Last month Chris and I went on the best trip we have been on yet! We started our African journey by flying from Houston to London, then London to Madrid, and finally Madrid to Johannesburg. Once we arrived in Joburg we rented a car, which I recommend reserving online before. If you are going to rent a car, make sure you indicate you want an automatic car. The cars in Johannesburg are flipped from the cars in America and they drive on the left side of the road, this took awhile for me to get used to and poor Chris had to listen to my panic attacks from being on the wrong side of traffic. From Joburg we made the two and a half hour drive to Sun City. We reserved a room at the Cabanas hotel on the resort which was the lower tiered of the three, but still amazing. Sun City is a common weekend getaway of the people in South Africa. As we were pulling into the resort we saw two mongooses run across the driveway! It was surreal to see mongooses acting like squirrels. After we checked in we explored the resort, which is HUGE, we went adventuring around. There are three hotels, a lake with water sports, numerous pools, a wave pool, ropes course, tons of restaurants, a casino. It is basically a family vacation mecca and the background is beautiful mountains.
This beautiful elephant bridge connects the hotels to the wave pool area. When we were walking back across the bridge, we saw security guards with paintball guns and did not understand why. The minute we rounded the corner we came face to face with baboons begging for food.
At night we strolled through light up gardens, and ate dinner at the Mediterranean restaurant which was delicious.
The next day we started the day by eating our complimentary breakfast buffet that was massive, they had so many choices and you get to eat outside. We then made our way to the aviary on site and got a chance to see some beautiful birds, and then explored the resort some more. Today we walked all the beautiful nature trails that surrounded the resort. At point we went through a water fall, and I had a full blown anxiety attack because there were bats only a foot away from our heads. Of course Chris thought it was funny and had to go back to get a picture of the hundreds of bats.
We ate lunch at our hotel's bar, we ordered a burger which is very popular in South Africa, they almost love their burgers more than Americans. After lunch, we did the full size maze that is on the resort. It made me think I was in the 90s David Bowie movie The Labyrinth on the hunt for the goblin king. When you finish the maze, they allow you to complimentary taste 8 beers that are brewed in house
After the maze it was time for our evening safari, which was one of the main reasons we stayed at Sun City. The resort is built on the outside of Pillanesberg Park which is a nature reserve for African animals. Right off the bat (pun intended) of the drive Chris spotted a rhino right next to our jeep. (No zoom was used on this photo!)
Then we spotted a herd of rhinos, and a baby rhino frolicking! I did not even realize rhinos were playful animals because they always look so sad in the zoo. On the drive we also saw kudu, impala, an elephant, hyena, wildebeasts and a hippo out of the water (which our game driver said was rare). I would recommend however doing the morning drive because once it was dark it was near impossible to see any animals.
Since we loved the drive so much we found out that the park allows you to self drive your car for about 30 American dollars, and that is how we started the next day! Our self drive was even more successful! We were able to see giraffes, an elephant, zebras, and LIONS!! An entire pride of lions were feeding and we were able to witness such a magical moment.
I did not want to stop driving around, but we had to head back to Johannesburg for the next leg of our adventure! On our way in we stopped at the Cradle of Humankind, and saw the bones of the "missing link" they found in 2014.
We did not get to spend too much time here and I would only recommend if you have time to tour the caves, which we did not get to do. Our next stop before our flight was to Carnivore restaurant. A unique dining experience that is "Brazilian steak house" style. Here we got to try all the native game. The staff was very accommodating and we had the entire restaurant to ourselves! Also restaurant experiences in South Africa are very decently priced and the staff is so appreciative of tips!
They don't stop serving you food until you surrender! We only made it through one round before we gave up!
We also learned in South Africa, you do not pump your own gas and gas is a little pricey! About 40 dollars for half a tank! Some more fun facts is South Africans pay for public school and there are 11 national languages with English being the one that bridges everyone together. The poverty heading Sun City is very real and very sad, the houses do resemble the ones from the movie District 9.
Check out the next blog post where I tell all about our time in Cape Town, South Africa!
