South Africa scores well as an expat destination

If you’re looking for adventure as part of your life as an expat, South Africa is the place to go.

Whilst it’s not a usual choice for expats, South Africa has a lot to recommend it, especially if you’re blessed with curiosity and the desire to include adventure in your new life.

A recent survey revealed some 75 per cent of expat arrivals were seeking an adventurous lifestyle as well as a less expensive, better quality of life. The survey dealt with well-being,a sense of security and health amongst expats in a selection of countries, with SA doing especially well in the cost of living and lifestyle sectors.

As usual, financial security was a main concern of expat residents in the country, with 12 per cent confident they had enough savings to survive if they weren’t working, 223 per cent saying they had enough to meet their families’ medical needs and only 12 per cent stating they had sufficient savings to be able to retire in comfort. Many expats explore as much of SA’s magnificent landscape as possible, as well as spending time off on its superb beaches.

One British expat, who’d lived and worked in Dubai before transferring with her daughter to South Africa to take on a specific job, said she immediately felt she’d found her home. She lives next to the ocean in Hout Bay and feel truly blessed to have found such a perfect spot. Coming from ultra-safe Dubai, she had to become crime-savvy, but has never felt she was in serious danger as she keeps her wits about her at all times. She feels it’s important to be considerate and kind to others, no matter where you are.

German expat Marie Thorand had always wanted to live in SA. She said she’d fallen in love with the people and the country itself, adding she’d like nothing better than to see the varied communities merge into one and harmonise. Crime, she said, wasn’t even a issue with her, as she’d spent six weeks travelling the length and breadth of the country without a single incident. People here, she said, accept crime as part of life’s rich pattern, just as in the majority of other world countries.