good stuff!

Hallo !!after 27 trips to Rsa i must say that my favorite place is messina/limpopo and Matswane safaris

I was born in PE (Port Elizabeth) .... it must of course be my nostalgic #1

Timbuktu is #2 for obvious reasons, because few people know where it is, and it is #2 of course

My #3 is Bulawayo, becuase I lived most of my early years there, and so did Lobengula and Cecil Rhodes (-:

Cheers, Peter

I saw on the Tanzania Gov. web site, that to become a resident, you need to have 300K USD in cash in a bank!

Is that correct to live in Tanzania 6 to 8 months a year and get resident status?
Or am I reading that wrong?

Allen

my fist thought is Maun or Vic Falls, but I think I'd pick Gaberone. More to do.

TerryR

Allen,

You didn't read it wrong, but there's a lot of ways over that one.........

Actually, $300K qualifies you as a registered "investor" with a Tanzania Investment Certificate. That qualifies you for various Tax incentives as well as automatic residency.

To become a full time resident, one has to be either self-employed (investor as above or have own business preferably with local partner), employed with a local registered company, a missionary/volunteer or a pensioner (very hard to get). Part time residency is offered to consultants, researchers, etc.

FYI

In Zambia an (Investment Certificate) will set you back about $2,600.00 then there are some other bits and bobs fees BUT in total the red tape fees to set up will be WELL under $10,000.

Of course you will THEN need some (other capitol cost) investment money to set up a specific business or buy a ranch etc

Essentially Zambia is one of the (best regional) and cost effective countries to get started in Africa for VERY little outlay by Western Economic standards

Cheers, Peter