Our notion of urban Africa is readily colored by mass media pictures of dusty shanty towns. For people who have spent most of history farming and hunting, modern cities have not come naturally. The city is a phenomenon imposed on Africa by colonialism. Hence the average African city has a vitality and energy lacking from Western conurbations, yet also the infrastructure is more fragile and prone to disruption at inconvenient moments. However, the Westerner living in Africa must, like the African, adapt to this environment, and if so they can and will thrive.