People & Places
Making a mark in South Africa
Mark Wilkes explains how he and partner Colin traded urban life in London for a rural retreat on the fringe of Cape Town
Colin and I first visited South Africa in February 2006 for a well deserved holiday from the cold, damp and grey British winter. I was in the process of deciding whether to take redundancy from a job that I had been in for 16 years. I desperately needed a change of scenery and some sun to help me make the right choice.
Colin and I had previously agreed that should anything happen to either of our jobs, we would take stock and perhaps try something new and different. We have a passion for entertaining, cooking and turning our homes into special places. So we thought, why not put these skills to practical use, and had begun thinking about setting up a guesthouse in the UK. However, our holiday to Cape Town stirred some different thoughts – why not set up a guest house in South Africa? Our friends and family would obviously think that we were both crazy, but something seemed to be drawing us here.
A holiday dream is one thing, but in the cold light of day, financial practicality needed to be our primary concern. Would we be able to make a living? Arriving back in Britain, our heads were full of ideas, plans and dreams, so we began the process of investigating the necessary immigration requirements. It quickly became clear that there were numerous options for the type of visas and permits that we could apply for: retirement, life partner, spousal and business permits to name but a few. The published South African Immigration Act was complex and proved almost impossible to interpret, so I decided to seek professional help.
I searched the web and came across a licensed immigration company based in Cape Town. The service they offered helped us apply for the right permit, and also guided us through all the necessary elements to get our business dream off the ground. With my redundancy deal signed, we embarked on our second trip to South Africa, with the aim of finding a place to turn into a dream guesthouse. With the help of a buyer consultant company we viewed 40 properties and eventually found an idyllic spot in Noordhoek overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Our dream was beginning to take shape. In the meantime our application for permanent residency was being submitted.
We returned home to finalise the sale of our London house, and to oversee the packing and shipping of all our belongings. We left the buyer consultancy to finalise the purchase and transfer of the Noordhoek house, as legally purchasing homes in South Africa is very different to that in Britain. A little over six months from our original trip, we arrived in Cape Town to collect the keys to our new venture: Blue Tangerine. We chose this name because it's something that you would never find and if you did clearly you would be amazed and want to keep hold of it!
The following day we were back at Cape Town International Airport to collect our ten-year-old terrier, Todd. With dog, house keys and belongings safely on South African soil, we were ready to begin our new life. In December 2006 Blue Tangerine opened its doors to some great reviews, bookings and feedback. We have now been graded five star by the South African tourist board, which made us really proud. With the experience I gained through the immigration process, the Managing Director of our immigration company proposed that I come to work for them and help others make the move. I was happy to accept and now work about two days a week in their office. To say the least, it's been a busy few months and we are both enjoying our new lives here, welcoming guests to Blue Tangerine and supporting others to emigrate to South Africa.
In many ways South Africa is a very new country and we find it really exciting to be a part of this. There is lots of building work taking place, which adds to the sense of development. We now have much more time on our hands, and everything is so much cheaper. Last week I was back in London and paid £6.25 for a cup of tea and coffee, you can get the same here for about £1. However, it's important that those who want to emigrate here truly recognise what the country is about and accept that it is very different to Britain. People over here often quip, "You are in Africa!" As obvious as it sounds, it bares remembering. My office window looks out onto Cape Town docks, everyone speaks English – at a glance, I could be in Bristol. In fact, I'm six and a half thousand miles from Bristol, on an entirely different continent.
The pace of life in South Africa is very different to the UK, much slower than what British people are used to. Eventually, things get done – but it takes much longer. I had to learn to be very patient, and people emigrating here must do the same. We try to plan as much as possible and when we reach a brick wall, we simply find ways over or around it. I sympathise with June because it's not just about missing family and friends, it's about everything being unfamiliar. When we have a problem we're not exactly sure who to turn to or where to go. However, we have learnt to ask locals and they are usually more than happy to help. In fact, native Cape Townians have been very supportive and helpful to Colin and me. Most of the time, though, we love the laid-back attitude, and the whole atmosphere of the city is something that I have really taken to.
Our move to South Africa has been a journey of discovery, it's like holding a mirror to yourself. I've learnt so much about myself, what I can and can't do, and in many ways I've surprised myself. At my job in London, I was in front of a computer all day and didn't feel like I made any difference, whereas now I am constantly helping people realise their dream of moving to South Africa, as well as meeting such a mixture of people that come to Blue Tangerine.
If you are interested in moving to South Africa, the best thing I can advise is that you ask yourself what you want out of your new life? It is such an enormous change, you must be really clear about what you are hoping to achieve. Emigrants that are looking to live exactly as did in Britain over here will inevitably be very shocked. To start a business in South Africa you will need to do your research, draw up a comprehensive business plan and make sure that you know a great deal about the market you want to enter. There is a lot of competition, particularly for ventures like ours. It's a risky market, but sometimes you have to take the risk and run with the change. If you are a couple that previously worked separately, as we did, working and living together will take some getting used to. We are still learning to draw lines between work and personal life, but it's nice that whenever we want we can go for long walks on the beach together, something that we could never have done in London.
South Africa is one of the most beautiful places on Earth, there is such a sense of space and wellbeing – especially compared to the urban jungle of London. Now we are just looking forward to growing our business and whatever it is that the future has to offer us both. When a previous boss of mine took her redundancy she said, "I feel I have spent most of my life in a boat rowing upstream, now it's time for me to take the oars out of the water and let the tides and currents take me on a journey." That's how I feel now, although there has to be some navigation, I am letting the South African current lead me to the next adventure.