Eighty mi/125 km northwest of Johannesburg, Sun City is South Africa's answer to Las Vegas. Casinos abound, but the resort's most outrageous sight is The Lost City, an enormous complex that includes a water park. Statues of gazelles leap from towers crowned with palm fronds, and pools, stone bridges, wave ponds, mock ruins and artificial grottos fill the grounds. There are two championship golf courses, too.
Nearby, Pilanesberg Game Reserve covers 212 sq mi/550 sq km set in an extinct volcanic crater. Wildlife includes the Big Five, with rhino being something of a specialty. Night drives offer the chance to see unusual dry-country predators such as brown hyena and aardwolf. A remarkably varied birdlife reflects the Pilanesberg's transitional location to the semiarid west and moister eastern savannah.
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