At first sight
Sun City is hidden amidst the Pilanesberg mountain range. We were staying in the Sun City Hotel, and the guys were very happy that our rooms were overlooking the golf course, since they’re both golf fanatics. Except for the golf course, the view from our room was truly lush. The North West province is known as a bushveld district, but as you drive into the Sun City resort, the vegetation in and surrounding the resort seemed much greener and not exactly true bushveld scenery.
After settling in, we went for a stroll around Sun City and of course the Lost City. The Lost City is proof of the greatness of man’s imagination. Supposedly the royal residence of an ancient African king, the legend tells the story of a North African legend where a tribe brought their respect and love of nature, their genius in architectural style and hospitality to the Valley of the Sun in South Africa, located in an ancient volcanic crater. But the palace was destroyed in an earthquake and that’s why when they brought the myth to legend, it was called The Palace of the Lost City.
Although this myth is enthralling, it didn’t quite impress me as much as the palace itself. The detail, which included carvings on the wall, hand-painted ceilings, mosaics and frescoes were far more interesting. The sizes of the animal sculptures that surround you are enormous and the general architectural detail is staggering.
A bit of a gamble
None of us had ever been gamblers, except for the odd poker game here and there, but you can’t go to South Africa’s gamblers paradise, without gambling a bit yourself. Vicky doubled her money on the machines, I lost all mine, while Damian and Gareth won a little cash to take home. I don’t know if my loss was a lack of skill or just bad luck, but Vicky, after having given up on a machine that I was having no luck on, said “let me try” and had her second winning. After that I decided that it was sheer bad luck and nothing more.
The following day Damian and Gareth played a game of golf on the Gary Player golf course. I was told that this was one of South Africa’s best golf courses and definitely not for amateurs. I had no idea what the guys’ handicaps were, which is supposedly the amount of strokes a player is given within the standard golf course. Even if I did, it wouldn’t have meant anything to me. All I know is that golf is a very skilled game, although I’m sure there is some luck involved. Vicky and I decided to tag along, being the designated golf cart drivers. The fairways were stunning, but the roughs seemed severe, especially when Damian lost his golf ball in it. When we got to the 13th hole, Gareth told us to go and look in the waterhole. Excitedly we realised that there were crocodiles in the hole: Thirty-eight crocodiles to be precise! Of course the hole was made deep enough to ensure that they don’t get out, but once your ball hit the hole, there was no way you were going to get it back.
A quad safari
One of my highlights on our Sun City trip was a quad biking safari. We were accompanied by guides as we explored the park, each riding our own quad bike. The handy thing about quad-biking is that you don’t really need much experience to ride one. We saw rhino, giraffes, a few buck species and zebras, just to name a few, while whooshing through the bushveld.
And if quad biking wasn’t adventure enough, we left the hotel to go to the ‘Elephant Wallow’ to meet our afternoon elephant rides. After a brief discussion, we got onboard on the saddled elephants. It’s quite overwhelming at first, but as you get used to them you realise that elephants are really just gentle giants. After an hour my backside was killing me. Riding elephants is not for the faint-hearted, but it’s an awesome adventure nonetheless and one I’d advise people to experience.
Sun City has more than enough activities to do in a week’s time. If the weather is bad you can spend some time in the spa or gamble a bit, otherwise safari, play golf, have some fun in the amusement park (which I was unhappy we didn’t do), or go to the valley of the waves. Either way, there is no chance of anybody feeling out of place at Sun City.
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Author Bio: South Africa 365 is a specialist in creating tailor-made destination tours across 6 different African countries including South Africa holidays.
