Sun City

The hotel and leisure complex, to which the name of Lost City was given, opened in 1992. It is supposed to recall a legendary lost African culture - though one that never existed in the form in which it is now presented, an illusion created by the use of the most modern technology. The central feature is the Palace, a luxury hotel with 338 rooms in a mingling of various architectural styles which nevertheless achieves a harmonious effect.Above the hotel rears a 70m/230ft high tower, and in the 25m/80ft high lobby a visitor feels as if he is in a cathedral rather than a hotel - for in the Lost City everything is larger than it is elsewhere. Below the hotel are 25ha/60ac of artificially created tropical rain forest containing 10,000 orchids. The construction of this expanse of "primeval forest" involved the transport to this site of trees weighing up to 40 tons. Streams run through the forest, creating waterfalls up to 16m/50ft high. The shores of the Roaring Lagoon are formed from imported sand, with artificially generated waves (on which surfing is possible) rolling in to the beach. To create the impression of being in the "real" South Africa loudspeakers emit animal sounds throughout the day and night, and every now and then computer-generated programs create the illusion of an earthquake. Whether you like this fairytale world or dismiss it as Disneyland-style kitsch is a matter which each visitor must decide for himself.There is restricted access to the Lost City from Sun City's other three hotels.

Pilanesberg National Park (area 58,000ha/143,000ac), to the north of Sun City lies in a hilly region, whose highest point is the Pilanesberg (1687m/5535ft), in the border area between the arid Kalahari and the moist lowveld of the Transvaal.When the National Park was established in the 1960s the farmers who worked the land here had to be resettled elsewhere. A tall fence was erected round the area and animals from elsewhere in Africa were introduced into the park. Its denizens now include steppe zebras, rhinos, elephants, leopards, giraffes, buffaloes and many species of antelope, as well as 300 species of birds.The animals can be observed either from your own car on the park's 150km/95mi network of tracks or on a guided walk.