North-West Province
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©Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd North-West Province Why Go? Rustenburg ...................423 This stretch of bushveld between Pretoria and the Kalahari Sun City ........................424 is famous for Sun City, the southern hemisphere’s answer Pilanesberg National to Las Vegas. The slot machines and kitsch edifi ces are gro- Park ...............................426 tesquely fascinating, but you may prefer a diff erent kind of Madikwe Game gambling in nearby Pilanesberg National Park. Wager that Reserve .........................428 lions and rhinos will wander to the waterhole you have Mafi keng .......................430 staked out; sightings on self-drive safaris come with a ser- endipitous thrill. Magaliesberg A lternatively, improve your odds of spotting elusive Mountains ..................... 431 predators, in Pilanesberg and Madikwe Game Reserve, by joining a guided drive or walk. For that once-in-a-lifetime, romantic Out of Africa–style experience, a night in the bush Best Places to Eat at Madikwe’s exclusive lodges can’t be beat. » Upper Deck (p 431 ) Conveniently, these opportunities to encounter big cats and one-armed bandits are all within four hours’ drive of » Berliner Bistro (p 431 ) Jo’burg. En route, the Magaliesberg area off ers detours from » Deck (p 424 ) the N4, ranging from zip lining to rural accommodation near Rustenburg. Best Places to Stay When to Go » Palace of the Lost City Rustenburg (p 426 ) °C/°F Te m p Rainfall inches/mm 40/104 12/300 » Mosetlha Bush Camp (p 429 ) 30/86 10/250 8/200 » Tau Game Lodge (p 429 ) 20/68 6/150 » Bakubung (p 428 ) 10/50 4/100 0/32 » Kwa Maritane (p 428 ) 2/50 » Masibambane (p 423 ) -10/14 0 J FDNOSAJJMAM » Sparkling Waters Hotel & Spa (p 431 ) Apr Autumn tem- May–Jul Dry, Dec–Jan Re- peratures drop; sunny winter days freshing thunder- optimum wildlife- and, bar mid-June storms; South watching condi- to early July, Africans head to tions, through to school terms thin the coast for their the winter. crowds. summer holidays. 422 History the excesses of the white South African men, The North-West Province takes in much of who visited its casinos and pleasure resorts the area once covered by the fragmented for interracial encounters with prostitutes – apartheid homeland of Bophuthatswana illegal elsewhere in South Africa. (‘Bop’), a dumping ground for thousands of The province was the site of a complex ‘relocated’ Tswana people. The nominally and sophisticated Iron Age civilisation, independent homeland became famous for centred on the ‘lost city’ of Kaditshwene, 0 100 km LEGEND 0 50 miles GR Game Reserve MR Mountain Reserve Limpopo NP National Park Province Jwaneng A2 Kopfontein Thabazimbi GABORONE Madikwe GR Ramotswa Warmbad BOTSWANA Kanye Nietverdiend Pilanesberg Borakalalo R R NP NP 47 49 Assen Makopong Lobatse Werda Skilpadshek Pilanesberg Sun City Airport Temba R375 Mmabatho R565 Mabule Airport Zeerust Hartbeespoort Ramatlabama Rustenburg Dam Terra N Boshoek R Kgaswane 4 Firma Molopo 49 MR N PRETORIA River 18 Mafikeng R Magaliesberg Lanseria R 52 North-West Piet 49 Lichtenburg Range International Airport McCarthy's Province Plessis Ventersdorp N Rest Setlagole 14 Johannesburg R378 R R503 N NORTH-WEST PROVINCE PROVINCE NORTH-WEST Ganyesa Stella 30 12 Gauteng Kur R377 Severn uman Ottosdal Potchefstroom R River 53 Vryburg Migdol Klerksdorp N Sasolburg R 1 N 34 14 Vaal Lykso Schweizer- Wolmaransstad Hotazel Reneke Dam R506 Bothaville Taung N Kuruman 12 River Bloemhof Free Kroonstad Vaal Sishen Northern River State s Bloemhof Cape N Christiana Dam Sand 1 Hart Warrenton River Bohlakong Kimberley North-West Province Highlights 1 Stopping within metres 3 Chilling on the deck at 6 Circling Hartbeespoort of a pride of lions resting Madikwe and Pilanesberg’s Dam (p 431 ) and shopping under a thorn tree, on a lodges (p 429 and p 428 ), at Welwitischia Country safari in Madikwe Game keeping an eye on the bush Market (p 431 ) Reserve (p 428 ) for Big Five sightings 7 Touring the Mafi keng 2 Shacking up with a 4 Surfi ng the Valley of the Museum (p 430 ) exhibits, cooler and binoculars at a Waves and soaking up the such as a shredded waterhole in Pilanesberg deliciously gaudy ambience corrugated-iron roof, struck National Park (p 426 ) and of Sun City (p 424 ) by the Boers’ Long Tom waiting for the animals to 5 Zipping past treetops on artillery gun come to you the Magaliesberg Canopy Tour (p 431 ).