Living in a Gated Community

As an American living in South Africa there have been many changes to get used to, and believe me we are still in the "adjustment" phase. A big change has just been our life inside a gated community. Much like the States there are a variety of places to live and types of home.  South Africa has a high crime rate, and so security is a big feature of any home here. If you live in a single home outside of a gated neighborhood you will often have a wall around your home with either electric fence or razor wire on top of it.  Part of the regulations set by Black & Veatch is that we must live within a gated community.  Our neighborhood is pretty large there are hundreds of homes surrounding a 18-hole golf course and there is even a nature reserve within the walls. The perimeter of our neighborhood is surrounded by a 8ft wall with electric wire on top of it. To get inside the gate you have to use a fingerprint I.D. to enter. If you are visiting someone within the gates the security has to phone the person you are visiting and you must be allowed in. They then write down your I.D information will allow you to visit. The same goes for anyone coming to your home to do work. As we have moved into the house I have given clearance to various workers coming in. If they don't get ahold of you the visitor will be turned away. It can be a little confusing if you accidentally miss a phone call from the security office. When they do get a hold of you sometimes it can be hard to understand what the security guard is saying as well, I am still getting used to the heavy accents. So, most of  the time I hope I am letting in who I was expecting.

Our home is set back in the neighborhood off the main road we enjoy it because its quiet. Our house at one time had a foreign diplomat living in it. I am not sure which country they represented but they had high security because there are bars on several of our windows. That is not a standard for housing here, but Chase enjoys the extra security. Not that we have felt as though we need it. B&V also requires an alarm installed within the house we set it at night, but thankfully it has yet to go off. We have heard of several people having their alarms go off by accident. At the top of our stairs we have what is called a "Crash" gate. It is an emergency gate that you can close in the event that your house is broken into at night. It prevents anyone from getting upstairs. There haven't been any home invasions that we know of in Silver Lakes, but unfortunately we have to be prepared. We like to close the gate at night so that the boys can't get downstairs. The tile floors and the stairs make me a little nervous as a mom.

The outer road of our neighborhood is about 3 miles so I can go out and get a good run or walk and enjoy gorgeous scenery all within the gates. We have been taking advantage of the golf course weekly. The boys love the driving range and I have been taking lessons also! There are a few parks within the neighborhood also, which the boys have been enjoying. There is a weekly play date at the Clubhouse park and that has been great for us to get to know a few of the other families here with B&V. We haven't driven through the game reserve but a couple families live back in the game reserve and we have seen a few cool Animals while attending parties. Don't worry they don't have any dangerous animals within the walls. ;)

Now that we are more comfortable with driving around here we have taken a few day trips and plan to do much more traveling. I feel like if we are here we might as well see what we can! The biggest safety tip that I think can't be stressed enough is just don't get too comfortable. When we go out I am constantly aware of my surroundings and where our things are. I always double check that our car is locked and windows are up before leaving the neighborhood and we try to walk with purpose when out and about. I don't feel paranoid or worried at all when we are out, and have never felt like we were in danger. I just feel confident that if we are smart and calm we can really enjoy the country safely.