On our way to Sun City

We have been staying with Illana’s parents, Susan & Johan, in Johannesburg and now they are taking us to Sun City, which is about 2 hours northwest of Johannesburg. It is a huge resort, built by the same person who built Atlantis in the Bahamas. But it borders the Pilanesberg National Park. This park was created about 40 years ago out of an extinct volcanic crater and is full of all the animals that we had been hoping to see in Africa.

On the ride down, we stopped at several places. Mgawne, which is a glass shop that features products made in Swaziland out of recycled glass bottles. We also stopped at this store in Hartbeesport Dam, called the Windmill; it was the Stew Leonards of South Africa. Fruit is sooo cheap here! After driving past the dam, we stopped at a ‘curio’ shop. Basically, an indoor flea market. There were booths after booths, filled with people trying to get you to buy something. Unfortunately we were the only shoppers & they bombarded us. If you showed the least bit of interest in something, they would put it in your hands & not take it back. My poor kids were so overwhelmed, and they felt very bad because the sellers would talk about how they had no money to feed their children and that they would be in dire straits if you didn’t purchase something from them. We had to explain that this wasn’t true & that these sellers didn’t actually make these products. Even Rich, who loves to bargain, didn’t like it there. Heading onto Sun City, poor Bianca had to use the restroom but her dad refused to stop…because there had been high instances of carjacking on the road that we were traveling on.

So we were very happy to reach Sun City and check in to our condo. It’s a beautiful place, has casinos & a big venue for shows. A lot like Mohegan Sun. But even on the golf courses & just walking around, we started to see some wild animals. We saw bush babies & mongoose, and some very naughty monkeys! Johan & Susan have been here many times before & know all the ‘ins’ around the place. We walked through the Lost City golf course to see the crocodile pit on the 13^th hole! Now, in the US it would have had fences & warning signs everywhere, but here in SA, there is only a knee high rock wall & a locked gate. We also walked through a ‘jungle’ to the back entrance of the ‘Valley of the Waves’ at the Lost City. It was almost like a ‘Jurassic Park’/Disney feel to the resort. The kids loved the huge wave pool & water slides here – and they were empty! Probably because the water was 12 degrees Celsius! Way too cool for me. My big splurge on this part of the trip was paying to have my laundry done while I sat by the pool.