WTFH most of us are looking or hoping to figure a way out. African Socialism is alive. The Daily Dispatch [newspaper] just this last Monday reported that the East London [okay, Buffalo City, btw look up the scientific name for cape buffalo and tell me what you see] City Council has abandoned the old Cambridge Town Hall and left it to the mercies of our plentiful vagrants. How the hell does anyone abandon a city asset? Today's [June 29th] Daily Dispatch reports that just three months into new fiscal year the Eastern Cape Department of Health is broke. The Department runs all the public hospitals in the Eastern Cape. Aah, a challenge everyday? Anyone who comes here, just keep the motor running????

I think I would arive in May and stay until October... June and July are biltong season months and you could stock your freezer with game... then live on it... October is the most beautiful spring month given the rains have came. The trees are blooming... things are getting green and not to hot yet.

Scriptus ..

What you say is correct, but one cant only focus on the negatives. You will know better than most that within SA there are literally hundreds of VERY successful "POSH" safari lodges operating extremely well. There is a very poor class, middle class, and super rich same as in most places.

It seems that many South Africans are running for cover to other so called wonderful countries only to find the same s.it going on albeit on a smaller scale, most governments WORLDWIDE and lying through their teeth and ripping us off, we either live with that or start a revolution. The future is with ourselves.

While S Africans are leaving others are coming to SA as it is still proberbly the richest in Africa and business opportunities are being taken up by many.

Of course all is not rosy but a lot depends upon the strength of the individual to succeed.

Just in closing and as an aside, my cousin Geoff Bird used to be a reporter some years ago now for the DD. He nows lives in PE where I was in fact born many many years ago

Cheers, Peter

Peter, I have lived in Auckland {10 years] and I love this country, the hunting, the fishing, just everything about it, except the attitude of the politicians and a secttion of the population. Due to developing sugar-diabetes recently, part of my control is to walk 10 klms every morning. I start at 05:30, quite dark now, and pretty lonely. On three occasions I have had to run as some bastard has tried to persuade me to hand over cash and or my watch. I know folk get mugged and robbed all around the world, but here things are getting a little too hairy. That coupled with a worsening civil administration, does give one the idea that the time to hit the lifeboats is not too far off.

Scriptus

Yes I have heard that Auckland is a bit of a crime zone and also a traffic nightmare .. I am in Upper Hutt near Wellington, been here 30+ years. Apart from the cold winters it is a very nice place to live.

My brother Alan the safari rancher (based in Limpopo RSA) likes Zambia a hell of a lot more than RSA>

Alan own's (two very nice) private ranches in Zambia and it seems the situation there is conducive to investors and has great potential if one is prepared to put up with the normal africa red tape which we all know is sometimes a challenge. He has been an investor in Zambia for 12+ years so it must be OK by Africa standards

Cheers, Peter

Sorry Peter, I seemed to have screwed that up a little. I was born in SA, lived in NZ for ten years, but have been back in SA since 1970. I did my stint in the army and all the rest. So when I say that I love this country, I mean SA. The sad thing is that things have got hairy here, crime is beyond a joke, unless you want to claim from your insurance, you don't even phone the cops, who when phoned might or might not have vechile to attend your complaint.So on and so forth.

A little secret gents ... Botswana is head-and-shoulders above the rest of the Africa in almost every respect, except perhaps rainfall.

Contact me if you have any interest in a business venture in that country, that will make your annual trip out there tax deductible, as well as providing a place to stay and (with limitations) hunt.