North West Province
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North West Province
Includes Why Go? Rustenburg. . . . . 427 This stretch of bushveld between Pretoria and the Kalahari is Sun City...... 429 famous for Sun City, the southern hemisphere’s answer to Las Pilanesberg Vegas. Though its slot machines and kitsch edifices are gro- National Park . . . . 431 tesquely fascinating, you may prefer a different kind of gam- Madikwe bling in nearby Pilanesberg National Park. Wager that lions Game Reserve. . . . 433 and rhinos will wander to the waterhole you have staked out – Mahikeng sightings on self-drive safaris come with a serendipitous thrill. (Mafikeng). . . . . 435 Alternatively, improve your odds of spotting elusive pred- ators in Pilanesberg and Madikwe Game Reserve by joining Magaliesberg. . . . 436 a guided drive or walk. And for that once-in-a-lifetime, ro- mantic Out of Africa–style experience, a night in the bush at Madikwe’s exclusive lodges can’t be beaten. Conveniently, these opportunities to encounter both big Best Places to Eat cats and one-armed bandits are all within four hours’ drive ¨¨Cape Town Fish Market of Johannesburg (Jo’burg). En route, the Magaliesberg area (p429) offers detours from the N4, ranging from zip lining to rural accommodation near Rustenburg. ¨¨Deck (p429) ¨¨Upper Deck (p437) When to Go Rustenburg Best Places to °C/°F Te mp Rainfall inches/mm Stay 40/104 12/300 ¨¨Palace of the Lost City (p429) 30/86 10/250 8/200 ¨¨Mosetlha Bush Camp (p434) 20/68 6/150 ¨¨Tau Game Lodge (p434) 10/50 4/100 0/32 ¨¨Bakubung (p433) 2/50 ¨¨Kwa Maritane (p433) -10/14 0 J FDM A M J J A S O N ¨¨Masibambane (p427) ¨¨Sparkling Waters Hotel & Apr Autumn tem- May–Jul Dry, Dec–Jan Refresh- Spa (p437) peratures drop; sunny winter days, ing storms; South wildlife-watching and (bar mid-June Africans head to conditions are to early July) the coast, leaving optimum through school terms mean more room here for to the winter. thinner crowds. foreign travellers. North West Province GettiRustengnbu Thergre & Around 427
- - - $ $ $$
SE B&B ADIUM T S HOSTEL HOSTEL THOU S r per person UE
G camping/dm R70/180, R70/180, camping/dm
Set below some im ) This country retreat ) s www.hodgepodgebackpackers. Ws
www.masibambaneguesthouse. s/d incl breakfast R540/820; incl breakfast s/d
Northwest of town 15km, en routetown 15km, of Northwest Kroondal; Sights Activities & This property is a peaceful, thatched Plot 66, Kommiesdrift; 66, Plot
Eating Sleeping
) Masibambane 083 310 0583; 310 083 082 680 5890; 084 698 0417; 084 698 It has a pint-size bar that opens onto a has a pint-size bar that It The and the decor frozen rooms are basic % % % relaxing place, its flowerbeds, mature trees mature flowerbeds, its place, relaxing of a variety attracting features and water birdlife, from hoopoes to sunbirds. A three- course dinner (R135) can be organised on signposted 5km south of It’s weeknights. guesthouse the is on the Mall; Waterfall just side-road, the end of the paved right at Road’ sign. beyond the ‘Private and a poolside lapa terrace, lawn-fronted (circularwith low walls and a building roof)thatched for braais. s/d from R350/500; from s/d 5 are found in Rustenburg restaurants Most (p429), which is Mall in the Waterfall o ( Ws berg are offered. Coming from the Waterfall from the Waterfall Coming berg are offered. right after look for the white sign on the Mall, the hill. 2km up there, it’s 5km. From in light of the little in time, but this matters you’llwarm welcome get, wonderful and the from the terrace. view of the Magaliesberg Lodge Backpacker Podge Hodge tastea of gives Podge Hodge cliffs, pressive slow-paced country red track. life up a rocky The outdoor pool is refreshing in the heat bar is ideal for sundowners.and the verandah scenesColourful bedspreads and bushveld en suite cabins; airportbrighten the dinky and activitiesand City including Sun shuttles signposted It’s Pilanesberg tours are offered. Mall. about 10km south of the Waterfall 1 Stadium Bafokeng Royal 565) Rte (off tribe. of the Bafokeng holders are members 4 B&B Bushwillows ( ( co.za; co.za; to Sun City, is this stadium, is which hosted City, to Sun Cup World FIFA 2010 and second-round first- more Built in 1999, it seats football matches. spectatorsthan 40,000 share and its major incl breakfast R250; incl breakfast is owned by local wildlife artistis owned by local wildlife Bill McGill, breakfast the room.whose paintings decorate tours to areas such as Pilanes Birdwatching
------011- % ( (www. artbeespoort Dam en route to own and Durban; Mango Getting There & Around & There Getting 8 iring a car is the easiest way to travel around It’s Rustenburg’s location, however, just however, location, Rustenburg’s It’s Thecomplexa of site the was area so and H POP 105,000 367 0300; www.lanseria.co.za; off Rte 512) is 30km south of H Jo’burg. Kulula.com has daily flights from Lanse it’s an option for travellers wishing to visit an option for travellers it’s high without paying these major attractions rates. accommodation ing mobile-phone cases and the like in front in ing mobile-phone cases and the like shops and undertakers. chicken of takeaway and Pilanesberg40km southeast of Sun City is its main selling point – that Park, National tral business district. Pedestrians weave be weave district. business tral Pedestrians Dr Mandela honking cars on Nelson tween long downtown through the (the main drag sell with vendors sidewalksarea), and heave Rustenburg the Magaliesberg of on the edge Sitting is a big country Rustenburg range, town cen to its crowded with an urban grittiness ria to Cape T flymango.com) flies daily to Town. Cape Car-hire airport. the from operate companies the province. Secure parking is readily available sights. restaurants and accommodation, at Convenient for Rustenburg and the Magalies berg, Airport International Lanseria 8 sionaries first visited the city, they found it visited the city, sionaries first end, Ka the In to be bigger than Cape Town. inhabitants proved peace-loving ditshwene’s for the Sotho, displaced by Zuluno match The was State. city incursions into the Free horde of 40,000 people in the by a sacked 1830s fell into ruins. and oped they copper and iron jewellery traded with China. mis By 1820, when European phisticated Iron Age civilisation, centred on civilisation, Age Iron phisticated the ‘lost city’ about 30km of Kaditshwene, north Zeerust. of modern-day The people so devel here had an economy who lived West Province takes in much of in much takes Province The North West fragmented by the once covered the area apartheid Bophuthatswana of homeland of ground for thousands (Bop), a dumping The people. nominally ‘relocated’ Tswana for homeland became famous independent the excesses African men of the white South resortsits casinos and pleasure who visited prostitutes encounters with –for interracial an illegal practice elsewhere in South Africa. History