Sun City
The Resort Sol Kerzner Built In 1979 Inside The Nominally Independent Bophuthatswana Specifically To Sell The Gambling And Shows That South African Law Then Banned Now A Complex Of Four Hotels Including The Palace Of The Lost City, The Valley Of Waves Wave Pool, Two Gary Player Golf Courses And A Casino, Beside A Big Five Reserve And Two Hours From Johannesburg · Sun City, North West
Sun City is impossible to describe honestly without the politics. Sol Kerzner opened it in 1979 inside Bophuthatswana, a nominally independent homeland that no country except South Africa recognised, and the point of putting it there was that the homeland's laws allowed gambling, topless revues and mixed-race audiences that South African law banned. It worked enormously: for a decade it was where white South Africa went to do things it had made illegal at home, and a long list of international musicians either played it for extraordinary money or refused to and signed Artists United Against Apartheid instead. What stands now is four hotels including the genuinely extravagant Palace of the Lost City, a wave pool, two Gary Player golf courses, a casino and a big five reserve at the gate. It is two hours from Johannesburg, malaria-free and very good at what it does, and the row says where it came from rather than pretending it is a water park.
Beside the Pilanesberg crater 160 km north-west of Johannesburg and Pretoria, inside the former Bophuthatswana, Sun City, North West, South Africa
A resort complex rather than a site, open continuously, with the hotels, casino and restaurants running at all hours and the Valley of Waves wave pool and water slides keeping daylight hours with a day ticket. DAY VISITORS ARE WELCOME, which surprises people - you can buy a day pass for the Valley of Waves and the public areas without staying, and that is how most Gauteng families use it. The Palace of the Lost City can be walked through as a non-resident. The two golf courses book ahead and the Gary Player Country Club hosts a tournament each year that closes it. Pilanesberg's game reserve is at the gate and has its own row, fees and gate times. School holidays and long weekends fill the resort and the wave pool completely. It is two hours from Johannesburg and Pretoria on good tar and is MALARIA-FREE.