Machetes are very popular in the sub-tropical, eastern parts of South Africa, especially in sugarcane growing areas, and they are practically mandatory in Mozambique for anyone who spends any time walking in the bush. Locally the term machete is seldom used and they are called panga's of cane knives. Various SA companies (e.g. Slacher) manufacture perfectly servicable and dirt cheap (R60 or US$6) models. As stated on this thread by Dylside, they are of little use if you stick to the beaten track but they come into their own as soon as you venture off the betean track in sub-tropical and tropical environments.
Not being a fan of big knives myself, and growing up in a grassland region of SA, I never saw much need for a machete, and a Swiss Army knife and a 21cm fixed blade always met all my needs. The some 5 years ago I had the privelege of doing an ecological impact assessment for a 500km gas pipeline in Mozambique. I was asked to walk the entire proposed 500km alignment (which then only existed as a line on a map) over a period of 6 weeks, and was accopanied by 3 ex Zimbabwe army guys who acted as medics, de-minning personnel and radio operators. We all carried pangas, and the walk would have been impossible without them. In some places we had to take turns walking in front as we hacked our way through impenetrable tropical thicket at a rate of about 500m per hour. No fun at all!. Since then never worked or played in Mozambique without a panga strapped to my rucksack.
Mozambicans living in rural areas are practically born with one in their hands and use them for everything from delicate carving work required to make traps, to clearing bush for cultivation to digging for water. They certainly are extremely useful tools in the right environment.
It did take a good 3 hours of soft stone/hard stone sharpening to put a shaving edge on it but once it was there it stayed.
