# Moving from the UK to South-Africa



## peppa pig (Jun 6, 2012)

Hi all,

I came across this forum by accident and thought what a great idea to get some advice from Expats themself. 

We are looking to move to the Bryanston area but have no idea as to where is the best suburb with the least crime, to live in. Is it better to live in one of those security, fenced in, controlled places or is any area as good as the next? 

I have four children but only three in school. Two in secondary school and one in primary. Where is the better schools situated please? Do you have all girl/boy schools? Is there a selection to choose from?

Would love anybodies input please 

Kind regards


----------



## JunaidSeria (Jun 6, 2012)

Hi there,

Jozi, as we call it is a massive city with all types of neighborhoods to suit your needs. My wife and I live in the northern suburbs (Ie, Melrose, Rosebank, Sandton) which are generally safe and quite affluent. The further north you go, the newer the developments and the less forested - I heard Jozi is the largest man-made forest in the world. Parkhurst, Parktown, Houghton, Melrose are lovely old neighborhoods with beautiful Jacaranda trees. I jog in the streets every morning and feel very safe - lotsa runners on the street in the morning and early evening.

We live in a secure complex with 24 hr security. Most apartment blocks and townhouse communities are gated so would go this route for piece of mind. We have been in Jozi for 5 years and have not had any issues.

In terms of schools, Kingsmead is one of the best girls schools in Melrose. It's just next door from where we stay.

Otherwise lots of good private schools in Jozi, St. Johns, king David (in Illovo) Rhodeen...

Am sure there are lots of good public schools too, all my colleagues' kids appear to attend the private schools.

We head out to London in a few weeks - let me know if you're interested in renting our place.

Regards,
Junaid


----------



## Johanna (Apr 13, 2009)

I moved the thread to the general forum, the Shebeen is more for light hearted bantering ( believe it or not!)

You may find more response from here!


----------



## zebracrossing (Jun 10, 2012)

The best advice we got was to look at neighbourhoods close to work and then check out schools that are in the area. 
We had this great Expat Info Guide to Johannesburg (I think I'm not allowed to give you the correct name unless you ask, because it would be considered advertising) that you can buy online and that answers all the questions around the safe neighbourhoods, what the difference between living in secured estates or complexes is, and gives all the info you could possibly need about international and South African schools. 
Now we are happily settled near Fourways, which is a bit north of Bryanston.


----------



## adambt (Sep 9, 2012)

Hi there, My wife and I also moved to Cape Town from the UK.
We live in Muizenberg which is a lovely place, right by the beach, generally relatively safe (safety is a relative term in South Africa). I'm not sure if there are any security complexes here but there are plenty of expats and there is a security company employed by residents to patrol night and day.
Good luck with the move.


----------



## gunther13 (Sep 13, 2012)

northern suburbs are nice such as randburg, fourways, bryanston, sandton houghton, but depending where you'll be working watch out for traffic especially coming from fourways/ bryanston heading towards sandton (only one main road!) 

you will also be better off staying in a complex (security guard, electric fence, pool etc), dont try free standing house as i hear all the time ppl being broken into, no matter where u stay in jhb. I never experienced it and hope it stays that way

hope this help... a bit!


----------



## Jem62 (Jul 25, 2012)

Ensure that you move into a gated community in Jozi it is what all companies are doing with their employees whom they have moved to the City.


----------



## adambt (Sep 9, 2012)

whoops, I see you're headed to jo'burg not cape Town. Sorry! please ignore my previous post! I should learn to read before I type....


----------



## Cueball (Apr 2, 2012)

We're doing the same move next month - the best advice I have is start talking to the schools around Bryanston now. You'll struggle to get into a private school - their waiting lists are usually full. Public schools will take you, but only if you're in the catchment area - we're basically looking at houses entirely based on proximity to schools (and security, obviously) now.


----------



## chris rossouw (Nov 8, 2012)

Hi 

I am currently in Cape Town and would like to meet with as many expats as possible. Any contacts would be appreciated.

My email address is alpha_diagnostics at hotmail dot com

Best wishes

Chris


----------

