Tag: South Africa

  • Road deaths in South Africa

    I’ve lived in South Africa for five months now, and think of myself as pretty well settled in. The one thing I won’t ever get used to, however, is the shocking standards of driving on the roads. Especially by people in big, expensive, fast cars who really should know better. I’ve been researching a story…

  • Morgan: the Awesome 3D print arm

    You may or may not be aware that I’m slowly building a 3D printer at the moment, based on a RepRap kit I bought in the UK. I now have all the parts, just not the time to solder the electrics together (for reasons I’ll be blogging about this weekend). Thing is, RepRap is still…

  • The surrealist’s day

    So far, my experiences with South African bureaucracy haven’t been too bad as bad as I was led to believe they might be. There’s been long queues and waiting around for things to get done, but my biggest issues have been with the UK company that’s handling our household goods. And the banks – but…

  • An interesting start…

    Is it an inauspicious start to the new life abroad? On my first day in Johannesburg I can say I’ve become an illegal immigrant, got caught up in a riot, been solicited for a bribe and been refused a bank account. All technically true. Sadly none of it quite as exciting as it sounds. For…

  • Some writer I am…

    Here’s why I’ll never be an especially great blogger. On Wednesday, I’m emigrating to South Africa with my family. This is my last day of full work in the UK, possibly forever. It’s a big, huge move and enormously stressful and emotional in many ways. Yet I’ve not written anything about it here. I have…

  • African tech hubs and me

      I realise this feature is a few weeks old – From Kenya to Madagascar: The African tech-hub boom – but since it’s written by someone who’s a bit of a hero of mine, I thought I’d link to it anyway. This has been an interesting weekend in terms of Oxford family’s future plans. It looks very…

  • Goodbye Johannesburg, but probably not for long

    I landed in Livingstone yesterday, but given the fact it’s raining, humid and I’m running round trying to things like internet connectivity over the next week sorted, there’s no pics yet. I met with Haakon, the country director for Response Network last night, to quickly catch up on all the news that’s happened in the…

  • Happy new year

    I haven’t blogged much over Christmas because it’s been spent mostly doing family stuff and catching up with friends. All of which was ace, but uninteresting to read. I’m putting together a longer post about how my feelings towards Johannesburg have changed since last time I was here, but in the meantime, here’s Tabby on…

  • Cheeky cheetahs & crafty crocs

    The town of Hazyview is considerably more developed since last time I was here. Back then, there was an open market in a gas station for all your needs. Now there are several  malls, including one with a camera shop that sells universal chargers. The old town may have had more charm, but the new…

  • Soggy Sambonani, lazy leopards and baboon porn

    As I’ve been fond of pointing out to people prior to this trip, there may not be snow in Africa at Christmas, but there’s a hell of a lot of rain south of the equator this time of year. The day we arrived in Sambonani, a lodge just outside of Kruger Park where we’re spending…