Tips About Living in Cape Town

Hi all,

I am from just outside of Toronto, Canada and was just hired by the
Canadian goverment to work for a small organization in Cape Town. It's
pretty much volunteer work, with travel and living expenses funded by
the Canadian goverment. I'll be living there for 5 months starting at
the beginning of November and I can't wait.

The organization that I will be working for is located in Observatory.
Can anyone give me general information on this area? I'm interested
in:

a) how safe the Observatory and City Bown are?

b) how expensive it is to rent in that area (or are there other areas
that are safer or better priced that are still within close distance,
since I won't have a car)?

c) how is the public transportation (price and safety)?

I have LOTS of other questions (ex. how is the nighlife in that area,
what are other hot spots in Cape Town, which are the best beaches, how
expensive is it to travel to other parts of SA and what is the best way
to do that - plane, train, bus, etc.), but these are the questions that
I'm most interested in right now.

Any and all comments are appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Anthony

"Peter H.M.Brooks" <peter@new.co.za> wrote in message


> If you make a habit of going to nightclubs, getting wasted and
then
> walking around the streets in the early hours of the morning,
then, no,
> I don't think you'll find the city bowl at all safe. You will
mostly be
> OK in Observatory in future because a very expensive CCTV system
is
> being installed (the huge towers are already in, the cameras on
their
> way) that will monitor all vehicles (and people in the railway
station)
> that come in or out of the suburb.

These cameras have been a big help in reducing crime in the inner
city of Johannesburg.

> Observatory has been a preferred place for students and university
staff
> to live over the years. It has been getting more expensive, quite
a bit
> more expensive, over the past few years as it has moved up-market.
For
> example, there used to be a student house behind us, but it is now
owned
> by an elderly but rich couple that completely ripped out the
interior
> and rebuilt it with little expense spared. You'd probably find it
> cheaper in Mowbray, Rosebank or Rhondebosch, but they're less fun
and
> probably a bit less safe. Avoid Newlands or Claremont at the
moment
> because the levels of crime there are the highest in any of the
posher
> suburbs (Woodstock too would be cheaper, going the other way, but
it is
> also less safe and the wind is really bad there).

When I lived in Rosebank in the late seventies, it was more
expensive than Observatory. How times change!

Nice commentary, Peter. Useful, too, I should imagine.


--
Moira de Swardt posting from Johannesburg, South Africa
Remove the dot in my address to find me at home.

Thanks for the reply Bodie.

> Which organization is that?

Development Action Group... not sure how big they are.

> > c) how is the public transportation (price and safety)?
> No need if you living in Obs.
> To city bowl railway station is a hop, skip and a jump away and reasonably
> priced.
> Stay off the black mini-bus taxis.

Really? Stay off the black taxis? I've had people recommend them to
me. Are they really that crazy drivers and unsafe? How much would a
train ticket cost or taxi cost from the city bowl to Obs?

> > expensive is it to travel to other parts of SA and what is the best way
> > to do that - plane, train, bus, etc.), but these are the questions that
> > I'm most interested in right now.
> Which parts?
> Would be better to travel by car.

Now I'll have to start asking about prices for car rentals. I'm more
so thinking about Pretoria, Durban, Geroge, Port Elizabeth, etc.

Thanks for the reply,
Anthony

Hear this: According to statistics released two days ago, crime is on the
decrease in SA; only18 793 (that's right - eighteenthousand sevenhundred and
ninetythree) MURDERS between April 2005 and March this year. "Only" 54 926
reported RAPES! Still want to come here???