"Sun City, Ideal First Visit To South... " a Sun City Travel Page by Mikebb

I had been wanting to visit Africa for many years but never managed it as my wife was very concerned about safety. When we decided to take a cruise to Alaska during June 2007 I said we would buy Round The World air tickets to break up the long flight from Australia.

I chose Sun City on the edge of the Pilanesburg National Park and approximately 200 km from Johanesburg for our 4 day African stopover. Our package included private return transfer from the airport to our accommodation in Sun City; the journey taking close to 2 hours with many interesting sights along the way including the isolated sprawling" settlements" of the indigenous population.

Many people believe that Sun City is limited to the luxury Hotel, Palace Of The Lost City or the casino. For those more active and interested in activities outside their hotel accommodation you can enjoy wildlife safaris to the various game parks, a game of golf on the international standard Gary Player course, jogging trails, Motseng Cultural Village or just walk around the grounds and enjoy the magnificent gardens and forest.

We visited Sun City mid May and had beautiful clear days with blue sky, however be prepared for cold nights and mornings with the temperature falling to 0 Centigrade. We were caught out with not bringing enough warm clothes.

This park covers 50,000 hectares and was formed by volcanic eruptions over 1.2 million years ago. The area has been populated for thousands of years by local tribes and then white settlement mainly for farming. In 1979 the district was proclaimed a National Park and over the next 15 years the land has been restocked with game and the scars of human settlement removed.

A 110km peripheral Big Game fence was erected over the very rugged terrain and it now contains a vast variety of wild animals including the "Big Five". During our safari we saw elephant, black and white rhino, giraffe, zebra, hippo etc.

We found Sun City and the Pilanesberg National Park to be a most enjoyable holiday, a fantastic introduction to Africa and a yearning to return and enjoy other parts of this exotic country.