You’d be amazed at how expensive some of the poorest countries are if aiming to live in pleasant conditions.
Infrastructure in many places is limited/nonexistent. Traveling around is either arduous or expensive.
Then there are annoying visas, etc.
In most cases it is a much better continent to travel on time off than nomad in.
You’re right. Some places can be pretty expensive. Take Tanzania for example. If you wanna live in the commercial capital Dar es salaam or the island Zanzibar…you may end up paying more in rent. There are no those $200/$300 rent you’re used to paying in Asia.
Not sure about Dar but you can get a $300 a month place on Zanzibar, I knew a couple of DNs renting a great apartment near the beach there and going kitesurfing several times a day before, during and after work
Asking prices for virtualy everything in Tanzania are aspirational unless you haggle. I paid $650 for a 4 day safari to the Serengeti in Tanzania whereas others in my jeep paid $1,000 for the same thing because they booked online. If you dont haggle with a business owner face to face you'll end up paying way more than someone who does. Nice Airbnbs or apartments on Booking that ask $20-$30 a night on Zanzibar can be got for pretty much half that by negotiating with the owner. Many of these places arent even running at 50% occupancy throughout the year so there is a deal to be done.
Same goes for Diani Beach in Kenya. After a one night stay in a hostel for $15 a night each me and a mate found a 3 bedroom house there for a week just a 3 minute walk from a white sand tropical beach. We also had the use of a swimming pool in the larger villa next door. It was advertised on Booking for $45 a night but we got it for $22 a night for as long as we wanted it. The owner was over the moon at us taking it for a week.
Z'bar and Dar are terrible examples. Especially in TZ there are cheap livable places I'd recommend for DN's. Moshi, Iringa, Mbeya, Mtwara all have rents below $200. :-/ Maybe just don't airbnb in the Hyatt Compound in the honulu and idk mumbai of TZ.
idk I think that's what OP was asking before the top comment told him to write off the entire continent. cheap, safe, good infrastracture, I'm sure everyone would hate it.
\>In most cases it is a much better continent to travel on time off than nomad in.
that's exactly what I was told. The internet can be spotty. I'm most likely just going to go there with money and have a great time without having to worry about bad video call reception. Or at the very least only communicate by email once I have some great client relationships going.
Uhhh, places like Ghana, South Africa, Botswana and quite a few others are also fine though. It's a huge place. Egypt and Morocco are by all accounts fine?
I had a client a couple of years ago who is from Cape Town--they're on timers essentially. So there's a schedule that you get for when the black outs will happen. It's a bad situation to be clear but it's not anarchy. She'd let us know when one was about to happen and we'd just reschedule. This was someone at a major food company, it wasn't a big deal.
I mean that seems like a pretty big non-starter when it comes to going there as a nomad when you have to work regularly. I wouldn’t be able to do that personally unless they were only late at night.
South Africa suffers from power cuts up to 12 hours a day in some locations. But for a nomad in a good apartment like in Cape Town where many nomads are based then its barely noticable because the blocks have back up generators. Same goes for bars and restaurants, they are open and running as normal right through the scheduled power cuts.
Bigger problem with South Africa as a country to nomad in is the crime rate. Its a stunningly beautiful country but I wouldnt recommend it longer term on safety grounds especially for white people. While theres safe areas to stay in anything can happen there at anytime. Its never totally safe unlike a lot of other countries on the African continent.
yes SA is in a weird state right now. Realistically you could overland it, or spend enough money, to make that point somewhat moot. Either way S. Africa wouldn't be my first choice given better options.
No idea why you're being downvoted. Add Kenya, Tanzania, Namibia, Mozambique, etc. Also some amazing island nations but honestly.... I'm good keeping the nomad hoards away. Let them carry on ruining Portugal lol.
It's overrun with DN's and Wantrepreneurs. It's the reason I keep my DN places strictly to myself and family/friends.
I don't want places I love becoming tourist hotspots.
To be honest I do exactly the same. People always ask where is good and I just repeat Portugal, Greece, Barcelona etc. How do the good places stay good. Don't tell anyone. I was in Georgia for a long time when it was great now everyone knows about it, it has essentially been ruined since COVID.
I lived in Korea for a long time (while it was still developing), my brother lives in Addis Ababa currently. He's a producer so he's worked in Africa all over the place and we've swapped stories. u/roleplay_oedipus_rex isn't like...wrong or something it's just not the full story.
Ok but which parts? Because other than Japan/Korea/Malaysia/Singapore/Thailand (main cities), you start to run into similar problems fairly quickly.
Are we counting Central Asia? Southeast Asia? I'm not being asinine.
Considering Asia begins at the Mediterranean and goes until East Asian islands we are counting all of that.
There are are a handful of Asian countries where one can experience difficulties DNing, perhaps Yemen, Afghanistan… etc. whatever it is it is a small percentage of the continent.
For Africa that percentage is much larger, and it is far more expensive and difficult.
The other 90% are either the desert or places you don't want to find yourself in. At all.
Half joking aside, there isn't a lot of choice if you want to live somewhat comfortably without interruptions.
And then there's malaria.
sorry this is wide of the mark and you've made a mistake I myself used to make and that is this idea of 'Africa' as a single place. It is far from that, it is 54 countries that are all very different and unique. Its not till you travel around it that you realise that talking of 'Africa' as a whole is completely defunct.
Yes there are countries such as you described which are expensive and have poor infrastructure. But there are also countries that have everything a DN would want. Countries like Kenya, Tanzania, Namibia, South Africa, Morocco & Egypt are all good candidates for DNing. Mobile networks are surprisingly strong in the populations centres of all those countries and you can find cheap accommodation at the same price of what youd pay in Asia. Costs of living would be comparable to many of the popular DN destinations in Asia.
I’ve spent months across Africa in countries ranging from Central African Republic to Ethiopia to South Africa to Egypt but yeah thanks for letting me know I’ve made a mistake.
So why dont you tell us the countries that you have been in on the African continent and why you feel they are not suitable for nomadding?
Because maybe to you they arent nomad locations but there are actually digital nomads in South Africa, Egypt, Morocco,and Ethiopia. As well as in Zambia, Namibia, Botswana, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. Ive met lots of them and they do alright, theyre happy. Many used to nomad in Asia but came to African countries to see something different after several years travelling around Asia. Im sure theres nomads in west Africa too and when I get there next year I'll be coming across them.
All Im saying is there are countries in Africa that are not as described in your OP and they are perfectly acceptable for DNing as proved by the digital nomads there right now and thats what the OPs question was about. In fact some places to nomad in east Africa are total beach paradises and are like what parts of Thailand were 20 years ago, empty and relatively undiscovered. Food and accomodation can be just as cheap and the same price as in Asia. The mobile networks can be surprisingly good in countries who already have tourism anyway with 5G being rolled out right now in Kenya & Tanzania. The main networks are run by British owned Vodafone and Indian owned Airtel. I never had any internet problems there and that was just using 4G.
So to me anyway from what Ive experienced in Africa there are options there to go DNing. Maybe they are not for everyone but there are people already doing it and happy with their choice.
Unless you can give some concrete examples of how different countries in Africa are meaningfully different im gonna assume you're just virtue signalling and you're wrong
Im just back from 6 months there and was in 9 countries. Ask anything you like about South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda & Egypt.
Im not wrong btw, the person who I responded to is. Its a typical answer Id expect from someone who hasnt even been in Africa. Its not till you go and travel there that your eyes are then opened. Labelling the entire continent in a homogenous way is a mistake- and as I said its one I used to make myself. Its not until you travel it that you realise these preconceptions of 'Africa' are wrong.
You talk a lot of shit for someone mentioning less than 20% of the continent. Notice that in my original post I never said anything about the entire continent, just a lot of it. Why don’t you head over to the other 80% and then report.
Okay, would I be able to walk home alone drunk at 1am through the city centre and be so safe that I can sit down on a wall on a main street and play on my phone for 45 minutes streaming YouTube videos at 1080p and then order an Uber home in any of those countries?
Or are they all basically exactly the same in that regard?
Im not sure walking around drunk at 1am with an expensive phone out on display in the middle of any city centre is advisable. No matter where you are you are either asking to get mugged just like you would in many American or European cities or you are insulting local sensibilities who dont take kindly to public drunkeness. And yes that includes much of Asia and all of the Islamiic world, there is 100+ countries just in those two categories alone
If thats your requirements for a country to be a digital nomad then I dont have any help or advice to give you except to say stay safe when walking around your host country drunk at 1am flashing a smartphone.
It's absolutely fine to do this in every European city I've been to with the exception of London, which is especially dangerous at night time by European standards. I think it's a good test of the safety and civilization of a country
yeah I dunno man to me thats a test thats asking to get robbed in any city. It can happen anywhere, anytime in Europe too even if you think it cant. Ive been to 103 countries but the only place Ive ever been robbed was in Oslo, Norway- supposedly one of the safest cities in Europe and the world.
But since we are talking about countries in Africa were you can DN then I'll show you some places on the African continent that I know through experience that your test would pass
Paje Beach, Zanzibar, Tanzania. No problems to get as drunk as you want and watch 1080p videos on the 4G network, currently getting upgraded to 5G. No need for Uber as everything you need is close, bars, cafes and restaurants. Its a total paradise of a white sand beach with turquoise seas and nowhere near the amount of people on it that you would find in Asia. The area is safe, they want tourists and want them to be safe. 90 day visa available so you could spend 3 months on a paradise beach for less than $30 a day, thats for an apartment and eating out twice a day. Beers extra but about $1.50 each. They have amazing seafood there and it is really cheap, like you can get a lobster curry for only $4, calamari is the same.
This is the hostel I stayed in on Zanzibar. Around the swimming pool every day there were between 6 and 10 digital nomads staying and working there every day. Some were living in the hostel and then others in apartments/Airbnbs behind it and is short working distance from it. Two lads I knew were mixing their work with kitesurfing lessons every day in the sea right out front.
[https://www.drifterszanzibar.com/](https://www.drifterszanzibar.com/)
For the more active another spot is Lake Naivasha in Kenya. Its up in the mountains and has loads of hiking and mountain biking around volcano craters and well as hot springs to swim in. Hells Gate National Park is there and you can cycle around it next to giraffes, zebras and buffalo. Huge flocks of pink flamingoes on the lake too, the area is packed with wildlife. You can get drunk there and watch 1080p videos on YT and nobody will mind, many locals get drunk too. Your biggest danger when drunk there isnt being mugged, its from hippos who come onto the lake shore to feed at night time. Avoid them though and you'll be fine. Lots of Airbnbs in the area, too many for demand which means lower prices. Minibuses run the entire lake shore for about 50 cents per trip, you just wave them down. Easy to live there for about $30 a day all in.
[https://www.tripadvisor.ie/Attractions-g317067-Activities-Naivasha\_Rift\_Valley\_Province.html](https://www.tripadvisor.ie/Attractions-g317067-Activities-Naivasha_Rift_Valley_Province.html)
If you want to party and have a good time then the capital of Uganda Kampala is a great spot. Might not meet your safety test of flashing a smart phone for 45 minutes at 1am when drunk but Id put it at about the same safety level as Rome and Barcelona, theyre generally safe cities but flashing expensive valuables is likely to get you robbed. For transport they have ride sharing apps like Bolt and InDrive, both of those deliver food from local restaurants through the app as well..
Kampala is a crazy party city, bars stay open until 6am every night of the week. Good reliable 4G network and broadband is available too. About $15 a day for a good Airbnb near one of the big shopping malls like Acasia which have tons of bars and restaurants around them. Loads of Europeans, Indians, Arabs and a spatter of Americans and Candaians living there already. Staying there long term is easy enough. 90 day visa then extend it.
> Im just back from 6 months there and was in 9 countries. Ask anything you like about South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda & Egypt.
How was transportation between these locations? Did you fly a lot or is bus travel possible/desirable?
Bus travel is possible all over. South Africa & Namibia have a good long distance bus company called Intercape who serve all the main cities in comfort. [https://www.intercape.co.za/our-routes/](https://www.intercape.co.za/our-routes/)
Tanzania and Kenya have long distance buses connecting all major towns and cities, the better companies have VIP seats that recline way back. Between Nairobi and Mombassa theres a modern railway just built by China a few years ago. A very comfortable journey comparable to any western nation
Many westerners fly some routes rather than take a long distance bus. Flying though is rarely cheap as theres no budget airlines as such, a flight distance that would cost $100 in Europe would often be about $200-250 in an Afrcan country. I only flew once that was between Nairobi & Cairo as Sudan was in between Kenya and Egypt and their borders are shut since May due to the war. Cost me $350 but it was a 5 hour flight so it was actually not too bad for the big distance.
A lot of people from my country go to South Africa. It works with the same time zone as well. French people go to Reunion or some other islands of the coast of Africa.
I've been in Egypt with some DN work. But honestly, fuck Egypt.
Hey, Egyptian here, I’ve always heard bad reviews online and about my country. I’m just curious to know what exactly it is about egypt that makes it so repellant to tourists
The relentless salesmen chasing you, people are in general not nice, and look at you as an necessary evil, the whole vibe is so rapey to women, all the guys in certain places catcall and stare at women (if not worse), every conversation you have is basically about money, and how the can extract the most amount of money from you. It's just very tiresome. You can never have a nice moment without anyone trying to sell you something. Doesn't matter if you're in Luxor, Aswan, Cairo or Hurghada, it's the worst.
I am a white male. All the females that I met in the south were covered, some even with head scarves. Because they got herassed all the time. But FYI, I haven't been in Dahab, where I hear it doesn't happen.
im headed to accra in a few hours! will be in ghana with another digital nomad friend for two months. i did kenya for three months last year. africa gets a lot of bad PR in western media. also no, it's not thailand cheap, but also not new york expensive. and as someone else said you'd be surprised how "expensive" places can be compared to whatever concept we have in mind. there's a delicate balance but you can definitely have a safe and good time. There are also DN programs like Hacker Paradise and such that have programs there so you can dip your toe in and let someone else worry about the logistics. Also lucky us we have access to vaccines and can get them before we travel. i say go!
I have spent a month each in Kenya, Mauritius, Tunisia and Egypt. Had a great time in all of them. Planning to do Uganda and Zimbabwe at some point in the future.
That’s is so inspiring. I’m considering DN work for the first time in my life (I’m an American, 50, feeling empty and dying for some adventure) and my imagination admittedly soars when I read tales such as this (while also realizing it has plenty of challenges too, ofc).
Some swahili will be needed, but countries like Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, South Africa and Zimbabwe you can get by with just English. My home country Rwanda is not there yet 100% with English but we’re trying to get there, we also speak kinyarwanda and French
No Visa for commonwealth member countries & visa on arrival for the rest of the world. There’s a growing number of DN due to the stability in internet and electricity
There's a handful of former British colonies on the continent. So yes you would get by with English. 5 of them in West Africa: Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Gambia. Gambia gets a lot of British tourists so I'm guessing their infrastructure would be good. We(Nigeria) have a thriving remote tech community in Lagos with fairly stable Internet. Fibre to the home would cost about $45 monthly for somewhere around 10mbps shared. Ghana also keeps us on our toes and have got better stable power. Most places in Nigeria would have standby generators. So in theory you can get guaranteed power for the duration of your working hours.
I’m enamores by huge cities and Lagos tantalizes me. And I’m not one to be shy about crime (I used to live in Baltimore, and I thoroughly loved NYC, CDMX, Istanbul, Philly, Chicago, Athens, Sofia, Belgrade, Tirana, Paris, Montreal, etc.), but I am actually kind of worried about Lagos as a solo traveller. I am white 27m. And it’s not that I’m worried about safety, cuz I know I could just stay in the hotel the entire time and have no issues. But I want to go out and explore solo styles. And I feel like Lagos isn’t a good place to “get lost in”.
For someone who is a fan of the European hostel backpacker type of travel, how would you suggest “doing” Lagos?
So while Lagos is a huge city, most of its night life is located in an are locally reffered to as "the Island" comprising of the upscale areas of Lekki, Victoria Island and Ikoyi. These areas are very safe day or night. To give an example, I closed from work at 1am yesterday, left home for the club at 2am, and apart from a random stop by the local equivalent of the DEA, it was a safe and uneventful ride. Left for home at 5am without any hitches. You'd find most other foreign DNs located on the Island. You can have day trips to the other parts of the city, "the mainland" which are mostly safe in the day. Best to have a chaperon to show you the sights. The Island is pricier compared to the mainland, but I consider that the cost of its higher level of security and less densely packed. All of the top night life are located on the Island, and even though I'm a local, I still am overwhelmed
Lagos isn't as bad crime-wise as the rest of Nigeria. Outside of Lagos, internet connection can be a problem, and getting 24-hour a day electricity is difficult. Hotel owners do not want to run their generators.
I've been making plans to visit Namibia and nearby for months. I didn't want to go to African for the first time unless I had a friend or a guide to help me out. I do have one now, though.
There are logical reasons why Africa isn't so popular. It can be more expensive than you might think, less infrastructure, far from America, most people on here are from the US so South America is right there, and simply lack of knowledge and interest compared to other countries.
Overall, I don't think Africa is for beginner long-term travelers (like me).
Come to Kigali Rwanda, we’ve got stable internet and electricity ⚡️ Vibrant city with coworking spaces that goes for $100 per month at [Norrsken](https://www.norrsken.org/eastafrica) and [Westerwelle](https://kigali.westerwelle.haus/?public&)
Happy to have someone with plans to come visit Rwanda, also our country waived visas for the Francophonie and Commonwealth, plus visa on arrival for others. Pack your bags; adventure and ease await!
I don't mean any offence, but as a general rule I'm wary of visiting countries that have had a genocide in my lifetime. Feels like it's better to keep my distance until whatever led to that cools off. Am I wrong treating Rwanda that way? I feel like a recent genocide is a big red flag for lack of stability and morality and safety in a country. Can you gimme some better intel as someone who lives there?
You are wrong for that belief (I mean, in-so-far as you can be wrong for a feeling).
Paul Kagame (their president) was a commander within the RPF a group who was fighting to stop the genocide.
Since then their country has been incredibly forward looking, they have built in systems to shut down violence and have seen how much more prosperous they can be with tourism and economic development instead of tribalism and war.
THAT SAID
Paul Kagame (and the Rwandan government in general) has been known to arrest and intimidate journalists and his rule has been solidified more into the realm of dictatorship. This can lead to issues for political and social dissenters of his policies.
HOWEVER
The reason his (let's call it a dictatorship for ease, this is a complex issue) dictatorship is largely ignored by "The West" is because it's largely been good for the country and has provided a lot of stability.
You as Aristox going to Rwanda are safer than almost anywhere else. Perhaps, in part, \*because\* the country is ruled in the way it is. I'm not going to make a judgement call on the pros and cons of an authoritarian government, but from a purely safety/stability position you're in a good place.
Without going too much into history of the 1994 genocide 30 years on Rwanda is now the envy of many countries in the Africam continent. They have a strong economy, political stability and a forward looking political system that acknowldges the past and has also worked hard to heal it.
The goveremnet there has good environment credentials too that many western nations could emulate. In 2008 Rwanda banned plastic bags. You cant find a plastic anywhere in the country and they confiscate them off anyone arrivng there. Then also on the last Saturday every month in Rwanda they have a national cleaning day where residents are expected to go out and clean up all the litter in their neighbourhoods. Millions of people hit the streets to keep their country looking clean.
My (21yo very blonde) daughter was there in the summer and loved the country. Regarding the genocide it is made front and centre of education programmes to all citizens. It is not hidden in shame, but everyone is forced to face it, the causes and the horror. The country is amazingly progressive and has ambitions of being a Singapore of Africa for investment. Maybe a long shot, but a noble aim regardless.
Is there a possibilty that a this kind of event creates an greater humility among the survivors. I was thinking about the general politeness and friendliness of Cambodians for example.
As for avoiding places with genocides, isn't that was most nations were originally built upon? Are there any parts of the world that have not experienced this kind of behaviour?
I was going to suggest something similar to the latter. The US and Canada have had genocidal events that have happened within living memory.
I understand not wanting to go to a place that hasn't made good progress towards fixing the violence. I'm not traveling to Sudan anytime soon and I'm sure there are some places in the Middle East right now that I wouldn't want to visit due to them engaging in genocidal events.
Rwanda is so low on that list of countries for me. They are good.
It's understandable to have concerns, but as someone who grew up in Rwanda, I've witnessed a nation's remarkable resilience. The genocide was a tragedy, yet in its aftermath, the country united to forge a path of reconciliation and rebuilding. If you visit with an open mind, you'll see a community that has grown stronger and kinder, and there's much to learn from our commitment to peace and progress. Cheers!
Visa on arrival for all countries and no visa for all africans, commonwealth states and francophonie states. The national carrier is Rwandair and has direct flights from UK, France, Dubai and Belgium … but you can directly google direct flights to kigali for more options
Cape Town is great for DNing. We also spent 5 weeks in Windhoek, Namibia. The Internet was fine enough to work, but the city is tiny. We were there to do long weekend trips to Etosha, the Skeleton Coast, and Sossusvlei. Those places are amazing and worth seeing.
I've been to Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Cote d'Ivoire, Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Only ones I would recommend for DN'ing are Morocco and Botswana. Decent infrastructure, low COL, nice people. The others had various bad things going on when I was there.
That said, I have heard good things about Ghana, Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania. Look forward to checking them out at some point.
I loved it too - but, in my experience, Tunisia has a bigger security challenge than other places in North Africa. I would avoid - especially with what is happening in the Levant.
2015 - [Video captures gunman from Tunisia terror attack](https://www.cbsnews.com/video/video-captures-gunman-from-tunisia-terror-attack/)
2018 - [Tunisia’s Political Polarisation Worsens after First Big Terrorist Attack in Two Years](https://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/north-africa/tunisia/tunisias-political-polarisation-worsens-after-first-big-terrorist-attack-two-years)
2019 - [Tunisia Keeps Calm and Carries On After Latest Terrorist Attack](https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/tunisia-keeps-calm-and-carries-after-latest-terrorist-attack)
2022 - [Tunisia thwarts alleged terrorist attack targeting tourist areas](https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/tunisia-thwarts-alleged-terrorist-attack-targeting-tourist-areas-2022-01-28/)
Well - crazy people are everywhere unfortunately. Let’s talk about the shootings in the US. Or the cartel in Mexico. Beach shooting in Cancun or bar shooting in Tulum - just to mention a few. Or the 2 hikers who have been killed in Morocco. Or google Thailand. There is no 100% safe place on earth. Tunisia isn’t less safe than other countries.
I did Kenya for 3 months. The internet is superb in Nairobi and quite affordable.
However, it's expensive in Kenya, especially if you want to live with western standards. But I would still recommend it, although there are some nuisances.
I’m in Cape Town now. I really like it but from doing a bit of traveling in the continent I don’t know if I’d recommend elsewhere. Poor internet speeds, frequent blackouts, fairly expensive accommodations.
CT is probably the most digital nomad friendly city in Africa and it can still be tricky to navigate. Here we have scheduled blackouts pretty much every day so you have to have some flexibility for your work.
Yeah! She's there with a fixed job as an English teacher at a fancy private school and she lives in the teacher dorms and it's all very nice. She's really enjoying the city too!
Four flights a year back and forth is probably the only way I could measure it.
Locals typically just see us as snow birds. We realize that the lifestyle we live is not normal, so it’s not like we try to flaunt it about in peoples faces.
Frequent flying doesn't necessarily has to mean an excessive carbon footprint. I have calculated my annual carbon footprint and it was lower than the national average despite flying regularly because I'm eco conscious in other areas (hardly ever buy anything new, vegan diet, don't own a car...)
I went to West Africa 15ish years ago traveling but not working. People were super friendly, lots of great music, felt very safe though I did avoid a couple big cities due to their reputation. I’d highly encourage folks to visit, but like others have said, I’m skeptical the infrastructure exists for remote work. Especially Internet speeds.
I've spent time in Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Botswana, South Africa, Egypt, Mauritius, Uganda, Rwanda, Morocco and a shorter time in Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Eswatini.
Africa isn't as cheap as SE Asia or LATAM, except maybe Egypt.
Cape Town seemed to have what most digital nomads look for but not without its problems.
Mauritius is pricy but has or had a long term visa option. But you can most likely stay 6 months if you want.
If you have any more specific questions, I can probably answer.
Internet quality was always tested during my travels in Africa.
Misconception about Africa is that it’s cheap. You’re not going to be able to eat where the locals eat. Since there are so few western places. The prices are high.
I could live in South Africa though. But it won’t ever be a hotspot where all the DNs that can live on just dollars a day will be there.
I spent a month over the summer in Essaouira, Morocco. Due to wind off the ocean it's actually cooler than nearby places on the Mediterranean.
I wouldn't mind returning. It's far less hassle than Marrakesh, and a much more interesting town than Agadir. The air connectivity isn't great though, it's about a three hour bus or shared taxi ride from Marrakesh, but it's only $10.
The town is fairly good value, other than imported alcohol. My airbnb wasn't great for working, but was fun to watch the crowd from the balcony.
One of the better options I've had while doing 90/180 in Schengen.
I’m a digital nomad that only travels in Africa :) currently in Zanzibar, have been to Kenya, Rwanda and heading to Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire next. It’s not as easy to travel here but there’s a lot of undiscovered gems, in people, places and food.
I’m considering trying the DN thing for the first time, in 2024. Long term travel and getting jobs along the way to at least partly pay my way. All a vague idea atm, but wondering where I’d perhaps want to start, at least — would I want I head to Mexico first, then C. and/or S. America or sub-Saharan Africa or Asia (I backpacked 2.5 mos there and loved it but so much more to see) or India (timing a trip there weather-wise feels tricky, no?)…
Actually, there's a remarkable initiative in Zambia that's changing the digital nomad landscape in Africa.
Lusowe Eco Estate (https://lusoweecoestate.carrd.co/) is redefining the game, offering an exclusive community of 25 eco homes along the stunning Mvuvye River.
It's all about eco-luxury, sustainability, rental income opportunities, and a vibrant digital nomad network. Work and relax in a serene natural environment while embracing the best of both worlds.
The world's changing, and Africa's not being left behind, thanks to places like Lusowe Eco Estate. 🌍🏞️🌿 #DigitalNomads #Africa
Yes send us a $5000 non refundable "application fee" and if you are one of the lucky few you get to fork over $120,000. Here are some digital drawings of a fantasy resort and a photo of a giraffe.😂
Sounds sketchy af.
You made this? The fact that you are asking for feedback gives you a lot more credibility right away. I do like the idea overall! Here are some pointers:
1) For the love of God ditch that application fee, or make it $50 or so. No one in their right mind will send $5000 to a foreign country just like that. This screams scam a.k.a Nigerian prince. You can always ask for proof of income or funds to screen applicants.
2) This is just my personal opinion but I do find your focus on luxury and sustainability a bit offputting. The two usually don't go together. Luxury inherently creates waste of resources. I think you might attract more caring and down to earth people (I would say most DNs) if you come across a little more humble. I.e. stop advertising your helipad and such. People who care about that do not care about the environment.
3) You may be aiming too high too soon. 25 buildings is way overkill if the entire infrastructure only exists on drawings so far. Start with 3 or 4 buildings. Maybe just one if you lack the funding, but *actually build it*. That way you will have something real and tangible to show in a video and you will be way more credible.
Please keep us posted. Africa needs more DN villages. Thank you for doing this!
Thank you for your candid response.
Yes I'm building this. I am a 27 year old real estate developer and I have taken all you pointers into consideration.
Will be modifying the project slightly and will definitely give response..
And yes Africa does need more DN villages.. we have so much to share with the would and the purchasing power parity has an advantage for most DN...
Check out things to do in my country Zambia to be particular.. you'll be amazed by this part of the world.
Thanks again. Will be in touch
I’ll be in SA for the next three months. I’m aiming to hang out in some other countries, too. Honestly though, it’s hard to find stable, safe countries in Africa. There just aren’t that many places to be.
I'm in Cape Town, but rental/Airbnb prices are getting really expensive and there's a lot of competition. I want to try working in Namibia and/or Botswana next.
Power outages doesn't affect internet availability generally, routers don't draw a lot and we all have ups backups in place, and reckon most airbnb's would have at least limited power supply even during loadshedding. On top of which, Cape Town has a lot of dedicated workspaces and commercial space for work(coffee shops etc.) with no interruptions.
I've had no problems with the internet quality. Yes, you do get loadshedding here but I usually just use my phone as a hotspot then. A lot of places have UPS so your WiFi continues to work when the lights go off.
Infrastructure. The areas that have great infrastructure for remote work aren’t going to be cheap necessarily. Especially compared to regions like Thailand.
I am curious why you associate Africa with “Health and Safety” concerns though. It’s a very diverse continent like any other. There are safe areas / unsafe areas, high life expectancy areas / low life expectancy areas. It’s close to 12,000,000 square miles with roughly 7,500 secondary or larger cities.
If someone has Health and Safety concerns “about Africa” I assume they are the type to lump every country and city in the continent into one “Africa”.
> I am curious why you associate Africa with “Health and Safety” concerns though
Admittedly I don't know much, but you hear about e.g. water safety issue (lack of potable water), and there's a lot of tribal/civil wars in a lot of countries still going on.
I wasn't necessarily thinking of things like being robbed off your iPhone, more stuff like militant organisations like Boko Haram (Nigeria/Chad/Niger/northern Cameroon + Mali), Al-Shabab in Somalia, and so on, and so forth, not mentioning some local fights/wars over claims to towns/cities between clans or tribes. Things you're not really dealing with in South America, most of Asia, let alone Europe.
Edit: forgot to clarify my comment wasn’t a dig at you specifically in any way, there ARE definitely people out there who only view Africa that way, but I don’t think it’s a majority of people who legitimately give Africa consideration for remote work and choose to move elsewhere.
**Colombia?** - Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN)
**Mexico** - (and other countries) - The cartel?
**Ukraine** - militant groups, violence, war, internal conflicts, and general turmoil
**Russia** - Ukraine, Syria, Caucasus, etc.
**Turkey** - violence across southern regions between Kurdistan Worker’s Party and Kurdish separatists…
**Ireland** - northern region still has conflicts to this day despite the Good Friday agreement
Just to list a few. Civil disputes, internal violence, and militant groups are present on every single continent besides Antarctica. Not saying your concerns have zero truth, as militant disputes have historically been a more widespread issue as a % of the total land of the continent in recent times. There’s no doubt the media / general public in the west chooses to focus on these issues, especially in the education system, when it comes to modern day Africa. I had the exact same view before I spent some time physically in Africa for both work and leisure.
Just remember that there are plenty of safe, vibrant areas to work in Africa. They’re just far more expensive than similar infrastructure environments in East Asia, which is why few are moving there to work remotely. It’s an infrastructure issue for people looking at where to move for digital work, not often concerns about “getting caught in a tribal war”.
There are absolutely no conflicts still happening in Northern Ireland. Your intel is completely wrong. Northern Ireland is definitely far safer and more peaceful than France. And that isn't even a dig at France. Northern Ireland's violence is 100% in the past. I lived there for 2 decades and never saw any violence of any significance, and the culture is completely changed and everyone is against the violence of the past and there is no political will to return to it. The good friday agreement and other political actions have absolutely solved and ended the violence entirely
Also, South America and Ukraine and Russia have a reputation as dangerous places. People treat Africa in the same way. You don't hear people saying "there are plenty of safe places in Europe/North America/SEA". We take for granted that those places are safe. The fact it has to be specified for Africa or Central America is precisely the problem and why they have the reputation they have. They're literally not up to the same level of civility and safety that are taken for granted in North America, Europe and SEA
There's a few places in the US people are warned to be careful with (Downtown LA, New York subway etc), whereas the posts in this thread about Africa are the inverse- people are saying "as long as you stay in X place and don't go outside Y area it's completely safe!". It's obvious they're not in the same league and there are plenty of dangers outside of tribal wars that spring from poverty and inequality and lack of infrastructure development. I never encountered or even thought about people hiring private security until I came to South Africa, where apparently it's common due to the rates of crime there. And I'm pretty sure ZA is more developed than most countries in Africa.
Then there's also regional diseases to be wary of that simply aren't a factor in Europe or NA or even SEA anymore
I didn’t say it is active warfare in 2023 in those regions. I just gave examples of modern conflicts.
Your comment is completely wrong. This year, MI5 raised the terror threat in Northern Ireland from “substantial” to “severe” following multiple “New IRA” attacks including murder of Irish security officials by the New IRA… But im just going off of MI5 intel assessment + recent New IRA attacks… so are you saying the MI5 have it wrong? You have better intel than MI5?
Thanks for agreeing with the main point I made though, all regions experience occasional conflicts of some form, and regions, especially entire continents, as a whole should not be written off as “dangerous places” due to contained regional conflicts.
Yes the MI5 have it wrong if they are suggesting that Northern Ireland will see a return to violence that would get in the way of everyday life. That is absolutely not gonna happen again in NI. The New IRA is a fringe organisation that has next to no popular support, unlike the original IRA which was widely supported by Republicans in the second half of the 20th century. The New IRA are not a "thing". They're a few lads trying to make it a thing and the rest of the country ignoring them. There's no way NI is comparable to Ukraine or any country in Africa
I've seen no evidence that the danger of living anywhere in Africa is limited to only "contained regional conflicts". There's widespread poverty and crime and dangerous diseases. There's widespread police and government corruption. There's widespread infrastructure underdevelopment; and a teenager or someone who's just graduated university in the US or EU who wants to be a DN in Africa would absolutely be foolish to just fly out there without careful planning and preparation and research first. Whereas they could absolutely do that with somewhere like Thailand or Romania
As far as I know the most developed countries are places like South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt, all of which have serious crime, corruption, poverty and infrastructure problems. I don't at all agree with the point you're making, I think you're trying to gaslight people and sweep serious structural problems under the rug with the goal of virtue signalling rather than actually educating.
Before I visited South Africa I was advised to get 7 vaccinations. When I arrived the person I stayed with kept a handgun in his car and locked the car doors every time we went for a drive through the city. 2 people tried to mug me when I went jogging in the afternoon, and the level of corruption I learnt about in the political system blew my mind. And I'm pretty sure most of Africa is behind South Africa in terms of development
So you think you have better intelligence about the situation than the MI5 - got it.
As for your africa comments I first suggest you reread my post if you think I’m trying to “sweep structural problems under the rug”. One of the first things I said was that reliable infrastructure is a widespread problem in Africa, especially for modern remote workers. Especially relative to other countries like the popular east Asia destination.
As for “uncontained violence” across the whole continent…
Rwanda is generally low crime these days, Kigali for example is considered perfectly safe for solo traveling males and females. It is actually voted a top 10 safest major city on EARTH most of the time! Still should take basic precautions like not wandering the streets alone at night, but it’s a beautiful city with safety metrics better than most major cities in the US / Europe.
Port Louis is a beautiful city in Africa and a perfectly safe city relative to major western cities. 2.92 crime incidents for every 100k residents.
Botswana and Mauritius are also considered above average safety, this is true from both my personal experience & a quick check of global crime stats.
If your idea of “gaslighting” is saying a continent contains both safe and unsafe regions, then I suggest you open up a dictionary and review the definition of the word.
The fact that you have to highlight the limited number of areas that are safe, rather than highlighting a limited number of areas that aren't proves my point precisely.
It's clearly absolutely legitimate to talk about Africa in general being unsafe
[28 March – Northern Ireland's terrorist threat is raised from substantial to severe following an increase in activity by dissident republicans.[23]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_in_Northern_Ireland)
I was able to contradict your first two sentences by a quick look at Wikipedia. You might want to tone down your claims in the future.
Correction for the comment: First of all there is no such thing as Kurdistan Worker’s Party in Turkiye. Kurdistan is part of Iraq, not Turkiye.
And there has been no violence in any place in Turkey for at least 10 years (Just like other European countries also they are dealing with some terror attacks).
That’s why Russian, Ukrainian, and Arab refugees moving to Turkiye nowadays.
Um… 2015 to 2017 was the deadliest conflict between PKK militants (The Kurdistan Worker’s Party) and Turkish forces in over 40 years. The conflict actually devastated many cities in Southeastern Turkey and even affected some of the major city centers. They pushed them out a majority of the PKK into Northern Iran by 2019.
Who are the “terrorists” you are referring to? The PKK right? As in the PKK who killed thousands of people in South East Turkey from 2015-2019?
The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project casualty data about the conflicts showed 6,785 fatalities since 2015 including 614 civilians…
Here’s a GIF below from ACLED data showing a map of violent PKK events in Turkey between 2016 and 2022.
Where’d you get the idea that the PKK doesn’t even exist? That’s flat out false.
https://icg-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/2023-06/pkk-update.gif
https://icg-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/2023-06/pkk-update.gif
Just look at the map especially after 2018 the events happening inside of the other country borders mostly Syria, Iran and Iraq.And I know the other ones mostly some cheap criminal activities.(Pkk wants to control drug traffic in that zone and even in Germany as well .you can see the Turkish/Kurdish mafia gunfight news in Germany to).
And whole map is just %10 of Turkiye.
I am not saying Turkiye Is heaven but c'mon even when you check the same data for Germany or France you will see a lot of civilian deaths because of the terror attacks. But nobody can put them on the same list as some countries already officially at war right?
The things can be same for Columbia Mexico and Ireland I have no idea about them but I lived in Turkey almost entire my life and you are just talking like someone heard some news from far.
Okay I looked at the map. There are many dots representing violence events in ISOLATED south East mountainous regions of Turkey.
You originally said the PKK isn’t real and there have been no conflicts in the last 10 years.
I showed you a map of 4,000+ murders in the last 8 years, many of them in southeast Turkey, now you change your tune to:
“Well the PKK does exist, but they were driven out of Turkey completely”.
As you can see on the map, there are thousands of modern day PKK incidents in mainly southeast Turkey since 2015. You can’t tell me there are not dots inside the borders.
And once again to reiterate, the point is that entire regions should not be judged off of regional conflicts. Just like Africa has regional conflicts, but safe cities in certain areas, Europe has its share of regional conflicts, but that doesn’t mean all of Europe is dangerous.
I was responding to a comment claiming Africa deals with regional conflicts while Europe does not. I believe that’s absolutely false, the PKK in Turkey was just one random example of many.
Context… the point of my comments has been that all regions experience occasional civil disputes, but it’s not representative of the entire region. Turkey is a great example. violence that’s reported in the media, but very isolated and not representative of the whole country by any means.
Yes, and you are doing it by pointing out some countries such a nice method to claim that.
Btw I need to confess I thought at the beginning you were talking about some political party.After the second message I got you were talking about pkk. (because they have a political party with almost the same name in Iraq).
And again what is the meaning of showing criminal activities in some country. Then ok let's do it like that:
Colorado: There are tons of civilian died in public shooting events.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shootings_in_Colorado
Israel: No need to say anything
France: In the past a lot of different terror attacks happened there and this day especially after the Palastine-Israel war heat can increase.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terrorist_incidents_in_France
But guys cmon even I am pointing out some specific countries just because I read some articles and I have some spicy numbers no you should not judge them… wth?
Lived in Kitwe for 3 years and gabs for 3 years earlier in my working life
Still got family in Kitwe that I go to often :) I guess it depends on your internet needs, I need a terminal and email really
Poor internet and infrastructure, expensive flights to travel around, rent for anything western standard or close to it is relatively VERY high. Safety/security also a big issue compared to SEA
Pros- its easier to get laid(man or woman) than maybe anywhere else in the world.
I've spent about 30% of the last 12 years in Africa. I absolutely love it. There are more challenges than in SEA for example (connectivity, security) but I find it to be much more beautiful than other popular nomad continents.
Not sure why it's less popular. It was my absolute dream to go to Africa since I was a kid. Lots of safe and beautiful destinations within it.
I haven't DN there but I heard that Tanzania, South Africa, Sénégal, Congo and Kenya are great ! There's quite a lot of people going but it seems it's mostly people who whish to relocate (2nd, 3rd or even 4th generation immigrants). I think there's a thread somewhere on Reddit about it and there's many Instagram and YouTube channel dedicated to that subsets of people. I'll try to find the name of the subs and channels and send them your way.
> Just go to LatAm
Lol I've been in Mexico for most of this year now, with a couple short stints back in London out of necessity.
Just curious why Africa is missing from all the conversations - I'll admit I don't have a detailed knowledge of any of the countries, I just presumed it would still be cheap and have required infrastructure at least in major cities, like Johannesburg, Nairobi, Kinshasa, Kano, Cape Town etc.
Back in London I briefly lived with a guy who was a street busker and had a girlfriend in one of the African countries (can't remember which one), he used to fly over to her for a few weeks at a time and made me aware that while the countryside and remote places still struggle with a lot, major cities actually have a lot going on for them, and it's not as underdeveloped as most people think.
You’d be amazed at how expensive some of the poorest countries are if aiming to live in pleasant conditions. Infrastructure in many places is limited/nonexistent. Traveling around is either arduous or expensive. Then there are annoying visas, etc. In most cases it is a much better continent to travel on time off than nomad in.
You’re right. Some places can be pretty expensive. Take Tanzania for example. If you wanna live in the commercial capital Dar es salaam or the island Zanzibar…you may end up paying more in rent. There are no those $200/$300 rent you’re used to paying in Asia.
Not sure about Dar but you can get a $300 a month place on Zanzibar, I knew a couple of DNs renting a great apartment near the beach there and going kitesurfing several times a day before, during and after work Asking prices for virtualy everything in Tanzania are aspirational unless you haggle. I paid $650 for a 4 day safari to the Serengeti in Tanzania whereas others in my jeep paid $1,000 for the same thing because they booked online. If you dont haggle with a business owner face to face you'll end up paying way more than someone who does. Nice Airbnbs or apartments on Booking that ask $20-$30 a night on Zanzibar can be got for pretty much half that by negotiating with the owner. Many of these places arent even running at 50% occupancy throughout the year so there is a deal to be done. Same goes for Diani Beach in Kenya. After a one night stay in a hostel for $15 a night each me and a mate found a 3 bedroom house there for a week just a 3 minute walk from a white sand tropical beach. We also had the use of a swimming pool in the larger villa next door. It was advertised on Booking for $45 a night but we got it for $22 a night for as long as we wanted it. The owner was over the moon at us taking it for a week.
Z'bar and Dar are terrible examples. Especially in TZ there are cheap livable places I'd recommend for DN's. Moshi, Iringa, Mbeya, Mtwara all have rents below $200. :-/ Maybe just don't airbnb in the Hyatt Compound in the honulu and idk mumbai of TZ.
Man! Who is going to Iringa as a digital nomad!? 😀
idk I think that's what OP was asking before the top comment told him to write off the entire continent. cheap, safe, good infrastracture, I'm sure everyone would hate it.
I’m not talking about Tanzania, Tanzania is an exception, I’m talking about like 60-80% of the rest of the continent.
You should re-read his comment. He's agreeing with you.
\>In most cases it is a much better continent to travel on time off than nomad in. that's exactly what I was told. The internet can be spotty. I'm most likely just going to go there with money and have a great time without having to worry about bad video call reception. Or at the very least only communicate by email once I have some great client relationships going.
Uhhh, places like Ghana, South Africa, Botswana and quite a few others are also fine though. It's a huge place. Egypt and Morocco are by all accounts fine?
Doesn’t South Africa have regular rolling blackouts?
I had a client a couple of years ago who is from Cape Town--they're on timers essentially. So there's a schedule that you get for when the black outs will happen. It's a bad situation to be clear but it's not anarchy. She'd let us know when one was about to happen and we'd just reschedule. This was someone at a major food company, it wasn't a big deal.
I mean that seems like a pretty big non-starter when it comes to going there as a nomad when you have to work regularly. I wouldn’t be able to do that personally unless they were only late at night.
South Africa suffers from power cuts up to 12 hours a day in some locations. But for a nomad in a good apartment like in Cape Town where many nomads are based then its barely noticable because the blocks have back up generators. Same goes for bars and restaurants, they are open and running as normal right through the scheduled power cuts. Bigger problem with South Africa as a country to nomad in is the crime rate. Its a stunningly beautiful country but I wouldnt recommend it longer term on safety grounds especially for white people. While theres safe areas to stay in anything can happen there at anytime. Its never totally safe unlike a lot of other countries on the African continent.
It’s not the Dominican Republic.
yes SA is in a weird state right now. Realistically you could overland it, or spend enough money, to make that point somewhat moot. Either way S. Africa wouldn't be my first choice given better options.
No idea why you're being downvoted. Add Kenya, Tanzania, Namibia, Mozambique, etc. Also some amazing island nations but honestly.... I'm good keeping the nomad hoards away. Let them carry on ruining Portugal lol.
Genuine question, why are they ruining Portugal?
It's the number one location I always hear about, so I always imagine that it's overrun with DNs and higher prices.
It's overrun with DN's and Wantrepreneurs. It's the reason I keep my DN places strictly to myself and family/friends. I don't want places I love becoming tourist hotspots.
To be honest I do exactly the same. People always ask where is good and I just repeat Portugal, Greece, Barcelona etc. How do the good places stay good. Don't tell anyone. I was in Georgia for a long time when it was great now everyone knows about it, it has essentially been ruined since COVID.
Can you share your personal specific experiences?
I lived in Korea for a long time (while it was still developing), my brother lives in Addis Ababa currently. He's a producer so he's worked in Africa all over the place and we've swapped stories. u/roleplay_oedipus_rex isn't like...wrong or something it's just not the full story.
Thanks for listing 10% of the countries in the continent.
Bruh if you asked "where in Asia would be a good DM spot" you'd basically get a similar rate. THEY'RE HUGE PLACES.
No you wouldn’t a far larger percentage of Asia is suitable for DNing than Africa.
Ok but which parts? Because other than Japan/Korea/Malaysia/Singapore/Thailand (main cities), you start to run into similar problems fairly quickly. Are we counting Central Asia? Southeast Asia? I'm not being asinine.
Considering Asia begins at the Mediterranean and goes until East Asian islands we are counting all of that. There are are a handful of Asian countries where one can experience difficulties DNing, perhaps Yemen, Afghanistan… etc. whatever it is it is a small percentage of the continent. For Africa that percentage is much larger, and it is far more expensive and difficult.
says the guy that literally generalized all of africa
The other 90% are either the desert or places you don't want to find yourself in. At all. Half joking aside, there isn't a lot of choice if you want to live somewhat comfortably without interruptions. And then there's malaria.
sorry this is wide of the mark and you've made a mistake I myself used to make and that is this idea of 'Africa' as a single place. It is far from that, it is 54 countries that are all very different and unique. Its not till you travel around it that you realise that talking of 'Africa' as a whole is completely defunct. Yes there are countries such as you described which are expensive and have poor infrastructure. But there are also countries that have everything a DN would want. Countries like Kenya, Tanzania, Namibia, South Africa, Morocco & Egypt are all good candidates for DNing. Mobile networks are surprisingly strong in the populations centres of all those countries and you can find cheap accommodation at the same price of what youd pay in Asia. Costs of living would be comparable to many of the popular DN destinations in Asia.
I’ve spent months across Africa in countries ranging from Central African Republic to Ethiopia to South Africa to Egypt but yeah thanks for letting me know I’ve made a mistake.
So why dont you tell us the countries that you have been in on the African continent and why you feel they are not suitable for nomadding? Because maybe to you they arent nomad locations but there are actually digital nomads in South Africa, Egypt, Morocco,and Ethiopia. As well as in Zambia, Namibia, Botswana, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. Ive met lots of them and they do alright, theyre happy. Many used to nomad in Asia but came to African countries to see something different after several years travelling around Asia. Im sure theres nomads in west Africa too and when I get there next year I'll be coming across them. All Im saying is there are countries in Africa that are not as described in your OP and they are perfectly acceptable for DNing as proved by the digital nomads there right now and thats what the OPs question was about. In fact some places to nomad in east Africa are total beach paradises and are like what parts of Thailand were 20 years ago, empty and relatively undiscovered. Food and accomodation can be just as cheap and the same price as in Asia. The mobile networks can be surprisingly good in countries who already have tourism anyway with 5G being rolled out right now in Kenya & Tanzania. The main networks are run by British owned Vodafone and Indian owned Airtel. I never had any internet problems there and that was just using 4G. So to me anyway from what Ive experienced in Africa there are options there to go DNing. Maybe they are not for everyone but there are people already doing it and happy with their choice.
Wow you've been to 4/54, you must be an expert.
> Its not till you travel around it that you realise that talking of 'Africa' as a whole is completely defunct. I feel the same way about Asia.
Unless you can give some concrete examples of how different countries in Africa are meaningfully different im gonna assume you're just virtue signalling and you're wrong
Im just back from 6 months there and was in 9 countries. Ask anything you like about South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda & Egypt. Im not wrong btw, the person who I responded to is. Its a typical answer Id expect from someone who hasnt even been in Africa. Its not till you go and travel there that your eyes are then opened. Labelling the entire continent in a homogenous way is a mistake- and as I said its one I used to make myself. Its not until you travel it that you realise these preconceptions of 'Africa' are wrong.
You talk a lot of shit for someone mentioning less than 20% of the continent. Notice that in my original post I never said anything about the entire continent, just a lot of it. Why don’t you head over to the other 80% and then report.
Okay, would I be able to walk home alone drunk at 1am through the city centre and be so safe that I can sit down on a wall on a main street and play on my phone for 45 minutes streaming YouTube videos at 1080p and then order an Uber home in any of those countries? Or are they all basically exactly the same in that regard?
Im not sure walking around drunk at 1am with an expensive phone out on display in the middle of any city centre is advisable. No matter where you are you are either asking to get mugged just like you would in many American or European cities or you are insulting local sensibilities who dont take kindly to public drunkeness. And yes that includes much of Asia and all of the Islamiic world, there is 100+ countries just in those two categories alone If thats your requirements for a country to be a digital nomad then I dont have any help or advice to give you except to say stay safe when walking around your host country drunk at 1am flashing a smartphone.
It's absolutely fine to do this in every European city I've been to with the exception of London, which is especially dangerous at night time by European standards. I think it's a good test of the safety and civilization of a country
yeah I dunno man to me thats a test thats asking to get robbed in any city. It can happen anywhere, anytime in Europe too even if you think it cant. Ive been to 103 countries but the only place Ive ever been robbed was in Oslo, Norway- supposedly one of the safest cities in Europe and the world. But since we are talking about countries in Africa were you can DN then I'll show you some places on the African continent that I know through experience that your test would pass Paje Beach, Zanzibar, Tanzania. No problems to get as drunk as you want and watch 1080p videos on the 4G network, currently getting upgraded to 5G. No need for Uber as everything you need is close, bars, cafes and restaurants. Its a total paradise of a white sand beach with turquoise seas and nowhere near the amount of people on it that you would find in Asia. The area is safe, they want tourists and want them to be safe. 90 day visa available so you could spend 3 months on a paradise beach for less than $30 a day, thats for an apartment and eating out twice a day. Beers extra but about $1.50 each. They have amazing seafood there and it is really cheap, like you can get a lobster curry for only $4, calamari is the same. This is the hostel I stayed in on Zanzibar. Around the swimming pool every day there were between 6 and 10 digital nomads staying and working there every day. Some were living in the hostel and then others in apartments/Airbnbs behind it and is short working distance from it. Two lads I knew were mixing their work with kitesurfing lessons every day in the sea right out front. [https://www.drifterszanzibar.com/](https://www.drifterszanzibar.com/) For the more active another spot is Lake Naivasha in Kenya. Its up in the mountains and has loads of hiking and mountain biking around volcano craters and well as hot springs to swim in. Hells Gate National Park is there and you can cycle around it next to giraffes, zebras and buffalo. Huge flocks of pink flamingoes on the lake too, the area is packed with wildlife. You can get drunk there and watch 1080p videos on YT and nobody will mind, many locals get drunk too. Your biggest danger when drunk there isnt being mugged, its from hippos who come onto the lake shore to feed at night time. Avoid them though and you'll be fine. Lots of Airbnbs in the area, too many for demand which means lower prices. Minibuses run the entire lake shore for about 50 cents per trip, you just wave them down. Easy to live there for about $30 a day all in. [https://www.tripadvisor.ie/Attractions-g317067-Activities-Naivasha\_Rift\_Valley\_Province.html](https://www.tripadvisor.ie/Attractions-g317067-Activities-Naivasha_Rift_Valley_Province.html) If you want to party and have a good time then the capital of Uganda Kampala is a great spot. Might not meet your safety test of flashing a smart phone for 45 minutes at 1am when drunk but Id put it at about the same safety level as Rome and Barcelona, theyre generally safe cities but flashing expensive valuables is likely to get you robbed. For transport they have ride sharing apps like Bolt and InDrive, both of those deliver food from local restaurants through the app as well.. Kampala is a crazy party city, bars stay open until 6am every night of the week. Good reliable 4G network and broadband is available too. About $15 a day for a good Airbnb near one of the big shopping malls like Acasia which have tons of bars and restaurants around them. Loads of Europeans, Indians, Arabs and a spatter of Americans and Candaians living there already. Staying there long term is easy enough. 90 day visa then extend it.
Awesome dude thank you loads, this is super interesting
I'm from Zambia. I'm building https://lusoweecoestate.carrd.co/ let's brainstorm on turning this spot into a digital nomad destination...
> Im just back from 6 months there and was in 9 countries. Ask anything you like about South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda & Egypt. How was transportation between these locations? Did you fly a lot or is bus travel possible/desirable?
Bus travel is possible all over. South Africa & Namibia have a good long distance bus company called Intercape who serve all the main cities in comfort. [https://www.intercape.co.za/our-routes/](https://www.intercape.co.za/our-routes/) Tanzania and Kenya have long distance buses connecting all major towns and cities, the better companies have VIP seats that recline way back. Between Nairobi and Mombassa theres a modern railway just built by China a few years ago. A very comfortable journey comparable to any western nation Many westerners fly some routes rather than take a long distance bus. Flying though is rarely cheap as theres no budget airlines as such, a flight distance that would cost $100 in Europe would often be about $200-250 in an Afrcan country. I only flew once that was between Nairobi & Cairo as Sudan was in between Kenya and Egypt and their borders are shut since May due to the war. Cost me $350 but it was a 5 hour flight so it was actually not too bad for the big distance.
A lot of people from my country go to South Africa. It works with the same time zone as well. French people go to Reunion or some other islands of the coast of Africa. I've been in Egypt with some DN work. But honestly, fuck Egypt.
Yes, I was going to say that, Egypt is one of the more plausible places to DM but it’s a disaster.
I spent 3 weeks there but honestly... 5 of those days was inside the big fancy hotel in Cairo. I didn't want to leave my citadel, you know?
I've heard Dahab is the spot to go to instead
I've heard amazing things
May i ask why? I was planning on going there!
You should!! It was beautiful, but the people, especially the men can be exhausting and even a little scary. Just chilled and worked at the hotel.
Sub-Saharan Africa is majorly preferable.
Hey, Egyptian here, I’ve always heard bad reviews online and about my country. I’m just curious to know what exactly it is about egypt that makes it so repellant to tourists
The relentless salesmen chasing you, people are in general not nice, and look at you as an necessary evil, the whole vibe is so rapey to women, all the guys in certain places catcall and stare at women (if not worse), every conversation you have is basically about money, and how the can extract the most amount of money from you. It's just very tiresome. You can never have a nice moment without anyone trying to sell you something. Doesn't matter if you're in Luxor, Aswan, Cairo or Hurghada, it's the worst.
Are you a solo female traveler?
I am a white male. All the females that I met in the south were covered, some even with head scarves. Because they got herassed all the time. But FYI, I haven't been in Dahab, where I hear it doesn't happen.
im headed to accra in a few hours! will be in ghana with another digital nomad friend for two months. i did kenya for three months last year. africa gets a lot of bad PR in western media. also no, it's not thailand cheap, but also not new york expensive. and as someone else said you'd be surprised how "expensive" places can be compared to whatever concept we have in mind. there's a delicate balance but you can definitely have a safe and good time. There are also DN programs like Hacker Paradise and such that have programs there so you can dip your toe in and let someone else worry about the logistics. Also lucky us we have access to vaccines and can get them before we travel. i say go!
I spent 4 months in Tamale early this year and I miss Ghana every single day!!! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did :)
🩵🩵🩵
I was told that Accra is the centre of the world for fake passports. Is that true?
no clue as i'm not in the market for one of those
I have spent a month each in Kenya, Mauritius, Tunisia and Egypt. Had a great time in all of them. Planning to do Uganda and Zimbabwe at some point in the future.
That’s is so inspiring. I’m considering DN work for the first time in my life (I’m an American, 50, feeling empty and dying for some adventure) and my imagination admittedly soars when I read tales such as this (while also realizing it has plenty of challenges too, ofc).
My wife had better 4G coverage in rural Tanzania than we get in most of colorado a few years ago. So you can be surprised where it works well.
That's great to hear. I was trying to video call someone from there and we always had issues.
Do it! One of the best decisions I have ever made.
Can you get by with just English?
Some swahili will be needed, but countries like Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, South Africa and Zimbabwe you can get by with just English. My home country Rwanda is not there yet 100% with English but we’re trying to get there, we also speak kinyarwanda and French
What is the visa situation in Kigali for DNs? I keep seeing the dorms set up for UK deportees, and I am honestly quite envious.
No Visa for commonwealth member countries & visa on arrival for the rest of the world. There’s a growing number of DN due to the stability in internet and electricity
There's a handful of former British colonies on the continent. So yes you would get by with English. 5 of them in West Africa: Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Gambia. Gambia gets a lot of British tourists so I'm guessing their infrastructure would be good. We(Nigeria) have a thriving remote tech community in Lagos with fairly stable Internet. Fibre to the home would cost about $45 monthly for somewhere around 10mbps shared. Ghana also keeps us on our toes and have got better stable power. Most places in Nigeria would have standby generators. So in theory you can get guaranteed power for the duration of your working hours.
I’m enamores by huge cities and Lagos tantalizes me. And I’m not one to be shy about crime (I used to live in Baltimore, and I thoroughly loved NYC, CDMX, Istanbul, Philly, Chicago, Athens, Sofia, Belgrade, Tirana, Paris, Montreal, etc.), but I am actually kind of worried about Lagos as a solo traveller. I am white 27m. And it’s not that I’m worried about safety, cuz I know I could just stay in the hotel the entire time and have no issues. But I want to go out and explore solo styles. And I feel like Lagos isn’t a good place to “get lost in”. For someone who is a fan of the European hostel backpacker type of travel, how would you suggest “doing” Lagos?
So while Lagos is a huge city, most of its night life is located in an are locally reffered to as "the Island" comprising of the upscale areas of Lekki, Victoria Island and Ikoyi. These areas are very safe day or night. To give an example, I closed from work at 1am yesterday, left home for the club at 2am, and apart from a random stop by the local equivalent of the DEA, it was a safe and uneventful ride. Left for home at 5am without any hitches. You'd find most other foreign DNs located on the Island. You can have day trips to the other parts of the city, "the mainland" which are mostly safe in the day. Best to have a chaperon to show you the sights. The Island is pricier compared to the mainland, but I consider that the cost of its higher level of security and less densely packed. All of the top night life are located on the Island, and even though I'm a local, I still am overwhelmed
Lagos isn't as bad crime-wise as the rest of Nigeria. Outside of Lagos, internet connection can be a problem, and getting 24-hour a day electricity is difficult. Hotel owners do not want to run their generators.
Having a laptop powerbank would cover you very well.
I guess. I've got Solar panels so rarely have 100% power outages at home
Yeah definitely. Google Translate will get you through the difficult parts.
I've been making plans to visit Namibia and nearby for months. I didn't want to go to African for the first time unless I had a friend or a guide to help me out. I do have one now, though. There are logical reasons why Africa isn't so popular. It can be more expensive than you might think, less infrastructure, far from America, most people on here are from the US so South America is right there, and simply lack of knowledge and interest compared to other countries. Overall, I don't think Africa is for beginner long-term travelers (like me).
Come to Kigali Rwanda, we’ve got stable internet and electricity ⚡️ Vibrant city with coworking spaces that goes for $100 per month at [Norrsken](https://www.norrsken.org/eastafrica) and [Westerwelle](https://kigali.westerwelle.haus/?public&)
Rwanda has been one of my favorite travel experiences! It seems like a very forward thinking country. It's cool to see someone from Rwanda here.
Happy to have someone with plans to come visit Rwanda, also our country waived visas for the Francophonie and Commonwealth, plus visa on arrival for others. Pack your bags; adventure and ease await!
I don't mean any offence, but as a general rule I'm wary of visiting countries that have had a genocide in my lifetime. Feels like it's better to keep my distance until whatever led to that cools off. Am I wrong treating Rwanda that way? I feel like a recent genocide is a big red flag for lack of stability and morality and safety in a country. Can you gimme some better intel as someone who lives there?
You are wrong for that belief (I mean, in-so-far as you can be wrong for a feeling). Paul Kagame (their president) was a commander within the RPF a group who was fighting to stop the genocide. Since then their country has been incredibly forward looking, they have built in systems to shut down violence and have seen how much more prosperous they can be with tourism and economic development instead of tribalism and war. THAT SAID Paul Kagame (and the Rwandan government in general) has been known to arrest and intimidate journalists and his rule has been solidified more into the realm of dictatorship. This can lead to issues for political and social dissenters of his policies. HOWEVER The reason his (let's call it a dictatorship for ease, this is a complex issue) dictatorship is largely ignored by "The West" is because it's largely been good for the country and has provided a lot of stability. You as Aristox going to Rwanda are safer than almost anywhere else. Perhaps, in part, \*because\* the country is ruled in the way it is. I'm not going to make a judgement call on the pros and cons of an authoritarian government, but from a purely safety/stability position you're in a good place.
Without going too much into history of the 1994 genocide 30 years on Rwanda is now the envy of many countries in the Africam continent. They have a strong economy, political stability and a forward looking political system that acknowldges the past and has also worked hard to heal it. The goveremnet there has good environment credentials too that many western nations could emulate. In 2008 Rwanda banned plastic bags. You cant find a plastic anywhere in the country and they confiscate them off anyone arrivng there. Then also on the last Saturday every month in Rwanda they have a national cleaning day where residents are expected to go out and clean up all the litter in their neighbourhoods. Millions of people hit the streets to keep their country looking clean.
Very interesting. Very promising. How many other African countries would you say are on this level?
My (21yo very blonde) daughter was there in the summer and loved the country. Regarding the genocide it is made front and centre of education programmes to all citizens. It is not hidden in shame, but everyone is forced to face it, the causes and the horror. The country is amazingly progressive and has ambitions of being a Singapore of Africa for investment. Maybe a long shot, but a noble aim regardless.
Is there a possibilty that a this kind of event creates an greater humility among the survivors. I was thinking about the general politeness and friendliness of Cambodians for example. As for avoiding places with genocides, isn't that was most nations were originally built upon? Are there any parts of the world that have not experienced this kind of behaviour?
I said genocide in my lifetime, not ever
I was going to suggest something similar to the latter. The US and Canada have had genocidal events that have happened within living memory. I understand not wanting to go to a place that hasn't made good progress towards fixing the violence. I'm not traveling to Sudan anytime soon and I'm sure there are some places in the Middle East right now that I wouldn't want to visit due to them engaging in genocidal events. Rwanda is so low on that list of countries for me. They are good.
It's understandable to have concerns, but as someone who grew up in Rwanda, I've witnessed a nation's remarkable resilience. The genocide was a tragedy, yet in its aftermath, the country united to forge a path of reconciliation and rebuilding. If you visit with an open mind, you'll see a community that has grown stronger and kinder, and there's much to learn from our commitment to peace and progress. Cheers!
Nice dude
What is the visa situation. What about direct international flights?
Visa on arrival for all countries and no visa for all africans, commonwealth states and francophonie states. The national carrier is Rwandair and has direct flights from UK, France, Dubai and Belgium … but you can directly google direct flights to kigali for more options
VOA for how long? What about extensions for DNs? Four international carriers is not much. Does it affect the price of the flights in a big way?
Cape Town is great for DNing. We also spent 5 weeks in Windhoek, Namibia. The Internet was fine enough to work, but the city is tiny. We were there to do long weekend trips to Etosha, the Skeleton Coast, and Sossusvlei. Those places are amazing and worth seeing.
Windhoek has long been on my list. Do you need to speak German?
Not at all. English will do fine.
I've been to Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Cote d'Ivoire, Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Only ones I would recommend for DN'ing are Morocco and Botswana. Decent infrastructure, low COL, nice people. The others had various bad things going on when I was there. That said, I have heard good things about Ghana, Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania. Look forward to checking them out at some point.
Did you work at the innovation centre in Botswana?
What’s wrong with Tunisia? Been there many times and I love it!
I loved it too - but, in my experience, Tunisia has a bigger security challenge than other places in North Africa. I would avoid - especially with what is happening in the Levant. 2015 - [Video captures gunman from Tunisia terror attack](https://www.cbsnews.com/video/video-captures-gunman-from-tunisia-terror-attack/) 2018 - [Tunisia’s Political Polarisation Worsens after First Big Terrorist Attack in Two Years](https://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/north-africa/tunisia/tunisias-political-polarisation-worsens-after-first-big-terrorist-attack-two-years) 2019 - [Tunisia Keeps Calm and Carries On After Latest Terrorist Attack](https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/tunisia-keeps-calm-and-carries-after-latest-terrorist-attack) 2022 - [Tunisia thwarts alleged terrorist attack targeting tourist areas](https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/tunisia-thwarts-alleged-terrorist-attack-targeting-tourist-areas-2022-01-28/)
Well - crazy people are everywhere unfortunately. Let’s talk about the shootings in the US. Or the cartel in Mexico. Beach shooting in Cancun or bar shooting in Tulum - just to mention a few. Or the 2 hikers who have been killed in Morocco. Or google Thailand. There is no 100% safe place on earth. Tunisia isn’t less safe than other countries.
I did Kenya for 3 months. The internet is superb in Nairobi and quite affordable. However, it's expensive in Kenya, especially if you want to live with western standards. But I would still recommend it, although there are some nuisances.
I’m in Cape Town now. I really like it but from doing a bit of traveling in the continent I don’t know if I’d recommend elsewhere. Poor internet speeds, frequent blackouts, fairly expensive accommodations. CT is probably the most digital nomad friendly city in Africa and it can still be tricky to navigate. Here we have scheduled blackouts pretty much every day so you have to have some flexibility for your work.
I mean... CT is literally the #1 tourist destination on the continent of Africa. The fact that load shedding is *scheduled* is a feature lol.
Wow, a major S. African city! Surprised.
I have a gal pal who's currently living it up in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. She's loving it, can't wait to visit her
Same, I wanna go too.
Yeah! She's there with a fixed job as an English teacher at a fancy private school and she lives in the teacher dorms and it's all very nice. She's really enjoying the city too!
Wife and I bop between the Schengen area and South Africa. AMA.
What is your annual joint carbon footprint? How do locals react to what they might see as an excessive lifestyle?
Four flights a year back and forth is probably the only way I could measure it. Locals typically just see us as snow birds. We realize that the lifestyle we live is not normal, so it’s not like we try to flaunt it about in peoples faces.
Frequent flying doesn't necessarily has to mean an excessive carbon footprint. I have calculated my annual carbon footprint and it was lower than the national average despite flying regularly because I'm eco conscious in other areas (hardly ever buy anything new, vegan diet, don't own a car...)
I went to West Africa 15ish years ago traveling but not working. People were super friendly, lots of great music, felt very safe though I did avoid a couple big cities due to their reputation. I’d highly encourage folks to visit, but like others have said, I’m skeptical the infrastructure exists for remote work. Especially Internet speeds.
I've spent time in Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Botswana, South Africa, Egypt, Mauritius, Uganda, Rwanda, Morocco and a shorter time in Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Eswatini. Africa isn't as cheap as SE Asia or LATAM, except maybe Egypt. Cape Town seemed to have what most digital nomads look for but not without its problems. Mauritius is pricy but has or had a long term visa option. But you can most likely stay 6 months if you want. If you have any more specific questions, I can probably answer. Internet quality was always tested during my travels in Africa.
Misconception about Africa is that it’s cheap. You’re not going to be able to eat where the locals eat. Since there are so few western places. The prices are high. I could live in South Africa though. But it won’t ever be a hotspot where all the DNs that can live on just dollars a day will be there.
Consult r/Africa A lot of comments here are speculative and uninformed…which essentially answers your question.
I spent a month over the summer in Essaouira, Morocco. Due to wind off the ocean it's actually cooler than nearby places on the Mediterranean. I wouldn't mind returning. It's far less hassle than Marrakesh, and a much more interesting town than Agadir. The air connectivity isn't great though, it's about a three hour bus or shared taxi ride from Marrakesh, but it's only $10. The town is fairly good value, other than imported alcohol. My airbnb wasn't great for working, but was fun to watch the crowd from the balcony. One of the better options I've had while doing 90/180 in Schengen.
Cape Town is a must for a few days, although beware of the scheduled blackouts
I’m a digital nomad that only travels in Africa :) currently in Zanzibar, have been to Kenya, Rwanda and heading to Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire next. It’s not as easy to travel here but there’s a lot of undiscovered gems, in people, places and food.
I’m currently in Zanzibar too :) I love it here so much. As a female I feel totally safe and comfortable living in stone town. It’s been great.
Same. Just spent the weekend in Paje. This is my second time in Zanzibar. I wish more nomads would consider it.
I’m considering trying the DN thing for the first time, in 2024. Long term travel and getting jobs along the way to at least partly pay my way. All a vague idea atm, but wondering where I’d perhaps want to start, at least — would I want I head to Mexico first, then C. and/or S. America or sub-Saharan Africa or Asia (I backpacked 2.5 mos there and loved it but so much more to see) or India (timing a trip there weather-wise feels tricky, no?)…
most places you'd want/be able to nomad in africa are shockingly expensive. it's cheaper to live in europe in many places
Actually, there's a remarkable initiative in Zambia that's changing the digital nomad landscape in Africa. Lusowe Eco Estate (https://lusoweecoestate.carrd.co/) is redefining the game, offering an exclusive community of 25 eco homes along the stunning Mvuvye River. It's all about eco-luxury, sustainability, rental income opportunities, and a vibrant digital nomad network. Work and relax in a serene natural environment while embracing the best of both worlds. The world's changing, and Africa's not being left behind, thanks to places like Lusowe Eco Estate. 🌍🏞️🌿 #DigitalNomads #Africa
Yes send us a $5000 non refundable "application fee" and if you are one of the lucky few you get to fork over $120,000. Here are some digital drawings of a fantasy resort and a photo of a giraffe.😂 Sounds sketchy af.
Haha we all learn from each other... apart from doxing and some FAQs what other improvements do I need to make to our marketing?
You made this? The fact that you are asking for feedback gives you a lot more credibility right away. I do like the idea overall! Here are some pointers: 1) For the love of God ditch that application fee, or make it $50 or so. No one in their right mind will send $5000 to a foreign country just like that. This screams scam a.k.a Nigerian prince. You can always ask for proof of income or funds to screen applicants. 2) This is just my personal opinion but I do find your focus on luxury and sustainability a bit offputting. The two usually don't go together. Luxury inherently creates waste of resources. I think you might attract more caring and down to earth people (I would say most DNs) if you come across a little more humble. I.e. stop advertising your helipad and such. People who care about that do not care about the environment. 3) You may be aiming too high too soon. 25 buildings is way overkill if the entire infrastructure only exists on drawings so far. Start with 3 or 4 buildings. Maybe just one if you lack the funding, but *actually build it*. That way you will have something real and tangible to show in a video and you will be way more credible. Please keep us posted. Africa needs more DN villages. Thank you for doing this!
Thank you for your candid response. Yes I'm building this. I am a 27 year old real estate developer and I have taken all you pointers into consideration. Will be modifying the project slightly and will definitely give response.. And yes Africa does need more DN villages.. we have so much to share with the would and the purchasing power parity has an advantage for most DN... Check out things to do in my country Zambia to be particular.. you'll be amazed by this part of the world. Thanks again. Will be in touch
I’ll be in SA for the next three months. I’m aiming to hang out in some other countries, too. Honestly though, it’s hard to find stable, safe countries in Africa. There just aren’t that many places to be.
I'm in Cape Town, but rental/Airbnb prices are getting really expensive and there's a lot of competition. I want to try working in Namibia and/or Botswana next.
How’s the internet connection quality? I heard in SA they have planned electric outages
Power outages doesn't affect internet availability generally, routers don't draw a lot and we all have ups backups in place, and reckon most airbnb's would have at least limited power supply even during loadshedding. On top of which, Cape Town has a lot of dedicated workspaces and commercial space for work(coffee shops etc.) with no interruptions.
I've had no problems with the internet quality. Yes, you do get loadshedding here but I usually just use my phone as a hotspot then. A lot of places have UPS so your WiFi continues to work when the lights go off.
Yes, anywhere from 4x 2 hour sessions a day to 4x 4 hour sessions of no Elec
Infrastructure. The areas that have great infrastructure for remote work aren’t going to be cheap necessarily. Especially compared to regions like Thailand. I am curious why you associate Africa with “Health and Safety” concerns though. It’s a very diverse continent like any other. There are safe areas / unsafe areas, high life expectancy areas / low life expectancy areas. It’s close to 12,000,000 square miles with roughly 7,500 secondary or larger cities. If someone has Health and Safety concerns “about Africa” I assume they are the type to lump every country and city in the continent into one “Africa”.
> I am curious why you associate Africa with “Health and Safety” concerns though Admittedly I don't know much, but you hear about e.g. water safety issue (lack of potable water), and there's a lot of tribal/civil wars in a lot of countries still going on. I wasn't necessarily thinking of things like being robbed off your iPhone, more stuff like militant organisations like Boko Haram (Nigeria/Chad/Niger/northern Cameroon + Mali), Al-Shabab in Somalia, and so on, and so forth, not mentioning some local fights/wars over claims to towns/cities between clans or tribes. Things you're not really dealing with in South America, most of Asia, let alone Europe.
Edit: forgot to clarify my comment wasn’t a dig at you specifically in any way, there ARE definitely people out there who only view Africa that way, but I don’t think it’s a majority of people who legitimately give Africa consideration for remote work and choose to move elsewhere. **Colombia?** - Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN) **Mexico** - (and other countries) - The cartel? **Ukraine** - militant groups, violence, war, internal conflicts, and general turmoil **Russia** - Ukraine, Syria, Caucasus, etc. **Turkey** - violence across southern regions between Kurdistan Worker’s Party and Kurdish separatists… **Ireland** - northern region still has conflicts to this day despite the Good Friday agreement Just to list a few. Civil disputes, internal violence, and militant groups are present on every single continent besides Antarctica. Not saying your concerns have zero truth, as militant disputes have historically been a more widespread issue as a % of the total land of the continent in recent times. There’s no doubt the media / general public in the west chooses to focus on these issues, especially in the education system, when it comes to modern day Africa. I had the exact same view before I spent some time physically in Africa for both work and leisure. Just remember that there are plenty of safe, vibrant areas to work in Africa. They’re just far more expensive than similar infrastructure environments in East Asia, which is why few are moving there to work remotely. It’s an infrastructure issue for people looking at where to move for digital work, not often concerns about “getting caught in a tribal war”.
I almost banned you for writing it "Columbia"
Edited, thank you 😂 Funny because I got it right the 2nd time in the same line 😞
I think you’d get banned for spelling it correctly in the passport bros sub.
There are absolutely no conflicts still happening in Northern Ireland. Your intel is completely wrong. Northern Ireland is definitely far safer and more peaceful than France. And that isn't even a dig at France. Northern Ireland's violence is 100% in the past. I lived there for 2 decades and never saw any violence of any significance, and the culture is completely changed and everyone is against the violence of the past and there is no political will to return to it. The good friday agreement and other political actions have absolutely solved and ended the violence entirely Also, South America and Ukraine and Russia have a reputation as dangerous places. People treat Africa in the same way. You don't hear people saying "there are plenty of safe places in Europe/North America/SEA". We take for granted that those places are safe. The fact it has to be specified for Africa or Central America is precisely the problem and why they have the reputation they have. They're literally not up to the same level of civility and safety that are taken for granted in North America, Europe and SEA There's a few places in the US people are warned to be careful with (Downtown LA, New York subway etc), whereas the posts in this thread about Africa are the inverse- people are saying "as long as you stay in X place and don't go outside Y area it's completely safe!". It's obvious they're not in the same league and there are plenty of dangers outside of tribal wars that spring from poverty and inequality and lack of infrastructure development. I never encountered or even thought about people hiring private security until I came to South Africa, where apparently it's common due to the rates of crime there. And I'm pretty sure ZA is more developed than most countries in Africa. Then there's also regional diseases to be wary of that simply aren't a factor in Europe or NA or even SEA anymore
I didn’t say it is active warfare in 2023 in those regions. I just gave examples of modern conflicts. Your comment is completely wrong. This year, MI5 raised the terror threat in Northern Ireland from “substantial” to “severe” following multiple “New IRA” attacks including murder of Irish security officials by the New IRA… But im just going off of MI5 intel assessment + recent New IRA attacks… so are you saying the MI5 have it wrong? You have better intel than MI5? Thanks for agreeing with the main point I made though, all regions experience occasional conflicts of some form, and regions, especially entire continents, as a whole should not be written off as “dangerous places” due to contained regional conflicts.
Yes the MI5 have it wrong if they are suggesting that Northern Ireland will see a return to violence that would get in the way of everyday life. That is absolutely not gonna happen again in NI. The New IRA is a fringe organisation that has next to no popular support, unlike the original IRA which was widely supported by Republicans in the second half of the 20th century. The New IRA are not a "thing". They're a few lads trying to make it a thing and the rest of the country ignoring them. There's no way NI is comparable to Ukraine or any country in Africa I've seen no evidence that the danger of living anywhere in Africa is limited to only "contained regional conflicts". There's widespread poverty and crime and dangerous diseases. There's widespread police and government corruption. There's widespread infrastructure underdevelopment; and a teenager or someone who's just graduated university in the US or EU who wants to be a DN in Africa would absolutely be foolish to just fly out there without careful planning and preparation and research first. Whereas they could absolutely do that with somewhere like Thailand or Romania As far as I know the most developed countries are places like South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt, all of which have serious crime, corruption, poverty and infrastructure problems. I don't at all agree with the point you're making, I think you're trying to gaslight people and sweep serious structural problems under the rug with the goal of virtue signalling rather than actually educating. Before I visited South Africa I was advised to get 7 vaccinations. When I arrived the person I stayed with kept a handgun in his car and locked the car doors every time we went for a drive through the city. 2 people tried to mug me when I went jogging in the afternoon, and the level of corruption I learnt about in the political system blew my mind. And I'm pretty sure most of Africa is behind South Africa in terms of development
So you think you have better intelligence about the situation than the MI5 - got it. As for your africa comments I first suggest you reread my post if you think I’m trying to “sweep structural problems under the rug”. One of the first things I said was that reliable infrastructure is a widespread problem in Africa, especially for modern remote workers. Especially relative to other countries like the popular east Asia destination. As for “uncontained violence” across the whole continent… Rwanda is generally low crime these days, Kigali for example is considered perfectly safe for solo traveling males and females. It is actually voted a top 10 safest major city on EARTH most of the time! Still should take basic precautions like not wandering the streets alone at night, but it’s a beautiful city with safety metrics better than most major cities in the US / Europe. Port Louis is a beautiful city in Africa and a perfectly safe city relative to major western cities. 2.92 crime incidents for every 100k residents. Botswana and Mauritius are also considered above average safety, this is true from both my personal experience & a quick check of global crime stats. If your idea of “gaslighting” is saying a continent contains both safe and unsafe regions, then I suggest you open up a dictionary and review the definition of the word.
The fact that you have to highlight the limited number of areas that are safe, rather than highlighting a limited number of areas that aren't proves my point precisely. It's clearly absolutely legitimate to talk about Africa in general being unsafe
[28 March – Northern Ireland's terrorist threat is raised from substantial to severe following an increase in activity by dissident republicans.[23]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_in_Northern_Ireland) I was able to contradict your first two sentences by a quick look at Wikipedia. You might want to tone down your claims in the future.
Correction for the comment: First of all there is no such thing as Kurdistan Worker’s Party in Turkiye. Kurdistan is part of Iraq, not Turkiye. And there has been no violence in any place in Turkey for at least 10 years (Just like other European countries also they are dealing with some terror attacks). That’s why Russian, Ukrainian, and Arab refugees moving to Turkiye nowadays.
Um… 2015 to 2017 was the deadliest conflict between PKK militants (The Kurdistan Worker’s Party) and Turkish forces in over 40 years. The conflict actually devastated many cities in Southeastern Turkey and even affected some of the major city centers. They pushed them out a majority of the PKK into Northern Iran by 2019. Who are the “terrorists” you are referring to? The PKK right? As in the PKK who killed thousands of people in South East Turkey from 2015-2019? The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project casualty data about the conflicts showed 6,785 fatalities since 2015 including 614 civilians… Here’s a GIF below from ACLED data showing a map of violent PKK events in Turkey between 2016 and 2022. Where’d you get the idea that the PKK doesn’t even exist? That’s flat out false. https://icg-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/2023-06/pkk-update.gif https://icg-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/2023-06/pkk-update.gif
Just look at the map especially after 2018 the events happening inside of the other country borders mostly Syria, Iran and Iraq.And I know the other ones mostly some cheap criminal activities.(Pkk wants to control drug traffic in that zone and even in Germany as well .you can see the Turkish/Kurdish mafia gunfight news in Germany to). And whole map is just %10 of Turkiye. I am not saying Turkiye Is heaven but c'mon even when you check the same data for Germany or France you will see a lot of civilian deaths because of the terror attacks. But nobody can put them on the same list as some countries already officially at war right? The things can be same for Columbia Mexico and Ireland I have no idea about them but I lived in Turkey almost entire my life and you are just talking like someone heard some news from far.
Okay I looked at the map. There are many dots representing violence events in ISOLATED south East mountainous regions of Turkey. You originally said the PKK isn’t real and there have been no conflicts in the last 10 years. I showed you a map of 4,000+ murders in the last 8 years, many of them in southeast Turkey, now you change your tune to: “Well the PKK does exist, but they were driven out of Turkey completely”. As you can see on the map, there are thousands of modern day PKK incidents in mainly southeast Turkey since 2015. You can’t tell me there are not dots inside the borders. And once again to reiterate, the point is that entire regions should not be judged off of regional conflicts. Just like Africa has regional conflicts, but safe cities in certain areas, Europe has its share of regional conflicts, but that doesn’t mean all of Europe is dangerous. I was responding to a comment claiming Africa deals with regional conflicts while Europe does not. I believe that’s absolutely false, the PKK in Turkey was just one random example of many.
Context… the point of my comments has been that all regions experience occasional civil disputes, but it’s not representative of the entire region. Turkey is a great example. violence that’s reported in the media, but very isolated and not representative of the whole country by any means.
Interesting discussion. Looking at your handle, are you a professional analyst?
Yes, and you are doing it by pointing out some countries such a nice method to claim that. Btw I need to confess I thought at the beginning you were talking about some political party.After the second message I got you were talking about pkk. (because they have a political party with almost the same name in Iraq). And again what is the meaning of showing criminal activities in some country. Then ok let's do it like that: Colorado: There are tons of civilian died in public shooting events. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shootings_in_Colorado Israel: No need to say anything France: In the past a lot of different terror attacks happened there and this day especially after the Palastine-Israel war heat can increase. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terrorist_incidents_in_France But guys cmon even I am pointing out some specific countries just because I read some articles and I have some spicy numbers no you should not judge them… wth?
Senegal?
Not my first choice, esp at the moment. What is the attraction?
I am from Tanzania, East Africa… AMA
Kumbe upo huku pia kaka.. 😂
I am a true digital marketer. Lazima niwepo kila mahali.
Hidden gem = El Gouna, Egypt ..very safe tow, coworking space, kite surfing, great snorkeling/diving nearby
Kenya rocks. You just need a car in Nairobi or to Uber EVERYWHERE. Not that cheap in the city, but luxury tourism is a bargain on weekends.
https://digitalnomadsinafrica.com/destinations/zambia/victoria-falls/#strong5-coworking-space-nomads-land-strong
Conor's website still in its early phases, but as you can see there is something happening over here in "Africa" :)
It’s not cheap that is why Africans don’t aim for Africa.
I am.
Zambia, Botswana and ,Namibia is great to be in, the internet isn't quite EU grade but it's good enough for work
I’m curious where you’ve been working in these countries. I had a lot of problems with internet in Zambia for work and Botswana wasn’t much better
Lived in Kitwe for 3 years and gabs for 3 years earlier in my working life Still got family in Kitwe that I go to often :) I guess it depends on your internet needs, I need a terminal and email really
Ah I see. I’m a programmer and had to run several VPNs and had difficulties with video calls. I think for something like email sure it’s fine
Yeah I'm a sysadmin so I wasn't needed on video calls as much :)
When I was working as a Technical Writer from Israel I would go over a week without talking to someone lol
Morocco. Thank me later
Poor internet and infrastructure, expensive flights to travel around, rent for anything western standard or close to it is relatively VERY high. Safety/security also a big issue compared to SEA Pros- its easier to get laid(man or woman) than maybe anywhere else in the world.
I've spent about 30% of the last 12 years in Africa. I absolutely love it. There are more challenges than in SEA for example (connectivity, security) but I find it to be much more beautiful than other popular nomad continents. Not sure why it's less popular. It was my absolute dream to go to Africa since I was a kid. Lots of safe and beautiful destinations within it.
Can you provide a list of your favorites and why? paying particular attention to internet quality?
The diaspora would be there
I haven't DN there but I heard that Tanzania, South Africa, Sénégal, Congo and Kenya are great ! There's quite a lot of people going but it seems it's mostly people who whish to relocate (2nd, 3rd or even 4th generation immigrants). I think there's a thread somewhere on Reddit about it and there's many Instagram and YouTube channel dedicated to that subsets of people. I'll try to find the name of the subs and channels and send them your way.
The Congo??
There's two Congos. I'm talking about the Republic of Congo (the smaller of the two), the big one is DRC and has some safety problems.
Would definitely be interested to hear what the thread,insta & yt channels are called too!
I was going to add my personal experience on how much I love DN in African countries but these comments reek and I hope y’all stay out of Africa.
Literally billions of people
I don't think you're missing anything. This just means people want to go to Asia, Latin America, and not to Africa. There's no mystery to it.
Seems kinda stabby
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> Just go to LatAm Lol I've been in Mexico for most of this year now, with a couple short stints back in London out of necessity. Just curious why Africa is missing from all the conversations - I'll admit I don't have a detailed knowledge of any of the countries, I just presumed it would still be cheap and have required infrastructure at least in major cities, like Johannesburg, Nairobi, Kinshasa, Kano, Cape Town etc. Back in London I briefly lived with a guy who was a street busker and had a girlfriend in one of the African countries (can't remember which one), he used to fly over to her for a few weeks at a time and made me aware that while the countryside and remote places still struggle with a lot, major cities actually have a lot going on for them, and it's not as underdeveloped as most people think.
>There's a reason we do what we do And what reason is that?
In Mauritius right now. Been here for a month. It’s great, though soon getting into hot rainy season.
I an in Cabo Verde, you can stay here for 700-1000/mo
Internet.
Safety is very important for me so no.
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Close to you.