Levels of defence

People here talk a great deal about security - this is well-meaning, they want to give you good advice so you feel and are safer. However the cumulative effect induces a degree of paranoia - and learning about the security systems for a free-standing house takes quite a long time. One of the main strategies here is to have a series of barriers. My new house has: high walls all around it and a motorised gate for car and pedestrian access; cctv on top of the gate so you can see who's calling; a six-wired electric fence all the way around the perimeter - if any two wires touch an alarm goes off and the private security company sends one of the cars which is constantly patrolling the area; bars on all the windows and "trellis" gates on all the external doors; "panic buttons" dotted around the house (which summon the security cars); an internal "keep" area which you close off at night (i.e. extra gates around the bedroom and bathroom area); a motion-sensor alarm system for the whole house when you're out and for all the rooms outside the keep area when you go to bed; motion-sensor lights in the garden; and, just to make sure any prospective burglars know what they're up against, signs on the external wall, on the street, announcing that all these systems are in place and are connected to an "armed response" security company hotline. (And lots of South Africans apparently keep guns in their houses too.) If I was a burglar I'd keep well away. In fact, my new house is probably one of the safest places in the whole world. But it's strange and rather alienating to have to get used to all of this.

However, friends and relatives, please don't be put off visiting! The area where I live is lovely, very quiet, totally peaceful; during the day people jog and walk their dogs. Just around the corner there's a community church which offers free tea on Sundays to all comers. According to statistics, you're more likely to be involved in a car accident in Johannesburg than in a robbery - and the traffic is generally very calm and well-behaved. So, I presume, all the security stuff is at least partly generated by commerce - as soon as concern for safety becomes a commercial opportunity a defence race starts... and then once you've invested in the gear you might as well use it...

To put this in perspective, any visitor to SA will pretty certainly want to go straight out into the bush and see some lions, which is probably the most dangerous thing you could do.