“It is not true to say that you had been to Africa without enjoying the wild nature and animal here”, said the tour guide. After an 150km- journey from the Pretoria of capital passing N1 highway, we finally reached the North West province. To our amazement, the wild Africa showed up with quiet streets, a few scattered roofs that were staying together and lots of vast carpet of shrubs stretching as far as the eye can see. Now we travel in South Africa !
Sun City- the city in forest
The Palace – a dreaming hotel in Sun City
In 1979, the idea about a city that is right at the center of a forest coming up in the mind of Mr Sol Kerzner as the result of his facultative journey to this area and was completely persuaded by the views and natural beauty of 1300 million- year-old volcano.
Sun City is behind of the low mountain with the streets overshadowed by trees. The Palace hotel seems to be a lost palace in the virgin forest like that in fairy tale.
There are many statues of stag, deer, panther… outside, not to mention the creeper, glass, shrub…sculpt on walls or roof-top of the hotel. Everything makes people feel like they are in the space of erstwhile Africa forest. The Palace is just like a Heaven in the mid of virgin forest, it was known as where the Miss World contests took place or welcomed the Prince of Pop music Micheal Jackson. Furthermore, from window of the Palace, I can see in surprised both the sea and forest, the sound of wild animals, even earthquake…everything is artificial!
When in Sun City, I was welcomed warmly by Herliane Portenschlager- a middle-aged woman who is small in stature. She has a very special connection with Vietnam. Her husband is the first General Manager of Equatorial Hotel in Saigon. She now is PR and Marketing Manager of Sun City resort as well as one of the founders of The Palace Hotel. Herliane Portenschlager was born in the Netherlands with two bloods Indonesia- Netherland and got married with an Austrian, thus she can speak seven languages: Dutch, Austrian, German, English, Indonesian, Afrikan- the most popular language of South Africa.
Herliane Portenschlager has had a strong attachment to Sun City throughout 18 years, she love it by all her heart. She loves air and breath of the reserve Pilanesberg, she loves black girls and boys with big round eyes. Therefore, although being in the age of having many descendants, she still loves working. Everyone in Sun City, from chief, waiter to management officer call her “mama” fondly. There is a story about her that six orphans were saved from the imminent death and brought up by the kind-hearted woman when they were abandoned or buried alive according to the unsound custom of the native.
Herliane Portenschlager said that it took at least four days to discover Sun City and one of the special activities was to go through the forest to see “top 5”- group of five huge animals in Africa: panther, lion, rhino, buffalo and elephant.
Where people create wildness
In the morning of Pilanesberg, it was very cold, wind blows in gust violently. I was very eager to sit in the bodyshell of the specialized truck which was designed to prevent dangerous animal from attacking us.
Mark- the driver doubling as tour guide said that in other parks, they usually have existing ecosystem, but in Pilanesberg, it was made by man. In 1980s, people brought more than 6000 species of wild animal from everywhere to Pilanesberg such as: zebra, deer, lion, antelope, giraffe… then they created living environment for those animals in the area of 55.000ha, next to the resort Sun City. The reserve Pilanesberg now has about 1.800 species of animals spreading out from shrub forest to steppe, from swamp to grass-plot.
Mark asked other groups continuously because he found out footprint of three adult lions. They might be two female and a male. After the truck backed for a long time but no hope, we continued to go ahead.
The dense herds of gnu seemed to be acquainted with appearance of trucks. There were zebras grazing on the grass. Sometime people burn a grass-plot to ashes in order to provide salt for horse, buffalo, gnu… Far from it there was a herd of Impalla gnu. Mark shown us a male gnu having sharp horns “the male Impalla gnu is one of the busiest animal, each one may have to manage till 40 females in his herd”
Pilanesburg Park is covered by the system of 200 kilometer-road and tourist can choose some way to visit such as: self-drive, having driver with guide or walking across forest. In whole of Africa, except for Nairobi National Park in Kenya, Pilanesberg is the park that tourist can approach wild animals in the easiest way.
While following the track of wild animals, Mark braked suddenly. Because, there was a herd of elephant were eating leaves close roadsides. The leader elephant looked straight in our car. I silvered a bit and hold my breath because actually, they were extremely wild. Mark smile slightly to calm our nerves. There is a principle of the park that when any animal crosses the road, every means of transport has to stop to give way. The herd of elephant didn’t take notice of us and went ahead.
In front of us, there was once again a mother and baby white rhino. The baby rhino nestled up close to its mother peacefully. Suddenly I thought it seemed to have an agreement between us and those wild animals that “this wonderland is ours”. I’ve never had a feeling of close to nature and all beings like that.
