With activities that appeal to youngsters of all ages, South Africa isn’t just child’s play – it’s a destination the whole family can enjoy.
For golfers travelling with their families, there’s an endless array of things that kids will love to do and see.
They can also stay at resorts with golf courses that offer extensive facilities for children, from tots right up to teenagers. Some have crèches and kids clubs, too, so parents who both play golf can sneak off for a round or two while the little ones are being looked after.
Sun City is a complete leisure destination that appeals to golfers, with the Gary Player Country Club and Lost City golf courses, adult holidaymakers and families. The sprawling resort offers four hotels, including the family-orientated Cabanas hotel and Sun City Hotel, while its Valley of Waves water park features the huge Roaring Lagoon wave pool generating waves nearly two metres high and Temple of Courage water slide. Other facilities for children include Camp Kwena kids activity club, a miniature train, a walk-through aviary and a nightclub for under-18s, as well as a baby-sitting service.
Legend Golf and Safari Resort, in Limpopo, offers golfers the longest golf course in Africa at 7,748 metres off the championship tees, with each hole designed by one of the world’s top golf pros, plus a 10-hole course modelled on the world’s best par-3 holes. For families, the resort has a cultural village and a wildlife centre with white lions, other endangered animals and a rhino orphanage.
At Zebula Golf Estate & Spa, also in Limpopo, older offspring will relish going on an elephant-back safari, touching and feeding, or swimming with its five resident adult elephants, while the meerkats at Meerkat Manor will keep younger ones enthralled and amused. There’s also a snake and reptile park, a Kiddie Kamp and mountain biking with both adult and children’s bikes to rent, not to mention the Peter Matkovich-designed golf course.
The Wild Coast Sun, on the coast bordering Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, is another golf resort with an action-packed water park. It also offers a bowling alley and arcade games, and paddle boats along with water sports in the protected environment of the Mtamvuna River. An 18-hole mini-golf course awaits young ones eager to emulate their golfing dads or mums at the Eastern Cape’s Fish River Sun, and the resort also has a Camp Kwena children’s club.
Besides Fancourt’s three golf courses, the Garden Route resort has a kids club for younger guests, a teen lounge with games and activities, a baby pool and a heated indoor pool for older children.
South Africa has many other family activities to delight youngsters: Durban’s uShaka Marine World park has rides, seal and penguin shows, sea animal encounters and a Kids Corner; Johannesburg Zoo has a farmyard section for under-sixes besides other children’s activities, and is next to 100-year-old Parkview Golf Club; relive the gold rush days at Johannesburg’s Gold Reef City theme park, where you can enjoy rides and take an underground mine tour; visit child-friendly beaches from Cape Town right up to KwaZulu-Natal; watch the penguins at Cape Town’s Boulders Beach; or take a boat trip from Hermanus to view whales and dolphins.
Children will have so much fun, they won’t want to go home.
