Even before the world was systematically locked down as the coronavirus pandemic took hold (including South Africa, starting Thursday at midnight), there were people out there who believed that it would be necessary to hide themselves away at some point.

For the most part, they went in search of very expensive and elaborate bunkers, and their reasoning was mostly tied to an impending apocalypse.

While we haven’t reached apocalyptic levels, and probably won’t, these off-the-grid properties exist across the globe, and not all of them are bunkers.

If you have $17 million (roughly R300 million) stashed away for a rainy day, you could take social distancing to a whole new level with this remote property in the Appalachian Mountains.

Per Forbes:

The secret Virginia compound is surrounded by national forest—powered by a wind turbine and solar panels with a helipad, landing strip, multiple cabins, and auxiliary buildings constructed for total independent living.

The survivalist estate is tailor-made for an über private citizen, quirky entrepreneur, D.C. politician, prominent CEO or even a paranoid doomsday billionaire.

Aptly named ‘High Mountain’, the estate is described as one that would “appeal to survivalists looking to escape a pandemic or major natural disaster such as an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) or a nuclear event”, says Rob Drag of Premier Sotheby’s International Realty.

What a time to be alive.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own your own private mountain,” adds Drag.

“With an unprecedented level of security and privacy, High Mountain will attract the discerning buyer who wants to custom-design a complete off-the-grid lifestyle.”

‘High Mountain’ was originally supposed to be a private community of secure homes for the wealthy, but the anonymous current owner had other ideas.

He acquired the parcels over 25 years, investigated faraway neighbors and hired a security defense company to the protect perimeters. The result: an unconventional deal—a gated and cloistered mountain for sale.

Properties like this are hard to find, literally (and intentionally).

With its remote location and distant neighbours, the property is nothing short of a secure compound, where you and select few could hunker down and ignore the rest of the world.

The expansive property sprawls across a north-south ridge with long-range valley views of sunrises and sunsets, natural foliage and options for hunting and recreational activities.

Buildings and sustainable resources are strategically scattered around the estate—three residential cabins, multipurpose auxiliary structures, helipad, airstrip, radio antenna, hangar, redundant water sources, and off-the-grid solar and wind power installations.

There’s plenty of land to grow your own vegetables, and you could hunt for meat, so technically you have everything you need to stay away from civilisation for the foreseeable future.

It’s going to cost you, though, so I think we can chalk this one up to one of the ways that America’s rich will deal with coronavirus – or any other threat they imagine might be coming their way.

The rest of us will just have to stay indoors, and wait for this to be over.

It’s your civic duty.

[source:forbes]