Sun City!

As if a cultural village and two Safari trips wasn't enough for the weekend, after returning to the guest house at 10am from our early morning safari trip, we had breakfast (that was a particularly peculiar experience, considering we had been up for 5 hours!) and then set off for Sun City!

Some of you may have heard of Sun City. It can only be described as one of the biggest resorts imaginable. There are several hotels in this complex along with a theme park, water park, casinos (yes there are two) and much more!

On our arrival at Sun City

So, sporting our bikinis and trunks, we headed for the waterpark, Valley of Waves. We were about 60 miles further north in Pilanesberg, so it was considerably warmer than in Jo'burg. The weather was probably comparable with summer in the south of France, even though it’s winter here. Despite this the water temperature was only 18°C, which was a bit of a shock to the system. But that didn't stop us having fun! We went on flumes (Reema, Hope, Luke and Tim even braved the Temple of Courage, which was a near vertical slide), sunbathed (with cocktails – of course!), and even chilled in the main pool, where we spent most of our time being carried along by the waves. It was probably one of the best waterparks I have been to, and was certainly an amazing break from teaching!

My only concern about such big resort was that we met a lot of people there who fly into South Africa to holiday there, never leaving the complex. How can you visit a country and not see the country? You can lie on a beach far closer to home, and for a far more affordable price. By all means stay in these places, I have nothing against them. Everyone needs a relaxing break from the rat race. But all I ask is that you arrange some time to see these places. Only a small proportion of the world's population will ever have the opportunity to even leave their home country - many of my students have never even left Jo'burg - so please please please make the most of every opportunity. It pains me to hear of people travelling the world without exploring it.