South African FTOs on the coast will probably have cheaper and more suitable aircraft available for basic hour-building. Basically, it's half the cost of flying equivalent aircraft in the UK. For example, I'm going to be hiring a 182 for 30 hours for £75 per hour wet. I paid £150 per hour in the UK last summer. The cost of getting to the other end of Africa is not quite important if you do enough hours over there.
But it is swings and roundabouts. I think 30 hours in African airspace in a 182 is worth more than 30 hours in a Spamcan over the airfield where you did your PPL. More expensive? Maybe, maybe not. If you would prefer to do it as cheap as possible, or have no choice but to do it as cheap as possible, perhaps it's not an option.