A review is presented of groundwater recharge estimation in arid and semi-arid Southern Africa based on three decades of recharge investigations in the region. Principles of methods currently in use are described and references from the Southern African region are given when possible. The methods are reviewed in terms of limitations, applicability at different fluxes, temporal and spatial scales and are rated on accuracy, ease of application and costs. Promising methods for recharge estimation are the Chloride Mass Balance (CMB), Cumulative Rainfall Departure (CRD), Extended model for Aquifer Recharge and moisture Transport through unsaturated Hardrock (EARTH), Water Table Fluctuation (WTF), Groundwater Modelling (GM) and Saturated Volume Fluctuation (SVF) methods. Particularly those methods that are based on relationships between rainfall, abstraction and water level fluctuations such as the CRD and EARTH have the potential to forecast groundwater recharge. The CMB, CRD and GM methods are discussed in more detail.