Oh yeah but the point is that not where most people live. The tourists don't see that part of SA.
Years ago I might of moved their but not now. It's a place people want to move out off.
Last edited:
When people go on holiday to South Africa...
- Thread starter krooton
- Start date
Oh yeah but the point is that not where most people live. The tourists don't see that part of SA.
Years ago I might of moved their but not now. It's a place people want to move out off.
[FnG]magnolia;22130406 said:
Edgy like feeling a bit uncomfortable from time to time whereas 20 years ago I felt like I was going to be raped, mugged and murdered (in no particular order, but if I had to choose I think I would prefer to be murdered before being raped rather than afterwards.)
This trip I did go to see some real backwater places and they felt pretty chaotic but poor and disorganised rather than dangerous.
Weird, I felt perfectly safe in Cape Town in the 90s, even when I was clubbing regularly and thus encountering a fair few unsavoury characters.
Um yeh. South Africa.
A bunch of us spent 2 weeks working in trauma in a hospital in Johannesburg. Let's just say that at times, we thought we were in Iraq.
The world's top trauma specialists have quite literally all spent half a year at least working in SA. It has the top training posts in the world for penetrative trauma, and is considered a better place to train than in an active warzone. You can spend two months in Homerton (where they keep stab vests in the A&E store room) or in the trauma centre at the Royal London, and see the same number of life threatening stab/bullet wounds that you'd see in a typical week in Johannesburg.
I would quite honestly **** myself if I had to live there.
A bunch of us spent 2 weeks working in trauma in a hospital in Johannesburg. Let's just say that at times, we thought we were in Iraq.
The world's top trauma specialists have quite literally all spent half a year at least working in SA. It has the top training posts in the world for penetrative trauma, and is considered a better place to train than in an active warzone. You can spend two months in Homerton (where they keep stab vests in the A&E store room) or in the trauma centre at the Royal London, and see the same number of life threatening stab/bullet wounds that you'd see in a typical week in Johannesburg.
I would quite honestly **** myself if I had to live there.
Associate
Well when I went to South Africa I met a man called Wikus Van De Merwe and let me tell you, there was something seriously weird going on with his arm...
Used to have neighbours when I lived in London who'd moved to the UK shortly after starting a family when their house in SA was burgled (fortunatly while they were out) and their neighbours robbed and shot (not sure if actually killed or just shot at).
Yeah unfortunately stuff like this happens all the time, but you're generally ok in the populated areas unless you go looking for it. I was born there, lived there (in Port Elizabeth) until I was 17, and then we moved to the UK. My mom is British, dad South African, and I really do miss SA but I wouldn't live there now. I've had far greater opportunities here in the UK since moving here, and the only thing I still can't get used to is the terrible weather we get here all year around. There's just no consistency.
Still, I'd take that over being mugged / hijacked / shot any day of the week.
Before we moved here, my dad was mugged and after he handed everything over the guy ran off and dropped some razor blades. To this day it still really worries me at what might have happened.
I have friends that live in Sandton in Jo'burg, lovely area, but they have patrol guards that operate little checkpoints in the suburb streets. They are armed and do head counts when people leave in their car and then compare when they come back in. I'm not sure if this happens anymore, it has been about 14 years since I was last in Sandton. They have an electric fence around the top of their high garden wall, and a huge iron security gate within the house that is locked at night, this locks off the part of the house that they sleep in. They have woken up numerous times to people burgling the rest of their house whilst they're in their rooms. One night they went out to the gate, and the men in the house had machetes and knives. Obviously they were safe behind the gate but again, it makes you wonder just what could happen.
If you want to protect your home these days, then the only way is with armed response, which most houses have. Private security firms must be making a fortune, although it must be quite an unsafe job to do if you're a patrol man, even if you're armed.
Sure, you can say that a lot of places are unsafe, but you shouldn't have to go to such lengths to protect your own home.
My parents still go back for holidays, although I do worry about them when they go. It really is a beautiful country but these days it is just so unsafe.
Still, I'd take that over being mugged / hijacked / shot any day of the week.
Before we moved here, my dad was mugged and after he handed everything over the guy ran off and dropped some razor blades. To this day it still really worries me at what might have happened.
I have friends that live in Sandton in Jo'burg, lovely area, but they have patrol guards that operate little checkpoints in the suburb streets. They are armed and do head counts when people leave in their car and then compare when they come back in. I'm not sure if this happens anymore, it has been about 14 years since I was last in Sandton. They have an electric fence around the top of their high garden wall, and a huge iron security gate within the house that is locked at night, this locks off the part of the house that they sleep in. They have woken up numerous times to people burgling the rest of their house whilst they're in their rooms. One night they went out to the gate, and the men in the house had machetes and knives. Obviously they were safe behind the gate but again, it makes you wonder just what could happen.
If you want to protect your home these days, then the only way is with armed response, which most houses have. Private security firms must be making a fortune, although it must be quite an unsafe job to do if you're a patrol man, even if you're armed.
Sure, you can say that a lot of places are unsafe, but you shouldn't have to go to such lengths to protect your own home.
My parents still go back for holidays, although I do worry about them when they go. It really is a beautiful country but these days it is just so unsafe.
My parents still live there, but moved from the suburbs of Cape Town after my brother and I moved to other countries, and now live 50 miles up the coast in a sleepy coastal village called Yzerfontein.
Soldato
I had heard about people being mugged and robbed, but didn't realise it was quite so common place.
Having to lock off where you sleep whilst being burgled is crazy.
Having to lock off where you sleep whilst being burgled is crazy.
Permabanned
Yzerfontein is alright i used to go bodyboarding their sometimes.
It is not that bad, just when you hear about it people always tell you the worst stories. But some parts are just ridiculous with regards to crime. I would never even go to joberg, place sounds terrible imo.
It is not that bad, just when you hear about it people always tell you the worst stories. But some parts are just ridiculous with regards to crime. I would never even go to joberg, place sounds terrible imo.
Associate
Associate
