Continued story of my first trip to South Africa.
On Friday, July 17, 1998, we left for Sun City South Africa to stay the weekend in the Palace of the Lost City Hotel. Sun City is a mini Las Vegas style resort.
On the way there we stopped by a flea market where we had lunch and visited the small stands. I bought a few souvenirs and then ran into a fellow who wanted to talk to me. He was Zulu, obviously poor and unemployed. I am not sure if he was looking for someone to talk to, a hand out or wanted to eventually rob me. His English wasn't very good but passable. He complained about people from overseas coming to his ancestral homeland and that none of the local stand owners would give him any money. He said that the area we were standing in was at one time owned by his family. He then told me what choice did he have but crime. I asked him why nobody would help him and that every country in the world has overseas visitors and that I really could not sympathize with him on that one. He looked at me a little funny and had no answer for me. He never actually asked me for money but he did want to give me a personal guided tour of the area. I am sure the tour would have included the short end of a very big stick. I told him it was nice talking to him but I was leaving and didn't want or need a tour. Thanks to fellow traveler Roger Klicman for rescuing me from this guy. We left there and on the way stopped to take some pictures of squatters. They live in shacks made of corrugated metal and have little to no income. While stopped some kids saw us taking pictures and ran to us and posed for some pictures. When we were through they waved and started to leave. We called to them and gave them some coins. Maybe about R20 in total. They were very pleased and one of the young boys blew a kiss to us and gave us the peace sign. They were poor but nice, well manured and decent children. Back at home, kids with a lot more are a lot less. If you get my drift. Just as an FYI - the Palace of the Lost City can be seen in the movie "Ernest Goes to Africa".
In contrast to what we saw during our road trip, the Palace of the Lost City was very nice with water falls and swimming pools. No movie stars but Elton John and the silver gloved one Michael Jackson had stayed there. The story I heard was that Jackson was upset because his entourage had smaller rooms than him. Aaah gee, that bums me out. The entire place was just as artificial as Jackson (fake rocks and water falls) but still very nice.
On Sunday we went for a ride through the nearby Pilanesburg Game Reserve and Park were I actually saw 3 of the big 5 animals (Rhino, Elephant, Lion, Water Buffalo and Leopard). I also saw other animals in their natural habitat including impala, giraffe, monkeys, wart hogs, ostrich and other animals that I have no idea what their names are. This was just a warm up to the big safari that was to come soon and that would end with me being known by the locals as “The Jungle Devil.”
Sun City, South Africa
